Reds run riot at Holker Street

Last updated : 15 January 2009 By Barrow Lad

Barrow: Martin, Kerr, Logan, Holness, McNulty, Henney, Bond, Sharry, Walker, Curtis, McGill

54: Paul Brown replaced McGill
65: Rogan replaced Curtis
77: Paul Tait replaced Henney

Booked: Martin (26), Curtis (47), Kerr (56), Tait (90)

Workington: Collin, Hewson, Rowntree, May, Andrews, McLuckie, Vipond, Hopper, Wright, Arnison, Wright

89: Robinson replaced Wright
90+3: Michael Tait replaced McLuckie

GOALS: Arnison (26, penalty); McLuckie (54), Arnison (87)

Booked: Andrews (90)

Following the Middlesbrough heroics, 1,614 turned up to see Workington first frustrate and then punish Barrow with three goals, much to the delight of the handful of Reds fans.

Workington kicked off towards the Crossbar end and for the first quarter of the match Barrow were totally in control. In the 3rd minute a good run and cross into the penalty area by Henney was headed by Walker into Collin's arms. Barrow's first corner in the 10th minute came to nothing but 5 minutes later Curtis let fly from 25 yards and only a stretching save by Collin stopped the ball going into the roof of the net. Another good build up by Curtis and Walker in the 24th minute saw a weak shot from McGill saved easily.

It seemed only a matter of time before Barrow would get the goal from which Workington would not recover. However, even at this stage the Reds' strength in defence was noticeable and for the whole match many Barrow chances were to be effectively blocked before they troubled the goal.

On the other side, Barrow's defence were starting to have a bad day at the office; perhaps it was too many new players (Holness, Sharry, McGill made debuts with Curtis starting his first game) or the speed of Workington's pacey attackers. Whatever, it has to be said that Barrow looked vulnerable from the moment Alan Martin brought down Gareth Arnison who was clean through on the Barrow goal. Fortunately, Martin was only booked but the player brought down made no mistake with the penalty on 25 minutes 47 seconds.

From that moment, Workington played like men possessed, blocking every attack while being deadly on the break. This was their Cup Final and they did to us what we did to Brentford. In the 29th minute the Reds won their first corner and two minutes later Wright broke and had a chip shot saved by Martin.

Hopes rose for Barrow when Barrow reached the penalty area in the 36th minute. Walker headed down to Curtis whose shot into the left-hand corner of the goal was deemed offside. However, four minutes later another lightning break by Workington saw Arnison just fail to make sliding contact with a dangerous cross in front of goal.

On the other hand when Barrow reached the goal there was too much procrastination. In the 42nd minute, Walker deliberated instead of shooting, May putting the ball out for a corner.

More Barrow corners and a Logan free kick failed to recover the 0-1 deficit at half time.

The second half started badly when Curtis was booked for a foul on Hewson- and it went downhill from there. In the 51st minute, Wright shot wide from another break. At the other end two minutes later a goalmouth scramble still failed to find the elusive Barrow goal, Henney's point blank shot being blocked.

The managers then decided to make a 54th minute substitution, Brown replacing McGill and seconds later, a Workington free kick was taken quickly while Barrow were still re-organising, McLuckie drilling a superb shot into the right-hand corner.

Barrow valiantly tried to mount attacks for the rest of the game but few really went anywhere. There was too much aimless passing in the middle of the field, Workington eventually pouncing on the ball for another break. I would say Barrow enjoyed 60:40 possession in the match but didn't use it to advantage. We didn't seem to want the win badly enough and in the end ended up with an embarrassing scoreline of 0-3 (shades of Manchester City v Notts Forest in the FA Cup), another fast break and superb shot by Arnison in the 87th minute sealing the match.

On the negative side, this was a dreadful result in front of extra fans gained from the Middlesbrough performance and to make matters worse, Barrow had four players booked. While no excuse, it does have to be said that even an ardent Red would admit the referee's decisions tended to favour the visitors throughout (particularly the bookings), building up a frustration which seemed to affect our game.

On the plus side it has to be said that Barrow's new players haven't yet settled and useful lessons could have been learned today. I would say we missed Jones in defence. With another cup out the way, we must concentrate on moving out of the relegation zone. I'm sure we have the players to do this but we need to play as well against teams below us as we seem to against teams above us.

Well done Workington and good luck in the next round.