Match Report - Vanarama National League North - Tuesday February 9th, 2010 Tue Feb 9th 2010

A frustrating night in cold Cumbria has left Celtic with two points from the last five matches after the only goal of the game came thirty-six seconds into the game, Jonny Wright the recipient of Gareth Arnison's through ball after latching onto a loose pass, and Wright finished well, sliding the ball between Dave Carnell and his post.

Workington have the strongest defence in the league, and they worked hard to maintain that, frustrating Celtic. Matty Barlow was closed down quickly by the wing,l but did win a corner out of Gari Rowntree that was whipped in with Joe O'Neill getting good contact on the ball, only for Tony Craig to make the save. A Keith Briggs effort after running half the pitch took a wicked deflection, but it served to take the sting out of the shot, and Craig managed to get across, while at the other end, Wright got free again in the box, but a cracking stop from Carnell denied him. Warren Peyton had two free kicks that skimmed narrowly past the upright, but it was mainly set pieces where Celtic were getting their chances.

Celtic looked to have been handed a life line when Connor Jennings had his legs taken from under him by an over exuberant tackle in the box from Lee Andrews, and Joe O'Neill placed the ball. Though perfectly placed just inside the post, the penalty lacked the power and Craig got down and across well to push it wide. It was getting harder and harder for Celtic to get any kind of momentum going against Workington, and the game wasn't pretty, but chances did come, O'Neill flashing a shot from a narrow angle across the face of goal, and Matty Barlow turning his marker only to see his shot hit the side netting. Briggs curled one from the edge of the box, but it too went wide. The difficult became impossible when Steve Woods went for a high ball with his knee up, his knee going through the back of Tony Hopper and earning the Celtic defender a straight red.

Though Michael Carr came on and managed to cover all the field in his short stay, from last ditch tackles outside the Celtic box, to putting crosses in and harrying around the Workington box, it wasn't enough, and it was Workington who could have grabbed the next goal, with both Arnison and Wright having good opportunities to add to the goal, but both times Carnell was up to the task.