ON THIS DAY: 6 February – Trophy replay defeat & goalies scoring
Football is all about experiences, good and bad, and we have gone through an abundance of both. Here are some of our highs and lows catalogued on the 6th February in previous years…….
2018 Bromley (away) 1-7 All good things come to an end or, on this occasion, crashing back to earth with an almighty bump. Having come so close to knocking out National League opposition in the original FA Trophy tie, the replay was simply one game too far. Logistically, it was nightmare with the travel arrangements demanding a ‘there and back’ journey on the day with a game in between.
We gave a good account of ourselves in the first half and reached the interval 2-1 in arrears with the highlight Nathan Waterston’s well taken equaliser. It was a different story after the break and once the floodgates opened it could have been anything.
Ask any of the 50-60 Reds fans who made the long trek if they’d consider going through it all again and the majority would say yes although I do know of one or two who rudely laughed at the suggestion!
Needless to say, it was a record defeat in the FA Trophy.
2016 Marine (home) 1-0 From the excellent 4G surface at Bromley to the mud-bath conditions at Borough Park with Reds securing an Evo-Stik Premier Division win thanks to a first half goal from Sam Smith. He met Jake Simpson’s corner at the far post to head home the decider.
2010 Solihull Moors (home) 1-0 A first half winner decided the Blue Square North encounter too with top scorer, Gareth Arnison, also scoring via a header. Prior to kick off, Darren Edmondson collected the manager of the month accolade in recognition of January’s heroics.
2001 Lancaster City (home) 1-3 There was a touch of the unusual in this NPL Challenge Cup tie with Workington goalkeeper, Gary Hoggeth, writing himself into history by scoring from his own penalty area. He had netted Reds’ equaliser with a ninety yard ‘length-of-the-pitch’ punt but City comfortably won the match thanks to Chris Ward’s hat-trick!
1999 Newcastle Town (away) 1-1 Prior to kick-off, Newcastle Town were twelve points ahead of Reds in the North West Counties league table so vital that we didn’t lose. It did finish as a 1-1 draw in fact and, by the end of the season, we had six more points than Town who finished fourth behind ourselves, Mossley and Vauxhall GM.
Matt Swailes’ first league goal secured the point on our first visit to the Lyme Valley Stadium.
1993 Ashton United (home) 3-2 This was Alan Cook’s Reds against Sammy McIlroy’s (yes, that Sammy McIlroy) Ashton team in the NPL First Division ‘match-of-the-day’. It lived up to all the pre-match hype with the 232 attendance treated to a cracker. Billy Gilmour and Paul Campbell (2) scored the goals which saw us extend the unbeaten sequence to seven games.
1988 South Liverpool (away) 2-0 Any win on Merseyside is an achievement and this one was particularly satisfying in one of our worst seasons ever. Two second half goals from Howard Kirkbride clinched the win on a day when two ‘milestones’ were reached. Kenny Wallace made his 150th appearance for Reds and the victory was our 50th away win in the NPL.
1982 Marine (away) 0-1 This was our third visit to Rossett Park, as it was known in those days, and a first win there still proved elusive with Marine bagging a first half winner.
1973 Barnsley (away) 0-1 Oakwell was not the fine modern stadium it is today but it was still a great venue to visit in our final few seasons in the League. Wins were scarce there and this was one of six defeats in South Yorkshire but, at the end of the ’72-73 campaign, we were above them in the table….just!
1971 Southend United (home) 1-1 For the second successive season, Tommy Spratt scored against the Shrimpers but Reds couldn’t repeat the heroics of the previous year and had to settle for a point.
1970 Southend United (home) 5-0 The highest scoring victory against Southend in sixteen meetings came after a barren run at home – five without a win. An own-goal got us off to a good start and we dominated after that with Tommy Spencer (2), Les Massie and Tommy Spratt all finding the target in our best win of the season.
1960 Oldham Athletic (away) 2-2 Boundary Park proved a happy hunting ground over the years and this was another profitable visit. Top scorer Bob Morrison and Frank Kirkup scored the goals that day.
1954 Port Vale (home) 2-0 Workington’s first win over Port Vale came during one of the Burslem club’s best ever seasons. They romped to the Third Division North title in 1954 losing just three of their forty six matches and one of those defeats just happened to be at Borough Park!
Norman Mitchell and Hugh Cameron emerged as the Reds heroes that day to the delight of the 13,714 crowd.
