On this day – 9 April
A look back to see what was happening to Reds on the 9 April in previous years…………………..
Workington supporters were really suffering twelve months ago – the team were in freefall and hurtling towards relegation on the back of a depressing losing sequence. On this particular day, South Shields were here on league duty and eventually won 2-0 although beleaguered Reds did put up a bit of a fight before suffering the inevitable defeat – a seventh, consecutively, at Borough Park.
Shields missed out on the title, though, and were then beaten in the play-offs.
We also lost on home soil in 2016 when Frickley Athletic emerged 3-1 winners against an out-of-sorts Reds. Jacob Hazel, who had spent a loan spell with Reds two years earlier, scored one of the goals for the visitors with Kyle May netting our consolation after Scott Allison had missed a penalty.
There had been some cheer throughout the 2000s, however, with three Conference North victories recorded.
Back in 2007, we registered the first of several wins at Stalybridge Celtic with skipper Steve Birks (pictured) and Joe Kendrick finding the target in a 2-1 victory.
We also emerged comfortable 2-0 winners here in 2011 with Gareth Arnison converting two penalties to seal a straightforward victory against Stafford Rangers.
Gareth was joined on the score sheet twelve months later by Kyle and Phil McLuckie as Reds obtained a 3-1 success over Colwyn Bay.
But even when we were winning at Matlock Town in 2002, manager Tommy Cassidy got himself sent off during a NPL encounter. We had been denied a blatant penalty by the officials but Tommy continued the protest and accused the referee of being ‘dishonest’ prompting his removal from the technical area.
We won 2-1 thanks to a couple of stunning goals from Craig Potts and Rob Ennis.
Football League matters on 9 April saw us play Darlington twice in the seventies.
In 1973 we lost 2-1 at the Feethams against a Darlo side that, a few weeks later, would finish at the foot of the Fourth Division. Ian McDonald netted our goal that day.
Then, in 1977, we played them at Borough Park and, a few weeks later, it was us propping up the rest of the division.
Eddie Prudham (inset), who scored against Arsenal in his Carlisle days, had joined us on loan for the final few months of our last League campaign and showed a great attitude during his spell at Borough Park. He scored half a dozen goals in a red shirt, including both in the 3-2 defeat by Darlington.
That was the 48th and last time we played Darlington, the team we faced most often in our twenty six seasons in the Football League..
We also played Darlington Reserves in a North Eastern League fixture back in 1949 and won 6-1 on that occasion, the prolific Jackie Oakes scoring twice.
Another Jackie, the Bertolini version, scored the only goal in Reds 1955 home clash against Tranmere Rovers – his eleventh of the season. And there was also a home win to celebrate in 1965 in our first ever clash against Bristol Rovers. Reds smuggled the points after coming out on top, 2-1, with Dixie Hale and Jimmy Moran scoring against the Pirates.
