Recap
Reds have never lost at Prescot but this latest success had added significance with it being their first victory of the new season.
And they did it in style with a dominant performance easily their best of a campaign still very much in its infancy.
Mark Fell was elated with his team’s display but his over-riding feeling was one of relief, obtaining that first three-pointer with a newly assembled group, with personal pride not too far behind.
After being questioned about ‘man-of-the-match’ candidates, he rimed off five or six players who were outstanding and when that’s the case you get a performance to cherish.
The visitors made a good, bright start to the game, then navigated around Cables’ mini purple patch before finishing the first half very strongly. After the break, they simply kept the hosts at arm’s length – defending competently throughout and attacking with purpose when the opportunity arose.
Prescot kicked off, played the ball back towards their own goal and it seemed as though they were penned in their own half until landing a weak shot at Alex Mitchell in the nineteenth minute.
Prior to that, an inviting David Symington cross found no takers, a Steven Rigg solo run culminated in the centre forward dragging his shot wide before the former saw a firm strike drift narrowly past the upright.
We also saw a booking for eighteen years old, Kaedyn Kamara, following a full-blooded tackle. Would that restrict his involvement thereafter? Certainly not, the kid was outstanding and emerged the best player on the pitch in that first forty-five minutes.
To cap an eye-catching contribution, he scored his first goal in senior football with a stunning strike from all of twenty-five yards, leaving Andre Mendes helpless. It gave his new colleagues a deserved thirty-seventh minute lead and one they never looked like relinquishing.
Confident Reds finished the half strongly but couldn’t add to that stunning goal although Symington and Kai Nugent went close to doing so.
Francis Smith had produced Cables’ best moment in that first period but his shot, via a free-kick, managed to evade the red wall of defenders but was smartly saved by Mitchell who dived to his left and pushed the ball behind for a corner. Another well struck effort from Brandon Newell curled narrowly wide of Mitchell’s left hand post.
Prescot just couldn’t find a way through Workington’s kindergarten trio of defenders – Ben Fell, Tom Wilkinson and Ben Williams – who looked so mature in their first outing together.
After such a pleasing performance, the advantage remained a slender one until just before the hour mark when Steven Rigg doubled Reds’ lead. Symington drew a couple of defenders then released the outstanding number nine who kept his composure and slotted the ball past Mendes for his first goal of the season.
Rigg was unlucky not to get another, only to be denied by a fine Mendes save, while Wilkinson (shot), Nugent (dribble and weak shot) and Jamie Allen (weak shot) all had the opportunity to make Workington’s comprehensive victory an emphatic one.
Allen had his finest hour in a Workington shirt and, on a night of positive contributions all over the pitch, emerged Reds’ best on the night.
This result will become even better if the team can build on it over the Bank Holiday weekend but, in the meantime, the manager, staff, players and supporters can ‘enjoy the moment’.
Prescot Cables: Mendes, Hollett, Devine, Smith (O’Rourke, 61), Digbeu, Newell (Doyle, 62), Carberry, Foley, Gilboy, Elliott, Owens (Cushion, 68). Substitutes – Ndene, Heath (not used).
Workington: Mitchell, Stephenson (McCarron, 88), Galloway, Fell (Beck, 83), Wilkinson, Williams, Symington (Hubbold, 74), Kamara (Casson, 74), Rigg, Allen, Nugent. Substitute – Eccles (not used).
Referee: Jordan Crossley, Manchester