Darwen Reserves 1 - 1 Workington Reserves
Mon 23th February 2009
Workington travelled down to Darwen on Monday night with once again a very young looking team.
After arriving at 7.30 pm they had twenty minutes or so to change and warm up before the game kicked off.
Darwen came out at the start flying and it looked as if the Reds players were still on the coach, but little by little they got to grips with Darwen and started to play some neat passing football on the floor with Steven Hampton and Shane Rooney working well together down the right hand side.
The styles of the teams were different as Darwen were looking for balls over the top or into the corners for their quick players to exploit where as the Reds were trying to play out from their full backs or the centre midfield players reguarly switching out to their wide men on both flanks.
Darwen's main threat in the first half was from corners and they went very close twice with the ball going just over the bar.
The Reds were creating chances and Darwen's back four were playing a high line which suited Reds down to the ground as the Reds strikers could out pace their defenders.
A quick move from the Reds through the middle released the ball to Stefan Scott at exactly the right time who outpaced the centre half and put Reds 1-0 up, not against the run of play but Darwen were gutted to go in at half time in arrears.
Into the second half and the spirit and tempo of the Reds team was good.
The defining moment of the game was when, from sustained pressure the Reds' striker Andy Murray Jones had two attempts at goal which were both blocked and then the ball fell to Adam Maine who just put it wide. The feeling was that if the Reds could get 2-0 up then Darwen would be finished for the night.
The game then started to open up and became end to end with James Bryden making several good saves in the Reds' net.
Darwen eventually got their equaliser with their very pacey central midfielder outstripping two Reds defenders and slotting it past James Bryden.
Darwen were still not finished and missed an open goal with a back post header and in the final minutes of the game Darwen were pegged back into their own half with a succession of Reds corners.
With the last kick of the game, Andy Murray Jones shook off his marker eight yards out and as the Reds' bench went up to celebrate the winner, he put his shot wide.
Overall it was a very entertaining game played in a good spirit with the Reds probably happier with the result than Darwen.
Star men for the Reds were the whole team but particularly Brian Rutherford (left) and Dan McDermott (right), the Reds' centre halves.
Reds Reserves: James Bryden, Steven Hampton, Michael Grayson, Brian Rutherford, Dan McDermott, Lee McCulloch (capt), Adam Maine, Shane Rooney, Greg Mitchell, Andy Murray Jones, Stefan Scott, Levi Johnson, Martin Rossi.