Droylsden F.C.-The bloods on the net!

WORKINGTON 1 - 1 DROYLSDEN

Blue Square North – Tuesday 24 February 2009

Report by Gary Owen

The Bloods may well have been hoping for all three points from this fixture, but come the end of the 90 minutes a point was all that their efforts were worth, despite a last minute penalty miss by the usually reliable Sean Newton.

Droylsden enjoyed some good spells of possession early on, and so probably deserved their lead taken on the half hour mark, but thereafter the home side began to improve as the game progressed.

The impressive Gareth Arnison had a chance in the opening minute for the home side, but he was denied by Craig Mawson's legs, despite calls for a foul from the home fans.

Workington also saw a header cleared off the line, before The Bloods finally began to make their mark, but Steve Beck's shot went wide after he had wriggled past two Reds defenders on the edge of the box.

Then came the opening goal from a Newton corner kick, which caused problems at the near post for Workington, but Steve Halford appeared from a ruck of players to loop the ball over Adam Collin with his right foot.

Minutes later, Steve Pickford met a great cross from Newton, but his far post header flew just wide of Collin's left hand upright.

Workington then began to press for the equaliser, with Liam Brownhill having to hook clear from Arnison before Mawson turned away a 25 yard pile-driver from Kyle May.

Just before half-time, Jack Dorney crossed for Phil McLuckie to send a header over the apex of bar and post.

After the break, Carl Lamb shot wide for The Bloods, but Workington struck level in controversial fashion on 61 minutes. A free kick from Shaun Vipond had to be re-taken, and from his second attempt the referee's assistant signalled for a penalty kick, presumably for pushing by a Droylsden player. Arnison kept his cool, though, with Mawson going the wrong way.

Lamb then had another strike at goal, but this time he was way off the mark from Pickford's set-up, before McLuckie found himself with just Mawson to beat at the other end, but the Droylsden ‘keeper stood up well to save his shot from the edge of the box.

Mawson pulled off another good save from May's looping header, and Lee Andrews saw his shot blocked by Brownhill as Workington enjoyed a purple patch.

A great tackle from Mike Byron denied Arnison his second, and Andy Cook shot wide after good work by McLuckie.

Anthony Wright let The Bloods off the hook on 83 minutes when he shot wildly over from 14 yards after Halford's clearance had fell invitingly at his feet.

Having ridden the storm, Droylsden then attempted to snatch an unlikely winner, but Tony Gray shot well wide.

However, they were presented with a golden opportunity on the stroke of full-time when Jamie McGuire was tripped by Collin from Newton's free kick. The referee had no hesitation in awarding the spot kick, but failed to dismiss the Reds' custodian. That decision frustrated the Droylsden players, when Collin saved Newton's penalty with a full stretch dive to his left.

In terms of chances created, Workington will consider themselves unfortunate not to have won the game, but it's all about putting the ball into the net, and so at least in that respect a draw was probably a fair result – but Newton's penalty could have changed all that!

TEAMS:

Workington

Collin, Langford, Rowntree, May, Andrews, McLuckie, Vipond, Hopper, Wright J., Arnison (Cook, 78'), Dorney (Wright A., 67').

Unused Subs: Anane, Robinson, Hardman.

Droylsden

Mawson, Brownhill, Newton, Halford, Byron, Pickford, Beck (Morris, 82'), McGuire, Gray, Tipton (Prince, 68'), Lamb (Fitzpatrick, 82')

Unused Subs: Halford, Ruffer

Referee: Mr. Paul Marsden (Lancashire)

ATTENDANCE: 281