ON THIS DAY: 24 March – Victories over Town (twice) & victory over the Reds
REDS HAVE SCORED SEVERAL SPECTACULAR GOALS ON THIS DAY IN THE PAST BUT HAVE RARELY NETTED MORE THAN ONCE IN A GAME, DREW EACH OF THEIR FOUR FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAMES, WON AND LOST TO MOSSLEY AND RECORDED TWO VICTORIES AT HARROGATE – ALL ON THE 24th MARCH IN PREVIOUS YEARS…….
2018 Mickleover Sports (away) 0-1 On the whole, this was a poor effort from Reds and the outcome was a disappointing defeat. The Derbyshire outfit clinched the points when skipper Tom Burgin met the ball unchallenged to head home a near post corner soon after half time.
Max Brown made his debut via the bench after joining us on loan from Carlisle United but we created few opportunities in their area.
There was an unusual family link amongst the officials with the assistants, Tom and Paul Wainman, a father and son combination.
2012 Harrogate Town (away) 1-0 Darren Edmondson had been busy prior to the registration deadline and had boosted the squad with six new recruits. Three of those, Adam Flynn (ex. Southport and Altrincham), Jordan Connerton (on loan from Crewe Alexandra) and Mark Beck (on loan from Carlisle United) were named on the team sheet for the Blue Square Bet North fixture at Wetherby Road.
Adam Flynn 
Phil McLuckie
Flynn played the full ninety minutes and the other two came on via the bench with all three creating a favourable impression.
And to cap a good afternoon’s work, a superb twenty five yard strike from Phil McLuckie proved to be the match winner as early as the eighth minute.
2009 Harrogate Town (away) 1-0 March visits to North Yorkshire were like finding a pot of gold with three Conference North wins at Harrogate over four seasons. This was the first of those successes at the CNG Stadium.
Anthony Wright popped up with the winning goal scoring direct from a delightful free-kick with only three minutes on the clock and, despite the corner count being 9-0 in Town’s favour, we emerged worthy winners.
2008 Southport (away) 1-1 A first visit to Southport’s Haig Avenue ground for twenty years finished in a draw but left Reds somewhat frustrated as they were the better side for long periods of the game.
We had gone in front via an own-goal from Kevin Lee but squandered several chances before Tony Gray levelled matters for the hosts.
1990 Alfreton Town (home) 1-0 Our Reds and the Alfreton Reds were bottom six clubs in the NPL First Division at the time and we were considered rather fortunate to win this encounter at Borough Park.
Workington were awarded a controversial penalty, we claimed the foul was just inside the area, Alfreton argued it was in the ‘D’. Graeme Nicholson then had his spot kick saved by the vastly experienced ‘keeper, Graeme Crawford but the latter could only parry the ball and our top scorer made no mistake with the rebound.
1984 Mossley (home) 1-0 Mossley were a dominant force during our first seven seasons in the Northern Premier League and had won the title twice and finished runners-up three times during that period.
We actually finished above them in the table for the first time in 1984 with a league double helping us do that. John Reach scored the only goal in the second half of the Borough Park encounter.
Mossley had knocked us out of the FA Cup earlier in the season but would finish at the foot of the table, Reds 15th.
1982 Mossley (away) 1-2 We had to travel to Seel Park for the second leg of a League Cup semi-final and it was already a damage limitation exercise having been hammered 4-0 at Borough Park a week earlier.
By half time we had shipped another two goals so we were 6-0 down on aggregate at that point. Thankfully, Mossley showed a little bit of mercy in the second half allowing Bryan Kent to score our consolation goal.
1979 Boston United (away) 1-2 This was the fourth meeting against the Pilgrims and, sadly, a fourth defeat for Reds. They would be a ‘bogey’ side to us for many years but the general feeling was we were unlucky to lose to the reigning champions in this particular York Street meeting.
Reds had gone in front with a superb individual goal from Keith Armstrong but we could not add to the tally – our finishing not matching some decent approach play.
The hosts were back on terms via a penalty, harshly conceded by Mick Leng, and duly converted. They then netted a scrambled winner and to compound a frustrating afternoon skipper Leng was sent off.
There was some cheer in the pubs and clubs that night, however, after Workington Town returned from Headingley after an unexpected 31-11 victory over Leeds.
1973 Gillingham (home) 1-1 Much of the post match debate concentrated on the sub. 1,000 attendance (just 918 had paid to go through the turnstiles) which was the second lowest attendance up to that point of our Football League membership.
Several more games would attract even lower crowds in our last few seasons in the Fourth Division.
The game itself was evenly fought and a John Rowlands goal ensured we obtained a point, adding to the two we won in Kent earlier in the campaign.
1971 Brentford (home) 1-1 Brentford were making their second visit of the season to West Cumberland having previously knocked us out of the FA Cup in January.
It was all square on this occasion but John Docherty, whose goal had proved decisive in the Cup, scored against us again. Dave Helliwell was on target for Reds – his first goal for the club.
1962 Darlington (away) 1-1 Lowca lad, Arnold Timmins, had his best season with the club in 61-62 and one of his eight goals earned us a draw at Feethams.
Our next home game would be against the same opposition.
1956 Accrington Stanley (home) 0-0 Having lost 5-1 in the away game against Stanley, the goalless draw was regarded as a vast improvement and, despite the lack of goals, the majority of the 6,000 plus crowd enjoyed the entertainment provided by both teams.
Malcolm Newlands kept Stanley at bay although they did eventually score 92 league goals and finished 3rd.
- Reds hadn’t scored more than once on this day since 1934 when they emerged 4-1 winners against Jarrow in a North Eastern League fixture at Lonsdale Park.
