ACCRINGTON Stanley made the long journey home from Borough Park, Workington, without a point after sloppy defending cost them the only goal of the game.

They started brightly enough with stand-in centre forward Steve Carragher hitting the side netting after Gary Williams laid the ball back to him from the byline.

Workington centre forward Brian Dawson showed a lot of pace in chasing a through ball that Jamie Speare kicked out of play in the nick of time.

On nine minutes, Mark Shirley was caught in possession just outside his own area and the ball found the unmarked Graham Goulding on the right of goal, and he slotted it home from eight yards.

Stanley right back Steve Caswell made an excellent tackle to stop Dawson as he broke clear again.

Goulding laid the ball off to left back John Kay who found captain and former Manchester City and Spurs man Paul Stewart, but he shot wide of the upright as Workington put Stanley under pressure again.

Accrington's Carl Bell played the ball down the left and Gary Williams out-pacing his marker, crossed an excellent ball that Jay Flannery shot just wide of the upright.

At the other end, Johnathan Smith got a foot in to clear for a corner under pressure from Dawson. Speare had to make a good save from Stewart after he fluffed his clearance, the ball going straight to Workington's number 10.

Brett Baxter and Caswell shot over from distance for Stanley, before Speare again made a top class one-handed save from Goulding. In the second half Mark Ceraolo and Mark Howard replaced Smith and Flannery with Steve Carragher reverting to right-sided midfield. Stanley's Ceraolo and Carragher had chances to level within seconds of each other early.

Shirley attempted a chip on goal but former Stanley keeper John Armfield caught the ball easily, and a Shirley free kick found Williams, but his first-time shot went wide. As the Crown Ground men pushed for the equaliser, first Baxter and then Bell crossed from the left, but the Workington defence cleared their lines.

Stanley had a lot of possession in the second half, but it was Workington who came closest to scoring. With time running out, the home side got stronger and Speare had to be at his best to push a shot from Stewart around the post.

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