The Reds Reserves opened their pre-season campaign on Thursday night with a competitive fixture against Frizington White Star at Borough Park with Steve Lee the Reserves’ manager utilising 19 players in total.
In a keenly fought first half White Star took the lead just after the quarter hour mark when White Star striker Graham Carruthers blocked an attempted clearance on the edge of the penalty area by Reds keeper James Bryden with the ball rolling into the unguarded net.
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Richard Bannister |
The Reds first serious threat on the White Star goal came after 28 minutes from good play down the left wing with Sam Smith freeing up Liam Cook to put in a cross to the far post. The ball found Andrew Bromley who played the ball back across goal for Stefan Scott to see his shot blocked inside the 6 yard box.
Right-back Martin Rossi was also unlucky not to score with a 25 yard effort that had White Star keeper Luke Jackson well beaten but it cannoned off the cross bar. Dan Gullen following up should have hit the target but put his shot wide.
White Star replied on the break and Keith Smith hit a testing shot from the right edge of the penalty that James Bryden got his fingertips to steer over the bar.
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Gareth Brunton |
Dan Gullen had a good opportunity to open the Reds account when a through ball sent him clear of the White Star defence. He rounded the advancing Luke Jackson in the White Star goal but his shot was blocked by a recovering defender.
In first half injury time Reds tall centre half Andrew Brown saw his header from a short corner blocked by the defender stationed on the post.
Half time saw a string of changes to both sides with the Reds making eight changes from the starting eleven with James Bryden, Jake Smith and Stefan Scott the only unchanged players.
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Jordan Lee |
The Reds levelled the scores within five minutes of the restart when the Reds broke forward down the left wing where the cross into the box was headed down by Stefan Scott for Richard Bannister to fire in from five yards out.
Three minutes later the Reds took the lead with a magnificent 25 yard strike into the bottom corner of the net by Gareth Brunton and extended the lead further shortly after from a good break by Stefan Scott. Racing towards the White star penalty area he played a nice through ball to Jordan Lee who slotted the ball past the keeper into the corner of the net.
The Reds extended their lead again on 69 minutes when Nick Holden won the
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Stefan Scott |
ball in midfield, turned and charged up field. He played a good ball through the White Star defence for Stefan Scott who raced into the penalty area and shot past the advancing keeper into the far corner of the net.
In the final few minutes the Reds had two more chances following neat football building up to the chances with first Dan McDermott and then Richard Bratnthwaite both seeing their shots curl just wide
of the post.
The match was a good workout for both sides with Stefan Scott, playing a full 90 minutes, and second half substitute Jordan Lee both having good games.
Reserves: James Bryden, Martin Rossi (Levi Johnston 45), Jake Smith (Sam Smith 73),
Sam Smith (Callum Lee 45), Andrew Brown (Dion Barnes 45), Dan Gullen (Dan McDermott 45),
Lee McCullough (Nick Holden 45), Andrew Bromley (Gareth Brunton 45),
David Dustin (Richard Bannister 45), Stefan Scott, Liam Cook (Jordan Lee 45).
Frizington White Star: Luke Jackson, David Williams, Gavin Vernon, Brian Sisson,
Steven Carruthers, George Close, Robert Postlethwaite, Barry Armfield, Alan Blair,
Graham Carruthers, Kevin Smith.
Subs (all used): Steven Lee, Craig Trembath, Connor Davidson, Richard Walton, Clark Kerswell.