On this day – 18 April

A browse through the archives to see what was happening to Reds on 18 April in previous years……..

One fact quite obvious about this particular day is that away trips have outnumbered matches at Borough Park with very few played on home soil.

And the games played in 1964 and 1984 were significant in terms of achievement.

We were on course for promotion as the ’63-64 campaign neared completion and the first of two away games in the final week took us to Lincoln City.  Our record at Sincil Bank, before and after our 1964 visit, was poor to say the least so our only ever win there was greeted with plenty of cheer by those involved at the time.

The 2-0 victory took us within touching distance of going up with goals from regular scorers Barry Lowes and Bill Hopper (inset) securing the points.

Fast forward to 1984 and our beloved Reds were involved in a rare cup final.  We travelled to Marine for the first leg of the President’s Cup Final with only a handful of Workington supporters able to make the midweek game at College Road.

It finished 1-1 on the night with John Reach scoring our goal, so all to play for in the return leg.

In contrast to going up or landing a trophy, our 1998 visit to Trafford culminated in relegation to the North West Counties League.  Our 2-1 defeat at Shawe View, coupled with results elsewhere, meant that Reds, and Buxton, would drop out of Division One of the NLP.  We gave it a good go on the day but a fine goal from Lee Collins was of little consolation.

King’s Lynn have been our opponents twice on this day in the past.  Back in 1981 we staged a home game against them with Ian Innes scoring our goal in a 1-1 draw.

Then, in 2009, we obtained a first ever win at The Walks stadium in what was a first visit to Norfolk in twenty seven years.

Andy Cook netted twice in a 3-1 victory with Callum Ruttledge also on target, his first league goal for the club.

We always enjoyed our trips to Ilkeston and that was the case in 2015 when a straightforward 3-0 win was recorded thanks to goals from Scott Allison, Alex Salmon and Anthony Wright.

Alex Rollo converted the winning goal v. Aldershot from the penalty spot here in 1959, as we ended our first season in the Fourth Division on a winning note.

Goalless draws have been played in 1987 (at Mossley), 1927 (Preston Colliery) and 1923 (Scotswood).

Two years ago we weren’t far from home, playing a Cumberland Cup semi-final at Cleator Moor Celtic (action picture) – managed at the time by ex. Red, Stuart Green.

The game finished in a 1-1 draw, Craig Corkhill and Jamie Pattinson the respect scorers, with the ‘hoops’ going through after winning the penalty shoot-out, 5-3.  Kieran Maguire and Jordan Little converted spot kicks for Celtic as did Dav Symington, Matty Douglas and Jordan Holt for Reds.  Unfortunately, Sam Smith’s effort was saved by Craig Devine which proved costly. A crowd of over 400 at Birks Road boosted the Celtic coffers.