Workington Reds will be pleased they only have to go to Stockton once a year – on their first visit last season the West Cumbrians crashed 5-0 and last night, it finished 6-0 as the Reds were swamped by a goal-hungry home side.
Workington suffered the agony of a last minute home defeat on Saturday after enjoying a half time lead.
But this was a bit different as Reds were always second best to a side who had drawn 0-0 with Whitby in their last friendly.
That had been followed by another 0-0 in the opening league game at the weekend – but they weren’t firing blanks on this occasion.
It got to the stage in the second half that every time they attacked and got the ball into the box Reds looked vulnerable.
Indeed but for some good work by goalkeeper Alex Mitchell the defeat could have been much worse.
Stockton missed out on promotion last year after reaching the play-offs but have strengthened this time and are expected to make a strong push to achieve the step up this time round.
As such they proved too strong for a Reds side, without five members of the squad and who suffered an injury to Will McGladdery early on.
Saturday’s last gasp defeat, followed by this heavy loss against potential title contenders, have provided Darren Edmondson’s young squad with plenty of food for thought emphasising the need to learn quickly.
They found themselves behind after only eight minutes when Josh Scott notched Stockton’s opener.
A second followed on 20 minutes through Jake Petitjean and Reds might have felt relieved to get in at the break only 2-0 behind.
It stayed that way until the 65th minute when substitute Michael Sweet crashed home a third goal.
Unfortunately Reds collapsed completely in the last 10 minutes conceding three more times to Kevin Hayes, Jamie Bramwell and Sweet.
After that sobering experience Reds now have to travel to Hednesford on Saturday with their hosts having won both games so far.
You can hear Darren Edmondson’s thoughts on the game below:
