ON THIS DAY: 17 February – Double over Spartans & Glenn Murray’s first senior goal
Plenty of away games, no wins at Borough Park and too many matches where we have failed to score, portrays a disappointing picture for Reds when they have turned out on the 17th February in bygone years…….
2018 Rushall Olympic (away) 0-1 Our fourth and final visit to Dales Lane (featured) resulted in a second defeat there with the hosts cashing in on a defensive error to score a 44th minute winner. After the midweek trip to Bromley, the journey to Walsall was a doddle in comparison!
2009 Solihull Moors (away) 0-2 A Tuesday evening fixture in the West Midlands always presented logistical problems with the coach leaving Borough Park at 1pm and getting back fourteen hours later. In between the coach journey, the team then had to meet the various challenges on the pitch and, despite a bright start, we failed to do that on this occasion.
Andy Cook made his debut after joining us on loan from Carlisle United and came close to scoring a consolation goal, heading narrowly wide.
2007 Blyth Spartans (away) 2-0 This was Workington’s first win at Blyth for fifty nine years with the fully deserved victory completing a rare double over the Spartans. Derek Townsley opened the scoring with a superb left-footed shot with less than five minutes on the clock and Craig Johnston’s well taken second on the hour secured the win. It was then up to the defence to keep the hosts at arm’s length which they did with the help of an Adam Collin penalty save.
The victory lifted Reds to 6th position in Nationwide North.
2001 Bradford Park Avenue (home) 2-5 Glenn Murray’s first senior goal was scored in this high-scoring contest but it was the final goal of the afternoon in a comprehensive defeat by the eventual NPL First Division champions. Another ‘GM’, Gary Milne, had scored for Reds in the first half while Wayne Benn, more recently the manager of Ossett United, was amongst the goals for Avenue.
1996 Eastwood Town (home) 1-2 Michael Dempsey, one of the few players to have played for both Workington Town and the Reds, made his debut in this game and came close to scoring but saw his effort rebound off the woodwork.
When we did score it came via Eastwood player, Carl Flint, when he deflected a wayward shot past his own ‘keeper.
It was the first of two games that weekend with a Cumberland Cup semi-final played at Keswick on the Sunday.
1990 Alfreton Town (away) 0-2 This was another busy weekend with a match at Alfreton on the Saturday afternoon before the double header was completed at Eastwood Town the following morning.
We failed to impress in the North Street mud and the Alfreton Reds emerged deserved winners.
1980 Gateshead (away) 0-0 Reds had lost at home to Marine on the Saturday then travelled to the International Stadium for a re-arranged match the following day (Sunday). The original fixture at Gateshead had been abandoned on Boxing Day due to a floodlight failure with Reds 2-0 ahead after an hour’s play.
No surprise with the outcome second time around!
1974 Barnsley (away) 0-4 Barnsley were strong at home and Reds pretty feeble on the road during the ’73-74 season, so our heaviest defeat at Oakwell was no great surprise.
1968 Chester (away) 2-1 We enjoyed quite a bit of success at Chester’s old Sealand Road ground but the match winning goals on this occasion came from two unexpected sources. The first was an unfortunate own-goal from the late Mike Sutton (Chris Sutton’s dad) and the second came from Alan Kirkman who didn’t score many during his Reds’ career.
1962 Crewe Alexandra (home) 0-1 Only Darlington and Hartlepool visited Borough Park more than Crewe during our twenty six seasons in the Football League and this was one of their four successes on our patch.
