ON THIS DAY: 7 January – Olympic effort
Flicking through the diaries to see what was happening to Reds on the 7th January in years gone by…….
The build-up to the first home game of 2017 hadn’t been ideal with Derek Townsley stepping down from his management position and Joe McGee ending his second spell with the club.
Nevertheless, the squad were well motivated for the visit of league leaders Rushall Olympic and a good all round team performance secured a deserved 2-0 win.
Kyle May had headed Reds into the lead when he connected with a Conor Tinnion free kick with the latter scoring the second himself two minutes later. Those two were outstanding throughout and the only injustice was that we didn’t score more.
Tinnion’s eighty yard run culminated with a shot that rattled the crossbar and that was the nearest we came to a third goal.
Rushall finished with just ten men following Lee Smith’s dismissal compounding a disappointing afternoon for the Walsall outfit.
We had to travel to Boston United for a Tuesday night game back in 2014 and confidence was at a low ebb after ten games without a win. In a mistake-ridden game, we lost 5-3 with top scorer, Joe Jackson, scoring twice and Dan Wordsworth also on target.
It was after 3am when the coach got back to Borough Park with many of the lads then facing a day at work!
Tommy Cassidy had signed two veterans ahead of a 2006 trip to Worksop Town with Tom Cowan (36) and Darren Edmondson (34) making solid debuts as we won at Town’s Sandy Lane ground for the first time.
Worksop had opened the scoring but two Craig Johnston goals, he also saw another effort rebound off the upright, secured three deserved points.
Workington’s first ever trip to Buxton in 1978 proved successful with Walter Gillott’s goal before half time enough to bag the points. It had been a satisfactory afternoon for goalkeeper, Gerard Fisher, too – he kept a clean sheet on his debut.
We also won 1-0 at home back in 1966 when a Third Division encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion finished in our favour. Dave Butler scored the all important goal that day – his first at Borough Park.
Jack Bertolini was coming to the end of his Albion career at that time having previously played at Borough Park for six seasons in the fifties.
In fact, Jack was on the score sheet for Reds in our 1956 home win over Darlington. Des Jones also netted in a comfortable 2-0 success before a 6,110 attendance.
