ON THIS DAY: 15 December – ‘the wheels came off’
The 15th December seems to have been a successful day for the Reds in the past apart from one afternoon when ‘the wheels came off’………….
1951
A near 6,000 crowd squeezed into Witton Albion’s old Central Ground to see the Cheshire County League side take on Workington in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup. It finished in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Chris Simmonds (2) and John Maxfield scoring for Reds.
1956
Goals from Ken Chisholm, Billy Robson and Tommy Kinloch helped Reds maintain an impressive first half of the season with a 3-2 home win over Tranmere Rovers.
1962
Our Hungarian player, Johnny Haasz, scored his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw at Chesterfield.
1973
A Fourth Division fixture versus Exeter City made the headlines after Workington announced their lowest ever crowd for a Football League fixture – just 693 fans passing through the Borough Park turnstiles.
The game itself saw defender Joe Wilson playing in goal for the later stages after goalkeeper Mike Rogan sustained a burst nose. Mike finished the game as a winger.
Despite switching ‘goalkeepers’, we won 3-1thanks to Keith Skillen’s first goal on home soil, a Johnny Martin penalty and a Jimmy Goodfellow strike.
1979
The away trip to Gainsborough Trinity didn’t go to plan when the front nearside wheel sheared off the team coach about nine miles from the stadium. A fleet of taxis got the players to the ground and kick-off was only delayed by fifteen minutes.
No one was injured, thankfully, and a 3-0 defeat was as bad as it got.
To compound a frustrating day, the players had to wait a further two hours after the game until the replacement coach turned up.
1984
Keith Hunton kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 home draw against Oswestry Town.
1990
South Liverpool were the visitors to west Cumbria for a NPL Challenge Cup tie and forced a replay following a 2-2 draw. Two of our Carlisle based players, Duncan Armstrong and Andy Walker, shared the goals.
1998
Despite a poor performance defensively, the lads recorded a fine 4-3 win in an FA Vase replay at Tow Law Town. Jeff Henderson scored twice with Stuart Williamson and Darren Wilson also finding the target.
2007
The famous old rugby league venue, Hilton Park, staged our FA Trophy tie against Leigh RMI so there was plenty of room for the hundred, or so, spectators and no problem ‘social distancing’.
Matthew Berkeley, Craig Johnston and Jonny Wright netted the Workington goals in a comfortable 3-1 success.
2012
Reds completed a home and away double over Stalybridge Celtic with a 4-1 victory at Bower Fold, a repeat of the Borough Park score line.
David Hewson scored his final league goal for Reds that day but Joe Mwasile was ‘man-of-the-match’ thanks his two goals with Gareth Arnison completing our tally.
2015
Kyle Cameron joined us on loan from Newcastle United and then scored three minutes into his Workington debut at Marine. The 2-1 victory was secured thanks to another first time scorer, Rob McCartney.
2018
Storm Deirdre was the only winner in an FA Trophy tie at Borough Park. In driving, freezing rain (horizontal at times) and a gale force wind, a match against Ramsbottom United finished goalless with both sets of players surviving the ‘testing’ conditions.
