Stockton completed the league double over luckless Reds for the second successive season, but had to work for the points on this occasion as a fine, determined effort from the hosts went unrewarded.

Reds will play their final home game of 2025 on Saturday when they host Stockton Town at Borough Park (3pm).

Workington’s mini revival came to a slithering halt in the Borough Park mud as ‘Brig finished the stronger, after what had been an even slog for seventy-five minutes.

Billy Barr has been in the Borough Park hot seat for a month now and his pragmatic approach to the task in hand seems to be working. Although still at the foot of the Premier Division table, Reds have shown a noticeable improvement recently and one defeat in six outings is a marked improvement on the half dozen matches prior to that. Reds won at Stocksbridge, under the final game of Brian Dawson’s tenure, and have added another six points under Barr’s watch. With a bit of lu

Unforeseen circumstances left Billy Barr short on numbers for this Premier Division clash and, when David Symington pulled up pre-match and Leek opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute, he must have felt luck was against him and his team.

Whatever happens on Saturday, Reds will still occupy the bottom rung of the Premier Division ladder so the objective is to reduce the points gap between themselves and their fellow strugglers.

A fully committed, high-energy performance probably deserved a better reward than the point Workington obtained, but the majority, of another bumper Borough Park crowd, would have probably settled for a draw beforehand.

It has been a very strange season for Warrington Town and their supporters. In recent weeks, they have been producing the results that the majority of Northern Premier League followers expected of them from the outset.

If Guiseley could have hand-picked a fixture to kick-start their season, I’m sure they would have opted for Workington. They have pieced together an impressive record against the Cumbrians over the years and Borough Park has proved a happy hunting ground in the past.

Reds and Guiseley go into Tuesday’s Premier Division encounter hoping they can continue their improved run of results following a recent change of managership.

Workington have played better than this and lost and have also performed a lot worse several times this season so, in the grand scheme of things, a battling draw was acceptable as they attempt to climb from the foot of the Premier Division table.

Reds will spend much of Saturday travelling up and down the M6 with an important NPL Premier Division fixture sandwiched in between.

Match photos from the Workington vs Hyde United game on Saturday 08 November 2025. Photos: Gary McKeating

A home win at last and one achieved from a thoroughly entertaining encounter at Borough Park, making Billy Barr’s first game in charge a rather special occasion.

We’re delighted to welcome Tyler Magloire to Workington AFC on non-contract terms!

Reds have been playing without a permanent manager in recent weeks, following the departure of Darren Edmondson a month ago. But our opponents have also been operating under similar circumstances with both Whitehaven (Cumberland Cup) and Stocksbridge Park Steels (NPL) also ‘managerless’ at the time. It should be pointed out that Hyde United do have a managerial team in place but Martin Coyne, Harry Bunn and Co are relatively new to the job having taken over from the Nick Spoo

It was certainly a standard Cumbrian welcome as new manager Billy Barr took charge of his first training session at a damp cold Newton Rigg.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Billy Barr as First Team Manager.

Workington emerged narrow but deserved winners in what was their first visit to the Bracken Moor Stadium for twenty-one years.

It is twenty-one years since we last crossed swords with Stocksbridge Park Steels so it will be good to reacquaint with the Steels.