ON THIS DAY: 26 January – Stall at Motors and a cross border Derby
A flick through the archives tells us that Reds haven’t enjoyed much success on the 26th January in previous years with draws and defeats prominent and victories rare…….
Our most recent outing on this day was a mid-week trip to Vauxhall Motors back in 2010 where we were quite fortunate to collect a point from a Blue Square North fixture.
A poor first half performance earned a verbal rocket from manager, Darren Edmondson, and, to be fair, we did improve after the break.
Vauxhall, bottom of the league and without a win since mid-October, had taken a first half lead through Josh Wilson and were hanging on to that advantage when the game went in to stoppage time.
Reds blushes were saved when Phil McLuckie forced home a last gasp equaliser from close range to salvage a point from a 1-1 draw.
And the reason for the below-par performance, probably the fact we were due to face AFC Wimbledon that coming week-end in the FA Trophy.
I’m sure the Wimbledon scout left the ground quite happy with what he saw from Workington that night at Rivacre Park……
Here is a summary of our other exploits on the 26th!
2008 Nuneaton Borough (away) 0-3 Another poor showing from Reds and the Conference North defeat might have been even more damaging had it not been for Adam Collin, one of the few to avoid criticism on the day.
1993 Gretna (home) 0-0 Border TV was there to capture the goals but it finished goalless. The cross-border derby was a feisty battle with many of the participants having played for both clubs.
1991 Winsford United (away) 0-1 Graeme Nicholson had a second have penalty saved by the Winsford ‘keeper and we fell to a well worked goal scored in the first half.
1985 Rhyl (away) 1-0 Rhyl nil has a nice ring to it and it did on this occasion as John Reach’s second half goal was sufficient to secure a first ever win against the North Wales outfit.
1982 Southport (home) 1-1 We were held to a draw in the NPL Challenge Cup with John Smith scoring Reds’ goal via the penalty spot.
1980 Burton Albion (home) 2-2 The Burton team was packed with well known names and the likes of Neil Warnock, Ian Storey-Moore (ex. Nottingham Forest and Manchester United) and Kevin Hector (Derby County) all played at Borough Park. The latter two scored the Albion goals with Barry Diamond and Graham Gill responding for Reds.
1957 Darlington (away) 2-4 Three weeks after inflicting a 6-2 thrashing upon Darlington at Workington, we lost the return at Feethams in a Third Division (North) encounter. Des Jones and Tucker Finley netted the Reds goals that day.
1952 Stockport County (away) 0-5 Below strength Reds were no match for promotion-chasing County who strolled to an easy victory at our expense, completing a league double in the process.
