ON THIS DAY: 4 February – Double over Stanley & a point at Bootham Crescent
From Accrington to York, Middlesbrough to Mickleover, and a few places in between, Reds have gone in search of victory but wins on the 4th February in previous years have been scarce…….
2017 Mickleover Sports (away) 0-4 The young and the old contributed to our downfall at the Don Amott Arena with Reds unable to get to grips with either. We allowed veterans John McGrath and Clinton Morrison to pull the strings and were then hit by a second half hat-trick from teenager Tyler Blake.
We had our moments in a goalless first half and might have had a penalty when Scott Allison was ‘scissor’ tackled in the area. Efforts from Nathan Waterston and Allison came close to salvaging a consolation goal, both rebounding off the woodwork.
2006 Leigh RMI (home) 0-0 Reds handed a Nationwide North debut to Matthew Berkeley and he came close to marking the occasion with a goal but his shot rebounded off an upright. Manager Tommy Cassidy was involved in a verbal altercation with an assistant referee resulting in him being ordered from the technical area.
1989 Farsley Celtic (away) 2-2 Producing their best performance for weeks, Reds dominated from start to finish yet had to come from behind twice to obtain a point. Celtic took the lead against the run of play on two occasions but Peter Harbach equalised each time to get the draw.
1984 Worksop Town (home) 0-0 Reds and Town conceded over 130 league goals between them throughout the ’83-84 season so a surprise that this NPL encounter finished goalless. We had to draft in Barrow goalkeeper, Kevin Thomas, for his home debut as regular ‘stopper’, Gerard Fisher, was injured.
Both teams finished with ten men, skipper John Reach being the first into the showers.
1967 Middlesbrough (home) 1-2 We met some of the country’s big clubs during our three seasons in the old Third Division and Boro certainly came into that category. They were riding high in the division and had the backing of hundreds of supporters for the one and only Football League encounter between the clubs at Borough Park.
Alan Kirkman scored his first goal for Reds that day but Middlesbrough bagged the points and eventually won promotion (runners-up to QPR), Reds finished at the foot of the table and were relegated.
1961 Accrington Stanley (away) 2-1 Our last success on this day was sixty years ago when we obtained a second win at Peel Park. Ron McGarry and Tommy Dixon netted the goals which helped us secure a league double over Stanley.
1956 York City (away) 1-1 Both games against City finished all square including the scoring draw at Bootham Crescent, thanks to Jimmy Dailey’s fourteenth goal of the season. Not surprisingly, Reds and York were close to each other in the final Third Division (North) table – 10th and 11th respectively – both on 47 points!
