Last updated at 12:29, Monday, 04 October 2010

Workington Reds 0 Nuneaton Borough 1: Workington Reds paid the penalty for failing to test Nuneaton keeper Danny Alcock as they slipped to their first home defeat of the season.

Jonny Wright

A 65th minute spot kick by Kyle Storer was enough to hand the Warwickshire side all three points and Lee Andrews had sent Donovan Simmonds crashing to the floor.

Keeper Aaran Taylor guessed right but was unable to get a hand to Simmonds firm strike.

The goal was all either side could produce during 90 minutes of stale football.

Reds had plenty of possession but failed to create any chances to test Alcock.

The Nuneaton shot-stopper was a bystander for the entire match and didn’t have to save a shot hit in anger.

Boss Darren Edmondson made three changes from the side that scraped past West Auckland in the FA Cup.

Out went Alex White, Conor Tinnion and Stevie Hindmarch, with Gair Rowntree, Anthony Wright and a fit again Shaun Vipond coming in.

The game began with both sides trying to establish their dominance. It ebbed and flowed but neither side had a chance to open the scoring.

The closest either side came to netting in the first 30 minutes was when Mark Noon miscued from inside the box, which allowed Rowntree to clear the danger.

Nuneaton looked dangerous on the break, attacking with pace through Justin Marsden and Simmonds.

While Workington looked to move the ball and executed a number of neat passing moves, but failed to deliver balls into the box for Jonny Wright and Matty Tymon to get on to.

Nuneaton’s game plan was to hit Workington on the break but looked to slow the game down.

Alcock was a prime example of their lumbering play, taking more than a minute to take goal kicks.

Perhaps, his slowness was down to his awful ability to strike a moving ball, sending countless kicks into touch.

Reds shaded possession in the first half and had half a chance to take the lead going into half-time when captain David Hewson hit a volley over the bar from 25 yards.

Hewson’s technique was perfect but his execution let him down as the ball sailed over from Gareth Arnison’s pinpoint cross.

Hewson was in the thick of the action and his determined style saw him take an awful knock to the face from Storer.

Storer’s elbow flew into Hewson’s face as both players battled for the ball but it was not spotted by the officials.

Two minutes after the restart, Nuneaton had a chance to break the deadlock when Simmonds broke into the box but his shot was well saved by Taylor low to his right.

Like in the first half, neither side could grab the game by the scruff of the neck, until Andrews felled Simmonds in the box to gift Nuneaton a glorious chance from the penalty spot.

Storer obliged and netted leading Edmondson to make changes with Tinnion and Hindmarch coming on in a bid to get back on level terms.

In previous matches, Reds have been dangerous after going a goal down but couldn’t get any momentum going.

Two set-pieces in good positions from Rowntree could have led to a Reds fight-back but the ability to provide probing balls into the box let Workington down.

First published at 11:36, Monday, 04 October 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk