There was real Boxing Day classic at the Skuna Stadium as goals from Enock Lusiama, Josh Solomon-Davies and a brace for Jordan Scanlon powered Atherton Collieries to a 4-3 victory against Workington AFC in the NPL Premier Division.

The start could not have gone any better for the Colls as early pressure forced the ball to go for a corner, and Ben Rydel’s expert delivery found the leaping Lusiama to head home with less than two minutes on the clock.

The Black and Whites lined up with a new shape and it paid dividends when Rydel managed to free Lusiama in behind the Workington back line, and after some excellent hold-up play the ball found Scanlon who found the marauding Solomon-Davies. The Saint Lucian’s low shot beat the keeper to double the lead with less than a quarter of an hour played.

The third for Colls would come via Rydel again, who managed to get ball across to the on-rushing Scanlon. The young forward had two bites at the cherry, as his first effort was well kept out by Jim Atkinson in the Reds’ goal, but the rebound fell favourably and Scanlon would not be denied at the second time of asking.

After a blistering 35 minutes, Workington had abandoned all defensive stations and pulled one back with their first real attempt. A scuffed clearance was pounced upon as Scott Allison fired home.

Workington then made it two in three minutes. Right-back Greg McCaragher was found on the edge of the area and hit a thunderous strike across his body into the far-left corner, leaving Joe O’Shaughnessy rooted in the home goal and giving the Reds a renewed belief heading into the interval.

The second half started with Colls on the back foot as a succession of Workington chances were repelled by the defence - especially Jordan Boon, who played on throughout despite still struggling with his injury obtained in the weekend’s trip to Warrington.

But when the ball did manage to get through, O’Shaughnessy was in inspired from as he got down well to deal with an improvised effort from Steven Rigg who was leading the Reds’ line.

A chance for Colls came just before the hour as Dylan Thompson played a perfectly-weighted ball for Lusiama, who managed to find captain Mansell but the Skuna pitch provided another reprieve for Workington, as an untimely bobble took the ball away from the forward.

The game was comparable to a basketball game in the second half as both teams had chances galore but excellent goalkeeping from both O’Shaughnessy and Atkinson kept the game on a knife edge entering the last quarter of an hour.

A moment of brilliance would be needed to score past Atkinson in the second half and Scanlon produced one after he collected the ball just outside the area, jinked past three Workington players and calmly slotted the ball into the right-hand side of the goal to restore the hosts’ two-goal lead.

But, in one last scare, the visitors worked the ball out to the left and a cross managed to find a diving header from the flying David Symington to make the ending nervy. But the resilient Colls held on to make it four points from two festive games.

David Chadwick’s Stripes next head to Lancaster City on New Year’s Day.