Here we are in mid-April with matters still to be resolved at both ends of the NPL Premier Division table. And in this part of the world, that means Workington is still embroiled in the battle to avoid relegation and a return to Step 4 football. Another below par performance, and defeat by the odd goal in three, will increase the tension amongst supporters for another week at least as three more points slipped away. This particular fixture has never produced a goalless draw

A priceless goal from Dan Hopper towards the end of a bizarre game kept Workington’s survival hopes alive, as the fight to avoid the drop intensifies.

Over the last eight days, we have seen the best and worst of Workington and a cruel reminder of how tough and demanding the NPL Premier Division can be. In their last home game, they swept aside title challengers, Hednesford Town, but were quickly given a reminder of reality after this abject showing, against a Rylands outfit who could feature prominently in the play-offs. Reds looked a pale shadow of the team that had pieced together an impressive nine-match unbeaten run and

Reds extended their winning sequence to thirteen matches after completing a Lancashire League double over Squires Gate.

Having clinched the JPL title with a home win over Rose three weeks earlier, Reds came unstuck in the return fixture and tamely surrendered their unbeaten record.

A warm feeling emerged at a bitterly cold Borough Park as Reds emerged deserved winners against promotion chasers, Hednesford.

A tense nervous affair with both teams all too aware of the importance of this fixture.  But Workington, when not at their best in a poor first half, did not flinch and, ultimately, just about deserved three priceless points.

Workington’s patience was rewarded with three late goals, extending their winning run to twelve matches.

The young Reds dropped their first points of the season in what was the typical ‘game of two halves’!

If anything was going to get the better of Workington in yet another important fixture at the foot of the table, it was their own state of mind.

A very young Reds team crashed out of the Lancashire League Cup in wet and windy conditions at the Giant Axe. They were taken out of their comfort zone of U18 football and thrown into the lion’s den against a more experienced City line-up. But for twenty-nine minutes, Reds kept City at arm’s length and played some decent football without seriously testing the home ‘keeper, Harry Pemberton. The floodgates opened after Ben Jackson’s goal, though, with the Dolly Blues scoring th

The Young Reds registered an eleventh consecutive win in the JPL North West Division, a victory that has clinched the title…….with three games to go!

Workington arguably had the toughest task, with their game at Nethermoor, but extended the unbeaten run to six games with a battling performance.

Workington’s great start to the calendar year continued with a third successive, hard-fought home win leaving them unbeaten in six, with just one loss in ten.

Credit to the Wigan based Warriors for fulfilling the fixture on a Monday evening and doing so without several regulars.  They made a bright start and were technically very good throughout but, ultimately, were swept aside by a physically stronger Reds outfit.

Saturday morning’s trip to Manchester proved beneficial with the Young Reds coming out on top in a ten-goal thriller, completing a league double in the process.

Borough Park has staged so much late drama this season, so no great surprise that we had to wait until the eighty-eighth minute for a goal.

Reds’ bewildering season took another dramatic twist in Lincolnshire.  They avoided the late, late drama that has plagued their season, which has seen fourteen points dropped from the eighty-fifth minute onwards.

A spectacular Ryan Handford goal in the dying seconds maintained the young Reds winning sequence but they were stretched all the way by a good Witton Albion outfit.

At the thirteenth attempt, Workington returned to winning ways and whilst they couldn’t replicate the fluent, attacking football they produced on recent away days this display of courage, commitment and character epitomised the sort of qualities needed for a relegation scrap.