Ilkeston Town 3 Workington 2
An angry Darren Edmondson felt his side didn’t do enough to maintain their recent revival and the long trip to Derbyshire resulted in defeat by the odd goal in five.
Behind after just 21 seconds and two down mid-way through the first half, Workington recovered from a shaky start to restore parity with two well taken goals of their own.
But then shot themselves in the foot by conceding what proved to be the winner just before half time.
“If you put the shirt on then you need to give it everything you’ve got but we didn’t do enough today and got what we deserved,” lamented a frustrated Edmondson,
“Players have to be mentally focused and have to win the first header, the first tackle otherwise your game has gone and we weren’t ready in that first twenty minutes,” he added.
That passive opening referred to by the manager saw Reds go a goal down as many supporters were still finding their place in the ground.
Harvey Kirby-Moore scored the quickest goal of his career when he brushed away a feeble challenge and slotted the ball past Alex Mitchell.
Ilkeston doubled their advantage through Dylan Youmbi who converted from close range when Reds failed to clear the ball from a previous attack.
Workington appeared to have recovered from the poor start with well taken goals from David Symington and Luke Ellis after 25 and 39 minutes, respectively, but then allowed Youmbi time and space to slot his second before the interval.
Youmbi was involved in a controversial incident mid-way through the second half when he was sent off by the referee after collecting a second yellow card for simulation.
Instead of applying more pressure to the 10 men of Ilkeston, Workington became more withdrawn and were keeping possession in their own half but creating very little in the final third.
Reds’ seventh league reverse leaves them entrenched in the relegation zone ahead of cup action next week.
They host FC United of Manchester in the FA Trophy at Borough Park but will need to up their game if they are to salvage something from what, to date, has been a disappointing campaign.
Hear Darren Edmondson’s thoughts below:
