ON THIS DAY: 28 March – First female referee at BP & first-ever win at College Road
On a weekend when Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to take control of a men’s World Cup Qualifier (Netherlands v. Latvia), we look back at the first Workington game at Borough Park involving a female referee and other ‘firsts’ that have happened to Reds on the 28th March in years gone by…….
2015 Buxton (home) 1-2 Helen Byrne became the first woman to referee a first team fixture at Borough Park and, despite some mild intimidation from the crowd and some of the players and officials, acquitted herself very well. Helen had officiated in our games before – as an assistant referee.
Reds never recovered from gifting the Derbyshire side a soft goal during the first half and there was no way back when they doubled their lead on the hour.
Gareth Arnison did reduce the arrears from the penalty spot but he and Sam Smith, one of Reds’ youngest captains at 21, were yellow carded by Ms Byrne.
2006 Northwich Victoria (away) 1-4 Reds made their first visit to Northwich’s brand new Victoria Stadium becoming just the second team (after Lancaster City) to play there.
And it was a dream start for Tommy Cassidy’s side with Matthew Berkeley opening the scoring inside the first minute – a good finish from twelve yards. But green-shirted Vics gained control, and the lead, before half time and two late strikes saw them finish emphatic winners.
Tony Hopper was sent off for his goalkeeper impersonation, diving full length to push away a Paul Brayson shot and ex. Red, Jonny Allan, converted the penalty for his second goal of the afternoon.
2005 Marine (away) 2-1 A first-ever win at College Road ensured that Reds went into April as Unibond League Premier Division leaders on the back of their eighth double of the season.
It was a dogged, resilient performance and appreciated by a good following of supporters from Cumbria. Craig Johnston opened the scoring in the Easter Monday clash but Marine were back on terms before the interval.
And it was left to Matt Henney to head home the 77th minute winner when he got on the end of Mick Galloway’s free kick to power home the decider.
1998 Lincoln United (home) 1-1 Another eventful week at the club which saw temporary manager, Jackie Cunningham, sacked two days before the game.
We fell behind to Dave Frecklington’s spectacular volley but fought back to obtain our first Borough Park against Lincoln thanks to Lee Collins’ close range equaliser.
1993 Shepshed Albion (away) 1-1 After a game at Eastwood Town on Saturday, Reds turned up at Shepshed on Sunday morning for their inaugural visit to the Dovecote Stadium.
It was a poor game on a dry, bumpy surface and Reds had to be content with a point, despite taking the lead via a well taken Graham Caton goal.
Having suffered a 7-1 hammering against Albion at Borough Park, the draw, after a committed performance, was some form of redemption!
1986 Macclesfield Town (away) 1-1 Reds made their second visit to Moss Rose less than three weeks after losing there in a League Cup tie.
Mark Dobie opened the scoring with an excellent goal but Town equalised ten minutes later with a draw the final outcome.
Mark Dobie 
John George
Making his Reds debut on that Good Friday afternoon was John George who came through the ninety minutes unscathed after a fine performance.
The team was packed with Maryport lads, with John linking up with the likes of Tony Chilton, James Irving and Billy Gilmour.
1981 Witton Albion (home) 2-1 After a cautious first half from both sides, the game came to life in the second with Reds eventually winning by the odd goal in three – their first NPL victory against the Northwich outfit.
Keith Armstrong and Graham Gill netted our goals.
1979 Frickley Athletic (away) 1-3 Both teams named a Gill and a Johnston in their respective line-ups but there was only one Wadsworth and just one Gillott.
Future Carlisle United supremo, Mick Wadsworth, actually opened the scoring for the Yorkshire side and they went on to win comfortably. Walter Gillott bagged the Reds’ consolation goal.
1970 Swansea Town (home) 0-0 Reds had scored no fewer than sixteen goals in their three previous Borough Park meetings against the Swans but this Fourth Division encounter finished goalless – just five days after the teams had played out a 0-0 draw in South Wales, Mike Rogan keeping a clean sheet in both!
1969 Aldershot (home) 1-0 Mike Rogan’s understudy, Mike Williams, played in goal against Aldershot, whom he listed as one of his former clubs, so satisfying that he should register his first clean sheet for Reds against the Shots.
And the goal that settled a closely fought encounter was scored by Peter Barlow – his first at Borough Park!
1967 Scunthorpe United (home) 1-0 After suffering a heavy defeat against United on Easter Monday afternoon, Reds got their revenge the following night at Borough Park with Tony Geidmintis slotting the winner past a young Ray Clemence.
1964 Bradford City (home) 1-0 Reds had hosted Bradford Park Avenue on Good Friday then hosted City next day in a busy Easter schedule.
City were promotion rivals but a second half goal from Geoff Martin was almost priceless in the grand scheme of things, as was Ian Ower’s shut-out at the other end of the pitch.
1963 Doncaster Rovers (home) 1-0 Ian Ower was also unbeaten twelve months earlier when we hosted Rovers at home. The match winner on this occasion was our Hungarian, Johnny Haasz, who converted a first half penalty to secure the points.
1959 Darlington (away) 1-1 John Thompson, a Scot who had played for Hearts, spent most of the ’58-59 season in the Reserves but managed a dozen or so first team appearances, scoring his first and only goal in the draw at Feethams.
1953 Stockport County (home) 0-2 Our first four Football League meetings against County resulted in four comprehensive defeats with Reds failing to score in any of the games. This was the fourth successive reverse with the goal ratio 16-0 in Stockport’s favour!
