ON THIS DAY: 12 February – Walshy’s 50th year & Reds 1000th Football League goal
A look through the archives to see what was happening to Reds on the 11th February in years gone by…….
2017 Warrington Town (home) 3-1 Prior to kick off, the club made a special presentation to John Walsh recognising his fifty years in the Borough Park press box and the doyen of local media was given a cracking game to report on thanks to a very satisfying Reds’ performance.
Warrington started brightly but the boys gained control in a goalless first half before dominating the second. Dav Symington opened the scoring via a 52nd minute penalty and then a masterly Conor Tinnion display left Town floundering. He made it 2-0 with a right foot curler from outside the box then scored a superb left-footed free kick from a similar distance.
Town grabbed their consolation goal just before the end.
2012 Eastwood Town (home) 3-0 David Hewson scored some spectacular goals during his Workington career and Eastwood were on the receiving end of one of them nine years ago. Dabba’s sublime chip from outside the area gave Reds a half time lead, paving the way to a comfortable victory. Phil McLuckie and Jonny Wright added further goals after the break in a convincing home performance.
2006 Hednesford Town (away) 0-0 Reds had to grind out a hard-earned point on their first visit to Keys Park in a ‘game of two halves’. Town shaded the first and Adam Collin was kept busy, with Reds moving up a gear after the break and coming the closest to scoring – Kyle May’s long up-field punt striking the crossbar.
1995 Radcliffe Borough (home) 1-6 The referee made his first mistake before kick- off, declaring a waterlogged pitch playable – it was anything but!
The surface was a morass afterwards and our pride dented somewhat after a 6-1 thumping by a more experienced Boro side. Martin Henderson did equalise from a penalty in the first half but the visitors ran riot in the second with Andy Graham helping himself to a hat-trick.
Keeping goal for Radcliffe that day was Ian Senior who has been our kit supplier in recent seasons!
1989 Irlam Town (home) 2-1 The players and officials were subjected to another poor Borough Park surface but deserved praise for providing an entertaining game in the circumstances. Graeme Nicholson scored a goal in each half to secure the points and Reds’ first league double since the ’85-86 season.
1984 Marine (home) 2-1 We met our friends from Crosby five times (League, League Cup and President’s Cup) during the ’83-84 campaign and this League Cup tie was the only match which resulted in a Reds victory.
It didn’t look so good after forty five minutes, though, as Marine were deservedly one goal ahead. But Wayne Harrison, just a player in those days, turned the game around with two well taken goals to seal a fine comeback.
1967 Shrewsbury Town (away) 1-3 We never managed to get the better of Shrewsbury in ten Football League meetings (four draws, six defeats) and were certainly second best on this particular visit to Gay Meadow.
New signing Tommy Spratt scored for Reds that day – his fourth goal in four matches!
1966 Oxford United (home) 2-1 Workington reached a notable milestone in this Third Division fixture with Dave Butler having the satisfaction of scoring Reds 1,000th goal in the Football League. Billy Griffin then scored our 1,001st to secure a narrow win.
1956 Derby County (home) 0-3 We welcomed the Rams to West Cumberland for the first time following their relegation from the Second Division. They were hoping to bounce back at the first attempt and their ten away wins included victories at Borough Park, Brunton Park and Holker Street. They had a good season but missed out on promotion, finishing as runners-up to Grimsby Town. Having drawn (2-2) at the Baseball Ground, we were disappointed to lose by three clear goals in the return.
