Consett were dumped out of the League Cup by a good looking Penrith side on a freezing cold night in East Cumbria to end a run of five successive wins.

The only change to the side that had beaten South Shields was the inclusion of Craig Robson in the starting line up at the expense of Adam Emson who was carrying an injury. In the continuing absence of Mattie Moffat, David Pounder partnered Steven Johnson up front.

After four minutes Pounder went close when his 25 yard free-kick went wide. But Penrith weren’t giving Consett time to settle on the ball or get into any rhythm and they took the lead after eight minutes. Nobody picked up Brown as he ran onto a throughball, and he calmly rounded James Platten to net with ease.

The Steelmen looked to get into the game and on the quarter hour Johnson pulled the ball back for Andy Cuthbertson but his shot was comfortably saved by Holland.

But the visitors suffered a blow when The Blues doubled their lead after 23 minutes. There seemed to be little danger when Robinson picked the ball up 25 yards out but his well struck shot beat the diving Platten to nestle in the corner of the net.

Consett struggled to make any impression on the home defence and it was Penrith who almost added to their lead just before the half hour. Brown’s cross was headed on by Robinson for Robertson who headed straight at Platten.

Half time: Penrith 2-0 Consett

Moffat was introduced for the second half for the unlucky Robson and for a spell The Steelmen looked as though they might make a game of it. But despite some encouraging approach play they were unable to breach a stout Penrith rearguard well marshalled by Robertson.

Any thoughts of a fightback seemed to disappear on the hour when Jonjo Dickman was dismissed for a second yellow card. But a minute later the numbers were evened up when Penrith’s Brown also saw red for comments to the referee.

Robinson shot over for the home side from Douglas’ ball in after 73 minutes while at the other end Chris Scott saw a 20 yard effort go just wide.

Consett did force home keeper Holland to make a save with nine minutes to go when he tipped over Pounder’s shot from a Moffat lay off.

But the game was over with five minutes left when Penrith added a third. A good build up ended with the ball being pulled back to Paul who shot home into the top corner of the net with Platten having no chance.

Consett looked to get a late consolation with Gary Ormston and Cuthbertson going close but in truth they were well beaten and will want to put this one behind them as soon as possible.

Full time: Penrith 3-0 Consett

Andrew Pearson