Colne fought out a well deserved draw at Workington on Tuesday night. The Reds were the first team to take points off Workington who previously had a hundred percent record and Colne shocked their hosts by taking the lead late on before conceding an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game.
The game was played out almost entirely in heavy rain and Workington looked to take advantage of the conditions with some long shots to test keeper Hakan Burton in the Colne goal. But the Colne stopper was equal to the challenge and made his first save after only four minutes when he pushed Dave Symington’s 35 yard shot over his crossbar.
As the home side enjoyed some good attacking play, Connor Tinnion curled a shot just over the top corner of the Reds goal and Brad Carroll’s searching diagonal ball into the goalmouth was pushed behind by Burton at the expense of a corner. And from the resulting cross, Burton was in action again fisting the ball away from Ash Kelly’s head at the far post.
After 22 minutes, Symington made a run into the Reds area and went down under a challenge but the referee waved aside claims for a penalty for the home side. And as the half wore on, Colne came more into the game with some good moves through the midfield and Lee Pugh’s cross after 25 minutes was headed wide by Sefton Gonzales from a good opening.
Ten minutes later, Colne came close to a goal when Billy Hasler-Cregg beat the defenders on the left wing and his cross to the far post was headed down by Gonzales but Workington keeper Jim Atkinson got down to keep the ball out of the bottom corner of his goal with a reaction save.
With half time approaching, Hasler-Cregg again opened up the home defence on the left wing and his cross was helped on by Max Hazeldine to Gonzales at the far post but he was unable to find a way past Atkinson who blocked his way to goal.
Colne pushed forward as the second half began and Pugh saw his shot saved by the keeper following a Reds corner before Hazeldine pulled a shot just past the far post after a good run on the right wing. As play swung to the other end, Cieran Casson saw his shot blocked in the Reds area after a good run through midfield and Liam Brockbank’s high cross from the left wing was well held by Burton at the far post under pressure.
After 70 minutes, a strong run by Gonzales took him into the home penalty area and his shot from a tight angle was cleared off the goal-line by a defender. But after 81 minutes, Gonzales outpaced defenders on the left wing and pulled the ball back for Hasler-Cregg to fire home from 12 yards to give Colne the lead.
Six minutes later, Workington hit back when a shot was blocked in the Reds area before the loose ball fell to Scott Allison who drove a diagonal shot into the far corner of the Colne net to level the scores at 1-1.
The drama continued in the remaining minutes of the game when Reece Webb-Foster miskicked when presented with a great chance laid on by Will Harris while at the other end Nathan Waterston struck the Colne post with a diagonal shot. And Burton made a vital save to deny Allison who latched on to a wayward back pass before the Reds had claims for a penalty when Gonzales went down in the Workington goalmouth in the last minute of added time.