ON THIS DAY: 7 February – Victory in Norfolk & Blakeman hat-trick against the Hornets
Borough Park has certainly been our happy place on the 7th February in years gone by and it is somewhere we are longing to spend more of our time in the future…….
2015 King’s Lynn Town (away) 2-1 We were actually 250 miles away from Borough Park six years ago and had travelled the bulk of the journey on Friday afternoon/evening.
Reds emerged deserved winners with the narrow winning margin flattering the hosts. Gareth Arnison broke the deadlock with a well worked team goal before the interval and a superb solo effort from player-manager, Gavin Skelton, doubled the advantage fifteen minutes from the end.
The Norfolk outfit did eventually find a way past Jonny Jamieson with a late response but we held our nerve and the three points lifted us to 2nd in the Evo-Stik Premier Division table.
2004 Prescot Cables (home) 0-0 Glenn Murray may have been reviving his superb career with Nottingham Forest over the weekend but he failed to add to his impressive tally for Reds against Prescot seventeen years ago. He did come close to breaking the stalemate, however, one header rattling the crossbar and another attempt cleared off the line. Cables had their moments too, twice hitting the woodwork, and we were grateful for Kevin Wolfe’s clean-sheet by the finish.
1998 Stocksbridge Park Steels (away) 0-0 Despite what we thought was a good point on the road, Reds returned to the foot of the Unibond League First Division because our main relegation rivals, Buxton, had picked up a win.
Not such a good day for midfielder, Neil Douglas, though. He had to spend several hours at a Sheffield hospital after sustaining a broken jaw and it was after 7pm when the coach set off for home.
1987 Gainsborough Trinity (away) 0-2 The club approached the League requesting the postponement of this League Cup tie because of an outbreak of ‘flu in the camp. Permission wasn’t granted so a makeshift XI took to the field and acquitted themselves well in the circumstances. It was goalless after forty five minutes but Trinity eased through after dominating the second half.
1981 Southport (home) 4-0 Between 1979 and 1984, Reds were unbeaten in 15 league and cup matches against Southport with this victory part of that impressive sequence. All four goals came after the break with Barry Diamond (2), John Reach and John Smith finding the target.
1976 Brentford (home) 1-1 The visitors were a goal ahead at the interval but our own Londoner, Tony Geidmintis, salvaged a point after equalising via the spot. Reds finished at the foot of the Fourth Division table with the Griffin Park boys 18th – twenty points better off than us!
1959 Watford (home) 3-1 The Hornets first visit to West Cumberland resulted in an emphatic defeat on an afternoon when they failed to get to grips with Reds new signing – Alan Blakeman. He marked his home debut with a hat-trick and his Workington career could be described as short and sweet.
Alan only played fourteen games for us yet scored seven goals, before switching to non-league.
1953 Tranmere Rovers (home) 2-0 This was our first Football League success against the Birkenhead club and obtained thanks to goals from Jack Bertolini, his first for the club, and Harold Wallbanks.
