ON THIS DAY: 8 February – Double over Ossett & 500th goal in the NPL
We haven’t played too often on the 8th February in recent years and home matches have been a rare commodity…….
2020 Ossett United (home) 2-0 Life was still ‘near normal’ twelve months ago and we were still unsure what faced us all in terms of the world-wide pandemic.
Reds completed a comfortable league double over United who were making their first visit to Borough Park. The game was spoiled by a gale force wind (Storm Ciara) but goals either side of the interval gave the home side control. Scott Allison netted the first and Dav Symington the second but both sides were denied by the goal frame after that. Carl Lightfoot (17) was given his first taste of NPL football via the bench.
2003 Eastwood Town (away) 3-0 This was one of our more straightforward wins at Coronation Park with Reds in complete control of the Unibond League First Division fixture. Graham Goulding opened the scoring on the stroke of half time and he and Robert Ennis netted further goals in the second half.
1997 Stocksbridge Park Steels (away) 0-3 Wayne Harrison made a statement suggesting he would step down as manager at the end of the season but changed his mind and quit immediately after the game, saying his farewell to the players on the coach. It was the end of his second spell in the Borough Park hot seat and a pity he left after such a poor performance.
It was our first ever meeting against the Sheffield club and a disappointing end to Wayne’s two years in charge.
1992 Curzon Ashton (away) 0-2 There was also a change in management ahead of this low-key League Cup tie at National Park with George Norrie appointed as Martin Harris’ successor.
Reds handed a debut to Paul Doolan and played defenders Keith Glover and Bob Rice in attacking positions but, despite plenty of possession, rarely looked like scoring.
Curzon had already completed a league double over us and made it a treble by knocking us out of the cup.
1986 Rhyl (away) 3-1 This was a far better day for Wayne Harrison and Reds with a stunning performance on the North Wales coast probably our best display of the ’85-86 campaign.
Billy Gilmour opened the scoring with a powerful, trademark header after sixteen minutes. It was a milestone goal for the club, it being our 500th in the Northern Premier League! Wayne doubled the advantage with a stunning left foot volley and, although Rhyl reduced the arrears early in the second half, Mark Dobie bagged a third to complete an excellent performance.
1964 Oxford United (away) 1-2 This was one of eleven defeats suffered during our promotion campaign against an Oxford side, which included a young Ron Atkinson, enjoying a great run in the FA Cup. They were preparing to face Blackburn Rovers in a 5th Round tie the following week but, unfortunately, were not distracted by the league match against Reds and won by the odd goal in three. Barry Lowes scored our goal.
1958 Darlington (away) 2-2 Reds and opponents Darlington were ‘bottom six’ material and both would finish the season on 41 points. The draw on this occasion was considered a fair result although goalkeeping blunders on our part led to Darlington’s two goals. Des Jones and Ted Purdon netted for us.
