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| Iain Howard notched his debut County goal |
By Chris Larkin
County's first away game of the season offered a half of despair followed by 45 minutes of hope as they recorded a 1-1 draw with hosts Workington.
Despite a rotten performance in the opening game of the season on Saturday, young keeper Ian Ormson held onto his place. But towering defender James Tunnicliffe, who also suffered from a jittery display against Boston, wasn't so fortunate and was dropped as County went to a conventional 4-4-2 formation.
County started the game brightly, in a surreal atmosphere that felt more like a pre-season game than a league match.
A few corners and half chances fell to County but, after the bluster of the first few minutes, Workington really settled down and looked the more likely to score.
County just couldn't keep the ball and the passing was atrocious. A free kick just outside the area proved County's undoing on 12 minutes as a mixture of poor defending and a great header saw Kyle May score from the free-kick.
Even after the goal, Workington looked more likely to add to their tally. But County and a newly confident Ian Ormson weathered the storm and kept the score 1-0 till the break. Towards the end of the half the Hatters had a couple of half shouts for a penalty and a couple of decent chances, the best falling to Kristian Dennis, who's quick thinking and quick turn and shot forced the on-loan Newcastle goalie into a great point blank save.
Ian Bogie obviously had strong words for the players at half-time as they came out looking like a completely new team.
Only two minutes into the half County were level. Despite initially looking like the chance had gone, Iain Howard managed to level the scores after some good work before he slotted the ball in at the post.
After that, it really was all County till the final whistle. Cheered on by the brave 200 or so travelling fans, County looked to take the lead. Unfortunately, Workington's players had other ideas, happy to play the game out for a point.
Rhys Turner came on for Jevons after 15 minutes of the second half as Bogie looked to capitalise on Workington's 'defend everything' set-up. And Turner;s energy was immediately effective, setting up Craney for a long range effort that went just over the bar.
Fagbola went some way to making up for his below-par performance during Saturday's game by cleaning up following a bit of sloppy play from County's midfield as Workington looked to catch County on the break on a rare foray out of their own half.
Bogie made his second substitution of the night about 10 minutes from time with the introduction of Adriano Moke, replacing goalscorer Iain Howard.
Moke's trickery was a massive plus for the attacking team - he looked skilful, fast and a real pain for the Workington defence, winning a few corners and dangerous free-kicks.
But, despite Moke's threat, County couldn't quite get that winning goal and had to settle for a single point when three were there for the taking.
Perhaps Saturday's humiliation and Bogie's half time words have resonated with the new Hatters team - providing the rocket they all needed to realise that this is a long way from a park league.
It also provides a little more hope that the team can go and beat near neighbours Altrincham in the derby game this coming Saturday.
County Line-up: Ian Ormson, Kyle Jacobs, Stephen O'Halloran, Jordan Fagbola, Kieran Charnock, Jamie Hand, Anan Verma, Ian Craney, Iain Howard (Adriano Moke), Phil Jevons (Rhys Turner), Kris Dennis.
Unused Subs: Lewis King, James Tunnicliffe, Brandon Windsor.
Attendance: 563
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