On this day – 10 April
A look through the archives to see what was happening to Reds on 10 April in previous years………………..
Salford City were due to meet Carlisle United today but twenty one years ago they were in Cumbria hoping to derail Workington’s charge towards the North West Counties League title.
The ‘dirty old town’s’ team were unlucky not to take the lead at Borough Park when Mark Keyes’ shot hit the woodwork (at 0-0) but, thereafter, Reds dominated and City were quite fortunate to escape with just a 5-0 defeat – it could have been double figures with a host of chances, and a penalty, squandered.
Two cracking goals from Paul Stewart (pictured) put Peter Hampton’s side in complete control and the points were all but in the bag when Darren Wilson netted a third. Two substitutes then entered the fray and added their names to the score-sheet, Grant Holt bagged the fourth with Stuart Millar, who missed a penalty, scoring the fifth in the last minute.
Reds are effectively one level higher than they were then, but have yo-yoed up and down since. Salford eventually caught up, overtook us and are now well established in EFL Two.
We also enjoyed a strong finish to the ‘09-10 season and recorded a seventh consecutive win at AFC Telford United’s expense ten years ago. A 2-1 success was obtained on the back of goals from Shaun Vipond (pictured) and Tony Hopper as the challenge for a play-off spot was gathering momentum.
Workington’s best win on this day was against Carlisle United Reserves, a North Eastern League fixture played at Lonsdale Park back in1936. Reds won 6-1 with Maidment, Sewell and Huddart each scoring twice.
Remarkably Reds played another league match next day, it was Easter at the time, and again won 6-1.
The contrast in attendances was quite interesting. The Friday match pulled in a crowd of 2,552 but just 1,253 turned up next day.
Carlisle United Reserves stood between us and glory in 1937 when we again met on 10 April – this time in the Cumberland Cup Final. And we lifted the trophy for a fifteenth time after winning by the odd goal in five. Tommy Maidment scored twice for Reds in the final, in which we had home advantage.
There is no better feeling than a match day win but such elation was put into perspective when we travelled to Great Harwood Town in1995. We were greeted by the tragic news that our former manager, Mick Heaton, had been killed in a car crash near to where we were playing that night.
Just five Football League matches have been played on this day with a 2-1Borough Park success over Southport in 1971helping us to a 10th place finish. Dave Irving and Brian Wood shared our goals that day.
And two years ago, our home match versus Farsley Celtic clashed with the televised Manchester City/Liverpool Champions League quarter final tie. As a consequence, we recorded our lowest gate (189) for five years and, to compound the disappointment, we also lost 2-1. Dav Symington netted our consolation goal.
