28/01/2023
By Christopher Sweetman
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Click here for Castle Manager, Robin Van der Laan's, reaction to todays 3-0 defeat.
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Newcastle Town fell to a disappointing 3-0 defeat to high flying Workington AFC at the Borough Stadium.
Newcastle were looking to back up victory over Widnes in their last game against third place Workington, who were unbeaten in their last 11 games.
Newcastle had chances in a strong opening spell, but could not take their chances as Ryan Baxter headed straight at the home keeper James Atkinson. Instead, Workington had a goal disallowed, before Scott Allison converted from the spot to give them a halftime lead.
The home team continued strongly after the break, as Sam Smith and David Symington both added goals to underline a dominant win.
Newcastle dominated the opening exchanges, as the first few minutes were played almost exclusively in Workington’s half.
However, they could not translate that dominance in clear goal scoring chances, as Oliver Ritchie’s flick was collected by Atkinson.
Baxter then went down in a promising position, before heading wide – although he was offside.
Jack van der Laan then intercepted, and fed Nathan Morley, whose cross was claimed by Atkinson.
Workington were beginning to come back into the game, Symington fired wide after a Newcastle clearance was charged down.
The home side then found themselves wondering how they had failed to score after a frantic scramble in the Newcastle box.
First, Allison raced onto a through ball, which was saved by Newcastle keeper Joe Slinn, before Allison’s follow up was head off the line by James Askey, with Greg McCaragher then heading over.
Newcastle then had their best chance of the match, as Morley brought the ball up the Working box, and his cross was met by Baxter, but his header was straight at Atkinson.
Minutes later, Allison’s shot from range forced an excellent diving save from Slinn, who managed to tip the ball wide.
Newcastle then managed to get forward again, but Morley’s cross was well saved by Atkinson, before Will Lloyd fired over.
Workington thought they had opened the scoring as Allison tapped in after Slinn spilled Symington’s free kick, but the goal was disallowed as Slinn’s hand was on the ball.
However, the hosts then did take the lead, as they were awarded a penalty after Dan Wordsworth was brought down in the area.
Allison converted from the spot, for his seventh goal in his last six games, and to give Workington a narrow halftime lead. Newcastle had a strong opening to the second half, as Tommy van der Laan’s shot was deflected wide.
However, the second half for Newcastle saw a series of wasted attacking opportunities which never turned into chances.
This was seen early on in the half as Oliver Ritchie and Connor Russo both made strong breaks, but their finals passes both went too long.
Chances were slim for both sides in the opening 15 minutes of the half, before Lloyd set up Morley to fire over on the hour mark.
Workington were starting to exert pressure, with some resolute defending needed by the visitors to deny them a shot.
Lloyd did get the ball in the net approaching 70 minutes, but he was clearly offside before shooting.
Instead, Workington doubled their lead minutes later, as Smith headed across Slinn off Symington’s free kick.
Following the goal, Jack Derbyshire came on for Newcastle to make his debut for the club, following his transfer during the week.
However, Workington secured the win minutes later, as Symington was found in acres of space, and he confidently fired past Slinn.
From there, Workington controlled the game to see out the last ten minutes and extend their unbeaten run to 12 games.
Defeat sees Newcastle drop to 15th, and they welcome Prescott Cables to the Red Industries Stadium next week.