Last updated at 12:18, Monday, 08 November 2010

Workington Reds 0 Stalybridge Celtic 5: Workington Reds slumped to their heaviest defeat under Darren Edmondson with a five star showing from Stalybridge Celtic.

Reds lost at home to Stalybridge

Striker Phil Marsh netted four times as Celtic ran riot against, playing Workington off the park with Lloyd Ellams condemning Reds to the drubbing.

Edmondson kept faith with the 5-3-2 formation that saw his team lose 3-0 to Droylsden but it backfired with Celtic out-passing, out-playing and out-scoring the Borough Park side.

The 39-year-old boss had to make changes to his starting XI after Gari Rowntree collapsed in training with a knee injury.

The leftback will see specialists this week and needs to undergo an MRI scan to determine the severity of the injury.

The late change saw Anthony Wright slip into Rowntree’s left-sided position with Stevie Hindmarch keeping his midfield place.

Reds started brightly and should have taken the lead on five minutes but Ryan Bowman’s first-time effort was blocked by Celtic shot-stopper Jan Budtz.

It was a neatly worked move with Anthony Wright firing a pass into Gareth Arnison, who played the perfect ball to set up Bowman.

Unfortunately the Carlisle loanee’s right-footed side-foot was straight at Budtz, who used his legs to deny the young striker.

Arnison was next to try his luck but flicked Shaun Vipond’s corner past the post on 12 minutes.

Reds’ inability to finish off their chances cost them as Celtic took the lead four minutes later.

Ellams picked the ball up on the right of the pitch. Drifting in-field, he ghosted past Andy Langford and Kyle May before dragging his shot into the corner past Aaran Taylor.

The goal came against the run of play and galvanised the Stalybridge side. They pressed more and doubled their lead on 20 minutes.

Callum Warburton’s vicious cross-shot was headed off the line by Vipond, who deflected it for a corner.

The ball was whipped into the feet of March, who, with his back to goal cheekily back-healed the ball into the unguarded corner.

The goal frustrated the Reds players and stand-in skipper Vipond was lucky to get away with a booking after flying into a tackle on Jack Rae.

Rae jumped to miss the wild attempt to win the ball and Vipond was shown the yellow card.

Reds held out until half-time but capitulated in the second half as the players looked uncomfortable playing the new formation.

A minute after the restart a calamitous back-pass by Alex White was intercepted by Marsh. The deadly striker kept his cool to loft the ball over Taylor and into the top corner.

Reds’ chances were few and far between and Vipond slashed over the bar after a quick free-kick by Wright.

The three Workington strikers of Arnison, Bowman and new recruit Michael Smith were given a thankless task in search of reducing the score-line.

The trio spent 90 minutes chasing long balls and were unable to make any impact on the game.

Reds’ misery was made worse when Marsh netted his hat-trick on 53 minutes.

The lively front man raced clear of Workington’s ragged defence, rounded Taylor and stabbed the ball into an empty net.

By that time Edmondson had seen enough and brought off White, who was replaced by Conor Tinnion.

The substitution brought a change of formation back to the normal 4-4-2 line-up.

Just after the hour-mark, the rout was completed when Marsh ran through one-on-one for the second time. Ellams threaded through-ball was superb and sent Marsh on for his fourth strike.

The Workington lads were floored by the goal and only managed to produce a speculative 20-yard strike by Adam Main, an awful free-kick by Tinnion and a shot by Matty Tymon that went wide during the entire second half.

Star man: Phil Marsh stole the show with his devastating display of finishing but no man in a Reds shirt took can look back at the game and say they played well.

Workington Reds: Taylor, Langford, White (Tinnion 54), May, Andrews, Vipond (Main 78), Bowman, Hindmarch, Smith (Tymon 72), Arnison, A Wright. Subs not used: J Wright, Blake.

Attendance: 393

Referee: Anthony Backhouse

First published at 11:35, Monday, 08 November 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk