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| News Archive 2010 Happy New Year (Fri 31 Dec)
Reds will play their first home game for six weeks and only their second on New Year’s Day at Borough Park in twenty-one years when Blyth Spartans 'first-foot' on Saturday (3pm).
The Borough Park pitch was in perfect condition on Friday following a frustrating December when no football at all was played. The plumbing is also intact following one or two minor burst pipes but nothing like the scale of last year when there was a major flood at the ground during the big freeze.
Manager Darren Edmondson has been ill over the Christmas period but continued to use the mobile in an attempt to bolster the squad although a new face in the line-up tomorrow is unlikely.
Spartans, who haven’t played a league game since 13th November, are currently 6th in Blue Square Bet North and are enjoying their best campaign at this level. They have conceded only nine goals on their travels winning four and drawing twice of eight games played.
Meanwhile, the away game at Blyth Spartans, originally scheduled for Boxing Day, has been re-arranged for Tuesday 8th February.
THE CHAIRMAN, DIRECTORS, MANAGER AND PLAYERS WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL WORKINGTON SUPPORTERS A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
New Years Day Blyth game is on (Fri 31 Dec)
The Borough Park pitch is in perfect condition ahead of tomorrow's game against Blyth Spartans - the game is ON. Happy New Year.
Trinity game off (Mon 27 Dec)
A pitch inspection on Monday morning confirmed yet another postponement with Reds’ home game v. Gainsborough Trinity the latest fixture to be lost to the weather.
Overnight rain had washed all the snow off the pitch but the frost is so deep it will take several days to thaw properly.
Temperatures are forecast to improve from Wednesday onwards so, hopefully, the Blyth Spartans New Year’s Day fixture will go ahead as scheduled.
The Trinity game was the sixth postponement in a month.
Blyth Spartans' match off (Fri 24 Dec)
As expected, the Boxing Day fixture at Blyth Spartans has been postponed due to snow and ice. Local Contributory League referee, Paul Keogh, confirmed the inevitable at 3pm on Christmas Eve.
A pitch inspection will be held at Borough Park on Monday ahead of the game v. Gainsborough Trinity (Tuesday) but the club are far from optimistic about that match going ahead.
Meanwhile, the home game v. Redditch United, postponed last week, has been re-scheduled for Tuesday 18th January, 2011 (7.45pm).
Season's greetings (Fri 24 Dec)
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WORKINGTON REDS SUPPORTERS AND THE SAME TO ALL FOLLOWERS OF OUR BLUE SQUARE BET RIVALS FROM THE MANAGER, STAFF, PLAYERS, DIRECTORS AND OFFICIALS.
Game off (Fri 17 Dec)
Reds’ home fixture with Redditch United was one of the early Blue Square Bet North casualties when the game was postponed on Friday evening.
Contributory referee John Corkhill took less than two minutes to determine the Borough Park pitch unplayable and called the game off after liaising with match referee, Michael Salisbury.
Although flat and free from ruts, the pitch was frozen solid and, with temperatures not expected to rise in the near future, the sensible decision was made.
Game on (Fri 10 Dec)
Reds will return to Blue Square Bet North action on Saturday with the re-arranged fixture at Stafford Rangers given the go ahead on Friday.
The Marston Road pitch has thawed sufficiently and Rangers’ groundstaff have cleared any remaining snow from the terraces.
It will be Reds’ first league game since mid November.
Early kick-off at Blyth (Sat 04 Dec)
The Reds Boxing Day match at Croft Park has an early start with the game kicking off at 1pm.
Kick off times over the holiday period are as follows:
26 Dec Blyth Spartans (away) 1pm
28 Dec Gainsborough Trinity (home) 3pm
1 Jan Blyth Spartans (home) 3pm
3 Jan Vauxhall Motors (away) 3pm
Stafford game frozen off (Fri 03 Dec)
Reds have lost their third Blue Square Bet North fixture in the space of eight days following Friday morning’s postponement of the game at Stafford Rangers.
The game, in doubt for a few days, was officially called off at 9.30am and has quickly been re-scheduled for next Saturday, 11thDecember when both teams have a free Saturday following early elimination from the FA Trophy.
The Marston Road pitch had a covering of snow but the surface below was frozen solid.
New dates (Wed 01 Dec)
Reds have rescheduled the two Blue Square Bet North fixtures postponed recently because of frozen pitches.
We will now travel to play Alfreton Town on Tuesday 11th January, 2011 (7.45pm) while the home match against Eastwood Town will take place on Tuesday 25th January, 2011 (7.45pm).
Reserves' match off (Wed 01 Dec)
Workington Reserves’ Lancashire League fixture at Formby on Thursday has been postponed due to a frozen pitch. There was an added problem at the Altcar Road ground with no showers or toilet facilities due to frozen pipes.
Dave Rodgie’s side haven’t played for a month and are behind on their fixtures having completed only seven to date.
They now have a fortnight to wait before they take on AFC Fykde. Alfreton match off (Mon 29 Nov)
Tuesday’s Blue Square Bet North fixture at Alfreton Town was postponed late on Monday afternoon after Chesterfield based referee, Nigel Smith, had conducted a pitch inspection at the Impact Arena.
The pitch, covered in snow and frost bound underneath, has little chance of improving in the next 24 hours with the forecast of more adverse weather to come. Loan signing Smyth comes in (Sun 28 Nov) The Reds have signed 19 year old centre half Tom Smyth on loan from Acrington Stanley. Manager Darren Edmondson was chasing four player during the week but could only sign Tom Smyth in time for yesterday's postponed Eastwood Town fixture. Tom arrived at the Livingstone Road ground from Preston where he original played up front but at Deepdale they transformer the stiker into a defender. Tom was the captain of the Preston Youth side and a regular player in Preston's Reserves during the 2009/10 season. Michael Smith's loan period from Darlington expired with the postponed Eastwood match. Match off (Sat 27 Nov)
Saturday’s Blue Square Bet North fixture against Eastwood Town was postponed due to a thick covering of snow on the Borough Park pitch and terraces.
A pitch inspection had been held on Friday evening and was declared playable by a Contributory League referee but the heavy snow from about 3am on Saturday morning ruled out any possibility of the game going ahead.
The game was called off about 7.15am – forty five minutes before Eastwood were due to leave.
The Reserves’ game v. Stalybridge Celtic (at Woodley Sports) was also postponed due to the travelling difficulties in Cumbria. FA Trophy (Mon 01 Nov) Reds will begin their interest in this season’s FA Trophy competition with a Third Round Qualifying home tie against Chasetown of the Evo-Stick Premier League.
It will be a first ever meeting between the clubs and one we will certainly be wary of after their free-scoring form in league and cup competition this season. To date, they have scored 36 goals including a tally of five on three separate occasions - the third of those at Mickleover Sports in the previous round last week-end.
The club was formed in 1954 but didn’t adopt their present title until 1972.
They came to national prominence five years ago when they reached the First Round of the FA Cup and were drawn at home to Oldham Athletic. The tie was televised and drew a 3 million audience with little Chasetown earning a 1-1 draw. A heavy 4-0 defeat followed in the replay but, amazingly, they took almost 2,500 supporters to Boundary Park.
More FA Cup glory followed during the 2007-08 campaign when they drew 1-1 at Port Vale then won 1-0 in the replay. Their reward was a home tie against Cardiff City and although they opened the scoring they eventually lost 1-3.
Last season, they were promoted to the Premier Division after overcoming Glapwell in the play-offs and are currently in 8th position having amassed 23 points from fourteen games.
The game will take place at Borough Park on Saturday 20th November with the eventual winners earning £4,000 from the FA prize fund.
Quakers' Smith signs on loan (Sat 30 Oct)
The Reds have signed Michael Smith (Forward), on loan from Darlington, and he will be with us for one month. He will be in the squad for the game at Droylsden today.
Smith started on the bench when we played Darlington pre-season and came on as a substitute for Liam Hatch in the 38th minute. The young striker, who turned 19 last week, has played 12 games for Mark Cooper's Darlington side this season, without scoring a goal. The Newcastle-born striker was given his first team debut last season and featured in seven games, four from the bench, scoring one goal.
Imps away in First Round draw (Thu 14 Oct) The FA Cup First Round draw has landed the Reds a possible tie against League Two Lincoln City at the Sincil Bank Stadium during the weekend of November 6th and 7th provided they come through Tuesday's replay.
Lincoln City are currently 21st in League Two, having just appointed new manager Steve Tilson who took charge of his first game on Saturday.
The Reds' FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round replay is at Nuneaton Town's Triton Showers Community Arena, (Liberty Way), on Tuesday 26th November, kick-off 7:45pm. Ryan Bowman comes in on loan (Thu 14 Oct) Carlisle United striker Ryan Bowman is to feature in the Reds' squad for tomorrow's FA Cup against Nuneaton Town. Bowman came on loan last season foor a spell, played nine games scoring two goals before being recalled for United's trip to Wembley in the Johnstons Paint Trophy final, though he didn't get to participate in the game. Bowman has been signed on an initial month long loan spell. The loss through injury of Phil McLuckie; four match suspension for skipper Dave Hewson and injury to striker Jonny Wright has left manager Darren Edmondson with a depleted squad. Attempts to sign a midfielder on loan from Darlington has not yet come to fruition. New date (Thu 21 Oct)
The Blue Square Bet North fixture at AFC Telford United, postponed to accomodate the Nuneaton Town FA Cup tie, will now be played at the New Bucks Head Stadium on Tuesday 16th November 2010, kick-off 7:45pm. Dave Hewson suspension confirmed (Thu 14 Oct) Reds' skipper Dave Hewson has been given a four match ban following his controversial red card against Shildon in last Saturday's FA Cup tie. Hewson was dismissed, according to referee James Madine, for violent conduct follwoing a clash with Shildon's Gary Brown. Brown later apologised later for the incident that led to the red card and told the referee that nothing untoward had happened. But since only video evidence is accepted by the FA in appeals, the red card had to stand. The four match suspension starts on 23rd October v. Nuneaton Town in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round through to the Guisely tie on the 9th November. Hewson would miss the FA Cup First Round if we progress against Nuneaton Town. Another home draws for the Reds (Mon 11 Oct) Blue Square Bet North's Nuneaton Town will stand between Reds making progress into the FA Cup First Round Proper and a potential lucrative tie against Football League opposition. Nuneaton are the only team to take three points away from Borough Park this season, though the prize this time will be tidy sum of £12,000. The tie is to be played on Saturday 23rd October, 3.00pm kick off. Cumberland Cup (Fri 01 Oct) The Reds v Penrith FC Cumberland Cup 2nd Round tie will be played at Borough Park, Workington on Tuesday 12th October, 2010 kick-off 7.30pm. Penrith will begin their defence of the trophy in west Cumbria providing there is no FA Cup replay involving Reds and Shildon. Home draws for Reds (Mon 28 Sep) Northern League opposition will stand between Reds making progress in both the FA and Cumberland cups following the two respective draws on Monday.
In the FA Cup, Reds’ reward for the fortunate victory over West Auckland Town will be a home tie against Shildon who knocked out Skelmersdale United on Saturday. They are currently 4th in the STL Northern League Division One (twenty points from ten games) and will be hoping to repeat their heroics of seven years ago when they inflicted a 2-1 defeat upon Reds at their Dean Street ground.
Meanwhile, Reds will face holders Penrith in the 2nd Round of the Cumberland Cup in a tie which has to be played before the 9th October. That will mean a return to Borough Park for the likes of Graham Anthony, Mark Jones, Alan Gray, David Lynn, Simon Tucker, Dean Douglas, Matty Lea and Lee Hoolickin etc. Sad farewell to Ilkeston (Sun 19 Sep) The Blue Square Bet North has been officially reduced to twenty-one clubs after the Board of The Football Conference confirmed the name of Ilkeston Town had been removed from the register of members. The Derbyshire club ceased to trade after being wound up in the High Court ten days ago over an unpaid tax bill and their playing record for this season has been expunged. Naturally, they have also been removed from the FA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Youth Cup and all the playing staff have been released. Reds were due to host Ilkeston Town on 16th October with the return in Derbyshire originally scheduled for 15th January next year. In our only two league meetings with Town, we drew 0-0 at Borough Park this time last year then won the return at the New Manor Ground 3-1 just five months ago. Floodlights damaged (Thu 16 Sep) The Reserves’ Lancashire League fixture versus Mossley, due to be played at Borough Park tonight, has been postponed due to storm damage to the new floodlights. Two of the six pylons were damaged in high winds on Wednesday afternoon leaving the club no alternative other than to cancel the game. A much larger than average crowd for a Lancashire League fixture was expected to attend the first game under the lights with Monday’s reserves fixture v. Colne also effected. That game hasn’t officially been called off yet but is unlikely to go ahead at Borough Park. It is the second own-goal for the club in recent weeks following the late withdrawal from the FA Youth Cup. FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round draw (Mon 13 Sep) Reds will enter the FA Cup on Saturday week (25/9) and have been blessed with a home draw. STL Northern League side West Auckland Town will be our visitors – the third time we have been drawn together in the competition. Town are currently mid-table in Division One having obtained twelve points from eight fixtures (four wins, four defeats) but they have already won three matches in the Cup so far disposing of Whickham (2-1 at home), Billingham Synthonia (3-0 away) and Bradford Park Avenue (3-1 at home). Apart from the cup success at Synthonia, West have won three league games on the road so will be treated with the greatest of respect. Back in the 92-93 season, we met West Auckland in a Preliminary Round tie at Borough Park and, although going a goal down, eventually won 3-2 thanks to goals from Sean Sunderland, Nigel Dustin and Lee O’Keefe. Two seasons later, we again met in the Preliminary Round this time at Darlington Road. Martin Henderson netted our equaliser in a 1-1 draw on the Saturday but West Auckland emerged 2-1 winners in the replay with Glen Liddle on target for Reds. Former Ipswich Town and Sunderland player, Eric Gates, played for Town in both games. Should a replay be necessary, it will be staged at Town’s Darlington Road ground on Tuesday 28th September kick-off 7.30pm. Reds and ‘Latics cross paths (Sun 12 Sep) Reds’ boss, Darren Edmondson, and Oldham Athletic manager, Paul Dickov, had a good ten minute chat on Saturday lunchtime as their teams shared the same hotel en route to important league matches in eastern England. Reds stayed at the Ramada Hotel, Grantham on Friday evening before completing their journey to Boston on Saturday while the Oldham Athletic party were booked into the same hotel for their pre-match meal prior to their Npower League 1 fixture at Peterborough United. Perhaps the respective bosses need to discuss a change of rendezvous after heavy defeats were inflicted on their teams – Oldham going down 5-2 at Peterborough at the same time Reds were being crushed 4-0 at Boston!
Let there be light - and there was light (Thu 09 Sep) The new floodlights installation and commissioning was completed in the early hours of last Saturday morning. Their first use in anger will be for the Reserves’ Lancashire League fixture next Thursday evening against Mossley, (8:00pm Kick Off, Thursday 16th September). The first potential first team fixture could be a FA Cup replay but the most likely date will be on the Blue Square Bet North fixture on Tuesday 9th November against Guiseley.
FA Youth Cup (Thu 09 Sep) Workington have pulled out of this season’s FA Youth Cup competition and will not be playing in their Preliminary Round tie at Ryton on Wednesday. The Football Association and their north east opponents were informed on Sunday with the lack of registered players the reason given for the late withdrawal. Entry to the competition was made last April and, since then, there has been a change of manager at reserve team level which didn’t help the situation. Several members of the Reserve team squad were eligible to play in the competition but there was still a shortfall at the week-end when the embarrassing decision to withdraw was made. Ryton now automatically progress to the next round and will play Ashington at home.
Edmo celebrates 3rd anniversary in style (sort of) (Tue 07 Sep)
Reds boss, Darren Edmondson, celebrated his third year in the Borough Park hot seat with that somewhat fortunate 2-1 win over Solihull Moors to maintain the ever-improving record during his tenure. Viv Busby, of course, was drafted in a week later and the duo have been at the forefront of team affairs since.
During Edmo’s reign, the club have played 125 league games (won 48, drew 34, lost 43) and, during that time, we have scored 152 goals and conceded 147. In addition, we have played 35 cup-ties (winning 20 of those) for a summary of 68 victories from 160 games played.
His Workington managerial career kicked of with a 1-1 draw at Barrow on the 7th September, 2007.
In any other normal month, Edmo would probably have been recognised with the ‘manager of the month’ accolade for that fantastic return of five wins and a draw during August but the gong rightly went to Alfreton’s Nicky Law whose Town side won all six of their games.
The scrappy victory last Saturday extended our unbeaten start to the season to seven matches but, of far more significance, established a new club record. We are now unbeaten in 18 league games and that sequence betters a seventeen game run which has been recorded only once before.
Like the current run, the previous best straddled two seasons with fourteen consecutive wins at the end of the 1998-99 season tagged on to three more at the beginning of the 99-00 campaign.
The present sequence started with the final eleven games of last season and has been added to with a further seven this term.
Something will have to give on Saturday, though, because Reds have lost every league match they have played against Boston United. WAYNE NICHOLLS (1952-2010) (Fri 27 Aug) It is with sadness that we report the death of former Reds centre forward, Wayne Nicholls, who passed away at the West Cumberland Hospital last Tuesday. Wayne, just 57, had been ill for some time and leaves behind wife Maureen, son Liam and daughter Suzanne. Wayne arrived at Borough Park in July 1971 having started his professional career with Leicester City. He was a substitute in our first game of the 71-72 campaign (away to Aldershot) before making his full Football League debut in a 2-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers. His first goal for the club was in the FA Cup helping us to a 3-1 win at Southport while his first Football League goal was netted in a 2-1 Reds’ victory at Northampton Town. His first goal at Borough Park was in the Festival game v. Carlisle United (to mark our 21 years in the Football League) when he found the target in a 3-3 draw. A regular first teamer during his first season at the club, Wayne didn’t feature as often during the 72-73 season – mainly used as a substitute – but he scored nine times for the Reserves including four goals in one match. After his release in the summer of 1973, Wayne became a prominent player with several local clubs and was a popular landlord in the Whitehaven area. The funeral will be held at St. Begh’s Church, Whitehaven on Tuesday (11am) followed by cremation at Distington Hall. Gloucester City match sponsors (Sun 15 Aug) We would like to thank al our generous sponsors for their kind support. Pictured left, receiving a Workington Reds polo shirt is Match Sponsor, Paul Heron of Paul Heron Roofing. The Man of the Match sponsor, West Cumbria Scaffolding, chose Phil McLucie as the recipient of he award an presenting it to Phil McLuckie is Reds' Commercia Manager, Les Smallwood, (pictured right). The Hightlight of the Match sponsor, Steve Quinn, shortlisted Shaun Vipond's nifty footwork beating two defenders and then crossing for Phil McLuci'e goal and Aaran Taylor's wonderful save low down just inside his left hand post to preserve the Reds on goal lead. Steve finally chose Aaran's save as the winner and pictured left is Steve with Aaran Taylor. The Big Kick-Off (Fri 13 Aug) Reds will be hoping to break new ground tomorrow when they embark on their sixth successive season of Conference North football. They have failed to win on the opening day in each of the past five seasons scoring only one goal during the same period. Our first ever game at this level was against Worksop Town five years ago when we lost 2-1 at Borough Park. Subsequent first day nerves have seen us fail to score at Nuneaton Borough (0-0), Boston United (0-2) and Hinckley United (0-1) as well as the home clash with Hinckley United (0-1) twelve months ago. Kyle May is the only survivor from that Worksop game five years ago and has played in the other disappointing starts since. For the game against Gloucester City (3pm), manager Darren Edmondson has a near full squad to choose from with only Lee Andrews not fully fit. Reds Reserves (Thu 12 Aug) Reds’ Reserves played a very interesting ‘behind closed doors’ friendly at Borough Park when they came up against young players from South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, Portugal and France.
The foreigners were part of the Inter Football Academy ‘team’, an organisation based in Lytham St. Annes which provides a genuine route back into professional football for released or undiscovered players. Making up their sixteen man squad were young players who had been associated with the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Hartlepool United, Fleetwood Town, Barnsley, Southport and Paris Saint-Germain who, for whatever reason, had found themselves on the football scrapheap.
Director of Coaching is the former Bury, Port Vale, Rochdale, Crewe Alexandra and Barrow midfielder, Peter Farrell. He is assisted by Shaun Berry.
No doubt they had talented players in their ranks but they were no match for an equally talented Reds squad who deservedly emerged 3-0 winners with Martyn Coleman (2), (pictured), and Adam Main sharing the goals.
It was an impressive performance from Dave Rodgie’s side who begin their Lancashire League campaign next Thursday (19/8) with a home match against Fleetwood Town (8pm). Squad news (Sat 07 Aug)
Dave Hewson, (pictured left), has been given the captain's armband for the forthcoming season with Jonny Wright announced as vice-captain. Striker Matty Tymon, (pictured right), and defender Alex White have agreed terms and signed for the new season. Additionally Callum Ruttledge signed forms after the Lancaster City game keep him at Borough Park. Floodlights update (Sat 07 Aug)
Work commenced last Tuesday on installing the new floodlights with the concrete foundations being laid with the embedded base plates. All six foundations are now complete and following curing of the concrete the poles will be erected next week. Lancaster City preview (Wed 04 Aug)
Reds will play their final pre-season game at Lancaster City on Saturday (3pm) ahead of the Blue Square Bet North opener against Gloucester City.
Although we have met City in league and cup action frequently over the years, this is the first friendly between the clubs in living memory.
It will be our first visit to the Giant Axe for four years when we made three visits in one calendar year.
In February 2006, we were involved in the abandoned game with Reds 4-0 ahead at half-time when the floodlights failed. When the game was replayed in April a solitary goal ensured we eventually got the points.
The following season, in October, we did win by a four goal margin when Craig Johnston scored and missed a penalty in a 5-1 Reds’ victory.
The most recent encounter was at Borough Park at the end of the 2006-07 season when City, who had ten points deducted, arrived for the final match of the season with a points tally of 0. We did the honourable thing and drew (1-1) preventing City finishing without a point to their name.
They are now playing in the Evo-Stik (formerly Unibond) First Division North League.
Darren Edmondson will travel with the trimmed first team squad following the intensive training sessions since the victory at Whitehaven last week.
The ground is on West Road near the station with the post code: LA1 5PE. Droylsden scoop Bluesq.com prize (Sat 31 Jul) Droylsden scoop a £4,000 prize with Even and Odds winning the Bluesq.com Stewards’ Cup. The results were: | 1 Evens And Odds 20-1 | | 2 Jonny Mudball 14-1 | | 3 Prohibit 33-1 | | 4 Rileyskeepingfaith 12-1 | | 28 ran |
Droylsden will recieve £2,000 for Even and Odds winning the Bluesq.com Stewards' Cup plus an additional £2,000 for the horse having the impressive odds of 20/1. HITCHENS out to land a huge Blue Square bonus for Workington at Glorious Goodwood Conference sponsors Blue Square Bet will be paying a huge bonus to Workington if the David Barron trained horse Hitchens is successful in the Bluesq.com Stewards’ Cup on Saturday over six furlongs at Glorious Goodwood. All 68 clubs in the Blue Square Bet Premier, North and South were allocated a horse from entries in this weekend’s prestigious race and Workington were paired with the speedy 5-year-old after Monday’s draw at the betting company’s headquarters in London.
The race will take place at 3.40pm on Saturday 31st July – Live on Channel 4 and Racing UK. To commemorate their new three year deal to sponsor the league Blue Square have created a prize fund for clubs centered around this showpiece race. The club with the winning horse will receive a cheque for £2000 plus an additional amount determined by a £100 bet on that horse. So for example a 20/1 winner would yield another £2000 for the lucky team.
Blue Square spokesman Alan Alger said “This is our way of giving something back to the clubs who supported us through the first three years of sponsoring this great league. “It brings together our two biggest sponsorships and the winning club will benefit by what is a significant amount of money at this level.”
Hitchens is currently a 25/1 shot with Blue Square for the race after coming through today’s elimination stage and is scheduled to line up with 27 other runners representing clubs throughout the land. Workington fans can back the horse via the special www.bluesq.com/yourclub website, where if they register by clicking on their team’s badge they will start to earn money for the club whenever they place a bet. New customers will also be entitled to double their first stake as a free bet up to a maximum of £10.
The other teams with horses in the race are as follows: Genki | Hyde | 7/1 | Palace Moon | Luton Town | 8/1 | Enact | Fleetwood Town | 8/1 | Jonny Mudball | AFC Wimbledon | 10/1 | Striking Spirit | Corby Town | 14/1 | Noverre To Go | Darlington | 14/1 | Secret Asset | Harrogate Town | 14/1 | Castles In The Air | Boston United | 16/1 | Kaldoun Kingdom | Alfreton Town | 16/1 | Rileyskeepingfaith | Ebbsfleet United | 16/1 | Johannes | Tamworth | 16/1 | Parisian Pyramid | Dover Athletic | 16/1 | Knot In Wood | Gainsborough Trinity | 20/1 | Jimmy Styles | AFC Telford United | 20/1 | Hitchens | Workington | 25/1 | Iver Bridge Lad | Vauxhall Motors | 25/1 | Prohibit | Bromley | 25/1 | Evens And Odds | Droylsden | 25/1 | Ingleby Lady | Kettering Town | 25/1 | Sir Gerry | Rushden & Diamonds | 33/1 | Edge Closer | Staines Town | 33/1 | Run For The Hills | Bishop's Stortford | 33/1 | Ancien Regime | Dorchester Town | 33/1 | Singeur | Nuneaton Town | 33/1 | Advanced | Havant & Waterlooville | 40/1 | Sonny Red | Eastwood Town | 40/1 | Prime Exhibit | Worcester City | 40/1 | Everymanforhimself | Hampton & Richmond | 50/1 |
The other 40 clubs and remaining horses were eliminated by 12noon today. Let there be light (Thu 29 Jul) Despite assurances to the contrary, Reds officials are concerned that the new floodlight system will not be ready for the new season.
Now four or five weeks behind schedule, the delays have meant that the certificate for the old system has had to be reinstated and the lights would have been useable at the Darlington game last Tuesday – if needed.
That wasn’t the case, of course, for the Carlisle United friendly when the game finished in semi-darkness!
Supporters arriving at Borough Park for the past few weeks will have walked past the six new pylons lying forlornly next to the perimeter wall.
The delays have been a regular inconvenience since the project started but now, we are told, work can be completed after various structural engineering reports have been carried out.
Reds first Blue Square Bet North fixture played under lights will be v. Harrogate Town on 24th August but the Reserves have a home Lancashire League fixture the previous week (19/8) so, ideally, the new system needs to be in fully working order by the 12th. WHITEHAVEN (away) - Thursday (Wed 28 Jul)
For the sixth successive season, Reds will play Northern League Second Division outfit, Whitehaven in a pre-season encounter.
They go to the Focus Scaffolding Sports Complex tonight (7.30pm) hoping to maintain the unbeaten sequence which has produced four Reds wins and one draw.
For the last four seasons, we have made the short journey to the County Ground and enjoyed performing on one of the best playing surfaces in the area. Prior to that, Whitehaven travelled to Borough Park.
Last season we won 4-0 thanks to goals from Callum Ruttledge (2), Andy Langford and Dan Shannon.
Whitehaven, managed by former Reds favourite, Martin Harris, start their league campaign a week before us then, on the 14th August, make their debut in the FA Cup.
Darren Edmondson will take all available members of the first team squad plus some of the promising reserves.
Summary of previous pre-season games:
2005-06 3-0 (home) 2006-07 5-1 (away) 2007-08 3-3 (away) 2008-09 3-0 (away) 2009-10 4-0 (away)
The Focus Scaffolding Sports complex is adjacent to the Whitehaven Rugby League Club and can be accessed via Coach Road (CA28 9DB). Thousands up for grabs in blue square ‘Glorious Goodwood’ competition!!! (Mon 26 Jul) Blue Square are delighted to announce our bluesquare.com Stewards’ Cup competition for all clubs within the three Conference divisions. Our prestigious Glorious Goodwood race will take place at 3.40pm on Saturday 31st July – Live on Channel 4. To commemorate our new three year deal to sponsor the league we have created a prize fund for clubs centered around this showpiece race. Each club in the Blue Square BET Premier, North and South has been allocated a horse in the race. If your horse wins you will receive a cheque for £2000 plus an additional amount determined by a £100 bet on that horse. So for example a 20/1 winner would yield another £2000 for the lucky team. The random draw took place this morning at the Blue Square offices in London and the horses/clubs are as follows: HORSE | CLUB | Genki | Hyde | Laddies Poker Too | Chelmsford City | Palace Moon | Luton Town | Enact | Fleetwood Town | Jonny Mudball | AFC Wimbledon | Hawkeyethenoo | Grimsby Town | Victoire De Lyphar | Gateshead | Striking Spirit | Corby Town | Himalya | Hayes & Yeading United | Knot In Wood | Gainsborough Trinity | Secret Asset | Harrogate Town | Noverre To Go | Darlington | Rileyskeepingfaith | Ebbsfleet United | Ingleby Lady | Kettering Town | Five Star Junior | Crawley Town | Hitchens | Workington | Bagamoyo | Barrow | Castles In The Air | Boston United | Iver Bridge Lad | Vauxhall Motors | Jimmy Styles | AFC Telford United | Olynard | York City | Deacon Blues | Newport County | Sunraider | Southport | Mister Hughie | Stalybridge Celtic | Hogmaneigh | Eastbourne Borough | Evens And Odds | Droylsden | Elnawin | Wrexham | Hotham | Stafford Rangers | Parisian Pyramid | Dover Athletic | Prohibit | Bromley | Damien | Histon | Run For The Hills | Bishop's Stortford | Kellys Eye | Mansfield Town | Pastoral Player | Guiseley | Singeur | Nuneaton Town | Sonny Red | Eastwood Town | Poets Place | Braintree Town | Medicean Man | Basingstoke Town | Irish Heartbeat | Weston-super-Mare | Johannes | Tamworth | Everymanforhimself | Hampton & Richmond | Oldjoesaid | Cambridge United | Esoterica | Hinckley United | Imperial Guest | Ilkeston Town | Edge Closer | Staines Town | Prime Exhibit | Worcester City | Big Timer | Farnborough | Quest For Success | Solihull Moors | Redford | Boreham Wood | Baldemar | Woking | Ancien Regime | Dorchester Town | Sea Of Leaves | Blyth Spartans | Advanced | Havant & Waterlooville | Kaldoun Kingdom | Alfreton Town | Abraham Lincoln | Thurrock | Sir Gerry | Rushden & Diamonds | Lenny Bee | Gloucester City | Able Master | Welling United | Mac Gille Eoin | St Albans City | Tiddliwinks | Lewes | Valery Borzov | Forest Green Rovers | Global City | Bath City | Wildcat Wizard | Kidderminster Harriers | Gallagher | Eastleigh | Fitz Flyer | Altrincham | Captain Ramius | Maidenhead United | Aye Aye Digby | Redditch United | Osiris Way | Dartford |
On Thursday 29th July – the first 28 horses that intend to run (in handicap order) will be declared for the race – meaning 40 clubs will be eliminated at this stage. The final 28 clubs will receive additional details about their horse on Thursday afternoon. Reserves update (Mon 26 Jul)
The Reserves’ squad is back training as a group following the change of manager.
Steve Lee has stepped down and succeeded by Dave Rodgie, (pictured left). Penrith based Dave has been involved with Penrith United and Shap United recently as well as a spell in the west of the county with Mirehouse.
They won a recent friendly against Harraby with Martyn Coleman, (pictured below right), who got a taste of first team football with Reds a few seasons ago, scoring two of the goals.
Last week-end, they were up against a former Reds player, Brian Dawson, when they took on Holker Old Boys and he scored in their 3-0 victory.
Reserve team players Andy Murray-Jones and Ben Jackson have been involved in the recent first team friendlies and were joined by goal keeper Lee Jolly at Whitley Bay.
The Reserves will kick-off their Lancashire League programme with a home game v. Fleetwood Town on Thursday 19th August (8pm).
Meanwhile, the FA Youth Cup tie at Ryton will be played in the north east on Wednesday 8th September. Next up - Darlington (Sun 25 Jul)
Conference Premier newcomers, Darlington, will make their first visit to Borough Park for thirty-three years on Tuesday (7pm) as they continue their preparations for the new campaign with a four day break in the Lake District. After the Reds game, they will play Kendal Town at Parkside Road on Thursday evening.
Darlington haven’t played in west Cumbria since the 76-77 campaign when they won here 3-2 to complete a league double over us towards the end of our final season in the Football League. That particular match extended Darlington’s impressive unbeaten sequence against Reds to eight (seven wins, one draw) matches. The last time we emerged victorious against the Quakers was back in the 73-74 season when, in the first Sunday game at Borough Park, we won 5-2.
Relegated from the Football League at the end of last season, Darlington will be hoping to repeat their achievements the previous time they played at this level. Back in 1990, Darlington, under Brian Little, won the Conference title at the first attempt and returned to the Football League just twelve months after their demotion.
With Mark Cooper now in charge after a flurry of managerial changes, Darlington will be looking to register their first pre-season win this week following home defeats by Sunderland (0-1) and Carlisle United (0-3) plus a draw (1-1) v. Sheffield Wednesday.
The referee on Tuesday is Steve Smith, a regular at Borough Park in recent seasons, and he has already been in charge of one of Darlington’s games at the Arena.
Kick off 7:00pm.
New kick-off time (Fri 23 Jul)
The kick off time for Reds game v. Darlington on Tuesday is now 7pm – half an hour sooner than originally scheduled. Bay watch (Fri 23 Jul)
Reds will play their fifth pre-season game on Saturday when Darren Edmondson takes his depleted squad across to three times FA Vase winners, Whitley Bay – a first visit to Hillheads Park in nine years.
Edmo could be without six or seven players once again with the majority of the absentees on holiday although more of a worry is Lee Andrews’ ankle injury.
Bay will provide a tough test for the game at Hillheads which kicks off at 2pm.
They have won their opening three friendlies and are due to play North Shields (away) on Friday night before hosting Reds sixteen hours later. Like Reds, they played in downpour conditions on Tuesday with their game at Chester le Street ended after 75 minutes with Bay 3-0 ahead at the time.
Bay retained the FA Vase at Wembley in May and, after the scoring the quickest goal at the new stadium (21 seconds), went on to record a record 6-1 victory over Wroxham.
Directions: A69 to Newcastle then take A1 (north) coming off onto A167 which, in turn, will lead to the Coast Road – A1058. When you get to the Billy Mill roundabout take a left onto Preston North Road (A192). Go straight over next roundabout until you get to the Foxhunters pub. Turn right at this roundabout and right again at the next. Once on Hillheads Road the ground can be found to the rear of the ice rink. The postcode is NE25 8HR.
The Metro runs to Whitley Bay with Monkseaton or Whitley Bay stops both about ten minutes walk to the ground. Penrith preview (Sat 17 Jul) Left with a free week-end after the cancellation of the four team Annan Athletic tournament, Reds resume their pre-season programme at Penrith on Tuesday (7.30pm).
It will be a first ever visit to Frenchfield for Reds having played many times at their former base, Southend Road. The new stadium is a superb facility and Reds directors should take the opportunity to view the standards we should be aiming for in the next two to three years when Borough Park is eventually revamped.
There is still a strong contingent of former Workington players turning out for the Northern League Division One outfit with the likes of James Holland, Alan Gray, Mark Jones, Graham Anthony, Simon Tucker and Dean Douglas all involved in their early pre-season games.
They have lost twice at Frenchfield in the past fortnight with Annan Athletic winning emphatically, 6-2, but Barrow only managing a 1-0 success there. Having lost last time out, Darren Edmondson will be hoping to revert to the winning habit against James Tose’s side but will be aware of the challenge ahead.
Last season’s contest finished in a 1-1 draw.
*Directions to Frenchfield:
Travelling east form the west of the county, go over the M6 (first roundabout) and continue on the A66 until the second roundabout. Take the second exit signposted Alston and Police HQ (A686). Go past the Carleton Farm Shop (on your right) and take the next turn to your right (signposted Cross Keys Inn, Frenchfield and Hunter Hall School. Go to the bottom of the hill and access to the Penrith stadium is via the perimeter road that circles the pitches and changing room facility. Northern Masters (Fri 16 Jul) Having stood shoulder to shoulder with Ian Bogie (Gateshead) and Graham Kavanagh (Carlisle United) in the technical area at Borough Park in the past week, Reds’ boss, Darren Edmondson, might be attempting to kick or tackle (or both) them on Saturday evening as Sky’s Northern Masters gets underway at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena.
Edmo will be playing for the third time in the tournament and, once again, will be wearing the blue of Carlisle United. He will be joined in the Blues squad by two other former Workington players - Billy Barr and Tony Caig with the latter making his debut in the competition. Gateshead boss, Bogie, will be playing for Newcastle United while Carlisle’s assistant manager, Kavanagh, will be turning out for Middlesbrough.
Darren got on the score sheet last year when he netted in a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United.
The other teams in the group will be Sunderland, Rangers and Celtic.
Other former Reds players who have turned out in the competition recently include John Kay, Kevin Wolfe and Tom Cowan.
The event will be covered on Sky Sports 3 on Saturday evening. Tony Caig set to leave the Reds (Thu 15 Jul) Workington AFC are to cancel Tony Caig’s contract for the forthcoming season. Tony Caig had a year left of his two year deal at Borough Park. The club didn’t want to stand in Tony’s way of getting into a full-time coaching role at Carlisle United. The club though, are very disappointed in Carlisle’s refusal to offer any compensation in lieu of Tony Caig’s remaining year of his contract. This comes on top of their reneging on the Adam Collin's deal. Carlisle United contacted the club in November 2008, when Adam Collin was 23 years old at the time, asking if he could train with them three days a week. In February 2009, Reds’ chairman Humphrey Dobie shook hands on a deal over Adam Collin with John Nixon where the Reds would get two £5,000 payments, a 25% sell-on clause and loan players for free. Following Adam Collin’s contract coming into effect on July 1st 2009, Carlisle United paid £2,500 and stated there would be no sell-on clause. John Nixon stated that he could not get any of Carlisle United’s board to agree to the deal. Adam had joined Workington AFC as a teenager and spent five seasons at Workington. When Tony Caig informed the club he had been offered a full-time coaching role, the club requested that Carlisle honour the deal struck for Adam Collin, paying up the £7,500 owed but requested only a 10% sell-on clause to facilitate Tony’s move to Brunton Park. Again Carlisle United refused to honour the deal struck and to pay any compensation for Tony Caig. The club believe they have been shabbily treated by Carlisle United and John Nixon, Carlisle United director. The club wish Tony Caig all the best for his future and know he will be a success. Tony had been a colossus for the Reds last season, his performances won a string of awards. Tony won the Reds Player’s Player of the Year award, the National Supporters Player of the year award, Sensport Kits Goalkeeper of the Year at the National Game Awards and was also named in the Blue Square North ‘Team of the Year’ at the Football Conference AGM. Morecambe friendly is now off (Wed 14 Jul)
The proposed Morecambe friendly will not now be going ahead. Shrimps' boss Sammy McIlroy has had a change of heart and the fixture is now off. This still leave the Reds with a free Saturday on the 31st July. Big boost to the fund (Thu 15 Jul) An anonymous Reds fan has donated £3,000 to The 2013 Fund. The fund has now reached an impressive £40,000. http://www.the2013fund.co.uk Morecambe friendly being lined up (Wed 14 Jul)
Morecambe Football Club on Monday announced that the opening of the new Globe Arena has been delayed, the planned opening date of 24th July will not now be achieved.
Their pre-season friendlies against Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and Manchester City will not now be played but the stadium will be ready for the start of the new season. Morcambe have approached the club to line up a friendly and a fixture has been pencilled in for Saturday 31st July. CUFC preview (Mon 12 Jul)
Reds will welcome Carlisle United to Borough Park on Tuesday (7.30pm) for what will be the most prestigious game of the pre-season programme. It will be United’s second outing having won 4-1 at Kendal Town last Friday and they will be expecting a similar return tonight before they host Newcastle United on Saturday.
Darren Edmondson, who played well over 200 games for the Blues between 1990 and 1997, is looking forward to ‘squaring-up’ with Greg Abbott and hoping to improve on last year’s corresponding game when United won 3-1. Josh Gowling and trialist Yan Klukowski (2) netted for United with Matt Henney scoring our consolation goal at 0-2.
The strong contingent of Carlisle fans boosted the crowd to the 800 mark and it would be very pleasing to see a similar crowd present tonight.
Adam Collin, Ryan Bowman and Andy Cook are expected to be in the United squad this evening along with a numbers of players on trial.
Preston official, Lee Metcalfe, refereed the game twelve months ago and, by coincidence, he will be in charge again this evening.
It will be Reds third run-out following the 1-0 wins over Gretna and Gateshead last week.
The squad will have one addition tonight with, the now retired, Tony Hopper expected to play a cameo role after recently announcing his retirement. Tony first played at Borough Park some seventeen years ago when he was in the Carlisle United team that won 5-1 in west Cumbria. Tony Caig, Darren Wilson, Richard Prokas, Ian Arnold and Jason Prins were Tony’s team mates that night with Ian Arnold scoring four goals and Jason Prins getting the other.
Tony started his career with hometown club, United, making a hundred appearances for them. He subsequently appeared for Reds 250 times and will be given a great send-off by both sets of supporters tonight. FA competitions (Mon 12 Jul)
Reds have again been accepted into three of the FA’s cup competitions and will compete in the FA Cup, FA Trophy and FA Youth Cup.
A total of 460 clubs have entered the Youth Cup and Reds will begin their interest in a Preliminary Round tie at Ryton. We met them six years ago at their Kingsley Park ground but suffered a 4-1 defeat.
That tie is to be played week commencing 6th September and, should we win, a home tie against Ashington awaits in the next round.
Our FA Cup campaign will get underway at the 2nd Qualifying Round stage on the last Saturday in September.
No fewer than 759 clubs were accepted into the competition and one of the newcomers is Whitehaven. The Northern League Second Division outfit will be playing in the competition for the first time and host Team Northumbria. If results go their way, there is the potential for a home tie versus Penrith.
Reds will enter the Trophy on 20th November at the 3rd Round Qualifying stage and will be hoping to repeat last season’s achievements. The Trophy entry this season includes 266 clubs. Get Goulding on! (Sun 11 Jul)
The new Red's fans forum is up and running. 'Get Goulding on!' replaces the now defunct 'Popularside' forum. Get your fill of rants, raves, moans and occasional praise at www.workington-reds.co.uk Live Scoreboard (Sun 11 Jul) The Live Scoreboard feature has been re-established. A new format scoreboard has been adopted following the loss of the Popularside version. The new version allows for the posting of comments by anyone watching online and can send you a emailed reminder of forthcoming games. The Live Scoreboard can be found at Scoreboard City FAO calls (Sat 10 Jul)
Manchester City’s Football Administration Officer, Brian Marwood, was at Borough Park on Saturday but not to lure another player to Eastlands.
The former PFA chairman was on duty as a father supporting son James who played as a second half substitute for Gateshead.
Marwood was a prominent player throughout the eighties and nineties later becoming Chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association between 1990 and 1993. His broadcasting career has included stints for Radio 5 Live and Sky Sports while, more recently, he worked for Nike.
A one cap international for England, Brian made well over 400 appearances (scoring a century of goals) for the likes of Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Arsenal (where he won a championship medal), Sheffield United, Middlesbrough, Swindon Town and Barnet. He was the subject of several big-money moves with Arsenal paying £800,000 to secure his transfer from Sheffield Wednesday back in 1988.
Brian’s son, James, made a positive contribution for Gateshead in the second half looking a carbon-copy of his father with his touch, skill and raids down the right flank. Gateshead preview (Sat 10 July) Darren Edmondson will again use an eighteen man squad for Saturday’s home fixture against Gateshead as the north-east outfit play their first public game since going full time.
While Reds cruised to a comfortable win at Gretna on Thursday, Gateshead were losing narrowly to Middlesbrough in a ‘behind closed doors’ friendly. That suggests Reds face a tough ninety minutes in what will be damp, humid conditions.
Twelve months ago, Gateshead won here 2-1 and will be expecting, at the very least, a similar outcome this afternoon.
All the goals were scored in the first half with Graeme Armstrong opening the scoring, Mathew Henney equalising and then Wayne Phillips netting the winner.
Jonny Wright skippered the side last year but, when he was injured, Shaun Vipond took the armband. When he was substituted, Anthony Wright took over to complete an unusual hat-trick. All three are expected to play today although Anthony was still feeling the effects of a strong, but fair, tackle from Gretna’s Adam McMath.
Kick off 3pm with admission prices reduced. Gretna preview (Thu 08 July)
Reds will be hoping to complete a hat-trick of pre-season wins over Gretna when they open their pre-season programme at Raydale Park on Thursday evening (7.30pm).
For the third season in a row, Reds will ‘shake off the rust’ against Gretna having won 5-0 at Borough Park in 2008 then narrowly over the border twelve months ago thanks to Dan Shannon’s spectacular 80th minute winner.
Edmo will have to re-shape his side to accommodate the players on trial but that is the purpose of these games and, hopefully, those given an opportunity will impress.
It will be an interesting contest with a strong contingent of ex. Reds in the Gretna squad.
David Seggie and Tony Nicholson scored in Gretna’s impressive 3-2 win over Queen of the South on Monday while Alan Inglis, Steven Rudd, David Renyard and Dan Rayson joined them in Stuart Rome’s line-up. One player who won’t be playing against us is the diminutive Daniel Carmichael who recently signed for Queens on a two year contract.
Reds have been back in training just less than a fortnight. The Popularside forum (Mon 05 Jul)
After many years of service to all Reds fans, the Popularside forum has finally died. The company that hosted the forum appears to have ceased operating and consequently the forum is no more. But fret ye not you whingers, moaners, complainers (and praisers) as a new forum is being setup which should be up and running at www.workington-reds.co.uk within the week. Reserves presentation (Sat 03 Jul) Reds’ Reserves and Youth team players were recognised at the presentation evening held in the Shankly Lounge on Friday evening. Sam Smith, (pictured left), capped a fine personal season by being voted Players’ Player of the Year for the Reserves while Dan Gullen took the Player of the Year award. Simon Bragg, (pictured right), was voted Youth team Players’ Player of the Year while Adam Main picked up the Player of the Year accolade. The players then made a presentation to the managerial duo of Steve Lee and Graeme Main, (pictured left), in appreciation of their efforts over the past couple of seasons. Steve has stepped down as Reserve team boss and will be succeeded by Dave Rodgie who has previously been involved with Mirehouse, Penrith United, Shap United and the Cumberland FA. Tony Hopper (Fri 02 Jul) He was never a Messi – more a Mascherano, not so much a Sneijder possibly a De Jong never had the potency of a Gerrard or a Lampard but more the Barry type. In other words, an unsung hero who put in a steady performance every week and a vital component to a Reds team which has improved year on year during his time at the club.
If I had the honour of selecting the Reds line-up, Hopper’s name would have been the first on the team sheet. I’m sure Edmo thought along similar lines.
So the news that Tony Hopper has played his last game for Workington – a team he has skippered no fewer than fifty times – is a blow for the manager, team mates and supporters alike.
At one point, last season was going to be his last but he reconsidered and thought he would be able to squeeze one more campaign out of a thirty-four year old body. Another change of heart, though, over the past few weeks and Tony decided he will no longer be leading the team with age, work commitments and family considerations all genuine reasons to call time on a career which has spanned eight seasons at Borough Park.
Like many Reds players past and present, Tony arrived at the club via Carlisle United playing a ‘one-off’ game for us in February 2001 (a Unibond League 1st Division match v. Lincoln United). It wasn’t until the 2002-03 season that he arrived on a more permanent basis.
He has played left back, right back, as a central defender, right side mid-field and central mid-field with the latter role where we have seen him at his best. After making a hundred appearances for hometown club, Carlisle United, Tony had a spell in Irish football with Dublin club, Bohemians, played briefly for Barrow and subsequently pulled on a Workington shirt 250 times. That included 200 league games (162 starts in Conference North) with the others in the Unibond League.
Skipper on a regular basis for the past eighteen months, Tony led the side in the big Trophy games against Wrexham, AFC Wimbledon and Stevenage Borough.
He made 235 appearances for the Reds (plus 17 more as a substitute) scoring 18 league goals in the process.
Players come and players go – the nature of this wonderful game I suppose – and whilst many are quickly forgotten, some are remembered fondly. Tony Hopper certainly comes into that category and will be made welcome any time he chooses to visit Borough Park. New season fixtures (Thu 01 Jul) The fixtures for the Blue Square Bet Conference leagues were released this afternoon. The season commences om Saturday 14th August with a home tie against Gloucester City followed by a trip to Hyde United on the following Monday evening. The Reds' Boxing day/New Years Day double header is against Blyth Spartans. A full list of the seasons fixtures can be found here - Results/Fixtures Lancashire League AGM (Thu 01 Jul) An influx of new teams in the Lancashire League will see Reds Reserves playing no fewer than twenty-six league games this season. They will again play in the West Division of the league which will accommodate 14 teams. Following the demise of Burscough in mid-season, champions Southport and Barrow resigned at the end of the campaign but five new teams – Bootle, Colne, Mossley, Squires Gate and Witton Albion – were duly elected. The composition of the West Division now reads: AFC Fylde, Bamber Bridge, Bootle, Colne, Curzon Ashton, Fleetwood Town, Formby, Lancaster City, Mossley, Squires Gate, Stalybridge Celtic, Witton Albion, Woodley Sports and Workington. This will be Reds’ eighth season in the league and, generally, they have finished in the lower half of the table with a next-to-bottom finish last term. The exception was the memorable 2007-08 campaign when they emerged champions and League Cup finalists. The AGM, held at the Lancashire FA’s Leyland headquarters, also ratified a fourteen team East Division. The new season will commence on 14th August. Floodlights (Mon 28 Jun)
Reds supporters have been watching floodlit football at Borough Park for over half a century but the current system is long past it’s ‘sell-by date’ with numerous problems encountered over the past decade or so. A much needed new system is about to be installed with the sky line welcoming six new poles to replace the four corner pylons that have remained sentry-like since 1957. The North Western Electricity Board installed the original system almost fifty-three years ago at a reported cost of £12,000 and revered chairman E D Smith conducted the official switch-on. The new lights will cost six times the initial outlay. The club organised a series of friendly matches to herald the new lights and a friendly against Hamilton Academical was the first played at Borough Park with a 5,614 crowd witnessing a 6-1 Reds’ victory. Five days later, Blackpool visited us for another attractive game and the inclusion of Stanley Matthews in their line-up drew a 16,000 plus crowd to the stadium with Reds emerging 4-1 victors. The first Football League game under lights didn’t go quite as well, however, with Tranmere Rovers winning 2-1 in a Third Division (North) fixture on 30th November, 1957. The system, which included thirty bulbs on each of the four pylons, remained unchanged for the best part of twenty years. Then, in the mid-seventies, we obtained some bulbs from Manchester United but the Old Trafford magic didn’t work for the Cumbrian Reds with Bradford City winning the first game under the ‘new’ lights. The pylons were 125 feet high but were reduced by fifty feet in the late eighties following instruction by the authorities (Safety at Football Grounds Act) in the wake of the tragic Bradford City fire in 1986. Lack of any serious maintenance over the years have left the pylons in a rusty, eroded condition and we have scraped through for a number of years on a wing and a prayer just meeting the minimum lux criteria. Watching floodlit games should be a better experience for Workington supporters this season and beyond. This amazing photograph perfectly illustrates the original height of the Borough Park floodlights (125 feet). Incredibly, the position of the ball marks the position of the reduced height (75 feet) from the late eighties. Groundwork (Mon 28 Jun)
There has been a delay with the installation of the new floodlight system and it is now unlikely that the lights will be ready for the Carlisle United friendly in a fortnight. That game had been targeted for the big switch-on. The six poles (four for the popular side, two for the stand side) have not been delivered yet but once on site the work will commence. Preparation work has been carried out with six square holes dug out by a purpose-built excavator. Meanwhile, the facilities beneath the old stand have had a lick of paint with the home and away dressing rooms, referees’ room, tunnel area and entrance foyer all decorated. Some of the players returned to training on Saturday morning but Darren Edmondson confirmed that it was not a full compliment with several of the lads still on holiday. The regular Tuesday, Thursday and occasional Saturday sessions will get underway this week. Good sign (Mon 28 Jun) Blue Square Bet North officials acted swiftly to rectify the incorrect sign erected at Borough Park last week. The League sponsors had inadvertently referred to us as WORKINGTON TOWN on the perimeter welcome board but replaced the wrongly worded item with the correct sign less than forty-eight hours later. Blue Square Gamble North (Mon 21 Jun)
League sponsors Blue Square Bet North have committed the ultimate faux pas with the erection of a new sign at Borough Park.
The club was aware that the sign was being delivered but the office was closed so the sign was erected by the contractor in our absence.
Situated on the new fence at the Town End, adjacent to the new road, the sign reads WELCOME TO WORKINGTON TOWN – PROUD MEMBERS OF BLUE SQUARE BET NORTH.
The Conference has been informed and the error will be rectified as soon as possible. Conference congress (Sun 13 Jun) The 31st AGM and Presentation Evening of the Conference was held over the week-end at the magnificent Floral Hall Ballroom, Southport with Reds represented at the meeting by directors Jos Taylor (pictured below with partner Jo) and Colin Doorbar along with secretary, Steve Durham.
The constitution of Blue Square Bet North was ratified and the league will kick-off on 14th August with the new season’s fixtures expected to be published early next month.
Reds will renew rivalries with Boston United, Guiseley, Nuneaton Town and Worcester City with Harrogate Town and Vauxhall Motors remaining in the league after being given a reprieve from relegation.
A Gloucester City official confirmed that they will be playing at Cheltenham Town’s ground for the next two seasons so that will mean a first ever visit for Reds to the Whaddon Road stadium.
There was more recognition for Reds’ goalkeeper Tony Caig who was named in the Blue Square North ‘Team of the Year’. Votes were cast by all of last season’s member clubs with the hypothetical team as follows:
TONY CAIG (Workington) LEE VAUGHAN (AFC Telford United) STEVE McNULTY (Alfreton United) EARL DAVIES (Southport) ALAN WRIGHT (Fleetwood Town) ANDREW HALL (Hinckley United) MATTY McGINN (Southport) SEAN CLANCY (Fleetwood Town) LIAM HEARN (Alfreton Town) ADAM WARLOW (Fleetwood Town) PAUL BRAYSON (Blyth Spartans)
Southport’s Liam Watson was named Blue Square North Manager of the Year while Fleetwood Town’s Adam Warlow was voted Player of the Year. The top goal scorer award went to Blyth Spartans’ Paul Brayson.
Gainsborough Trinity won the Fairplay Award while Eastwood Town won the Programme of the Year accolade.
In Blue Square Premier, Graham Westley (Stevenage Borough) won Manager of the Year, Richard Brodie (York City) was named Player of the Year, AFC Wimbledon won the Fairplay Award and Luton Town collected the best programme title.
The Blue Square South recipients were: Manager of the Year – Dean Holdsworth (Newport County), Player of the Year – Craig Reid (Newport County), Fairplay Award – Hampton and Richmond Borough and Programme of the Year – Chelmsford City.
The former Aberdeen, Manchester United and Scotland defender, Martin Buchan (now working for the PFA), was one of the invited guests. Pre-season update (Thu 10 Jun) Manager Darren Edmondson will be looking to play no fewer than eight friendlies in the build-up to the new season and the matches arranged so far include:
| Date | Venue | Opposition | | 8 July | Away | Gretna (7.30pm) | | 10 July | Home | Gateshead (3pm) | | 13 July | Home | Carlisle United (7.30pm) | | 20 July | Away | Penrith (7.30pm) | | 24 July | Away | Whitley Bay (kick-off to be confirmed) | | 27 July | Home | Darlington (7.30pm) | | 7 August | Away | Lancaster City (kick-off to be confirmed) |
Caig wins non-league award (Tue 08 Jun) Having already picked up the Workington Players’ Player of the Year and National Supporters’ Player of the Year awards, Tony Caig made it a hat-trick of ‘gongs’ when, at the week-end, he was named Sensport Kits Goalkeeper of the Year at the National Game Awards.
Tony was presented with his glass memento (and didn’t drop it) by non-league goalkeeping legend, Ian Senior, and said afterwards, “It’s great to be recognised like that and good for the Reds as well.”
The awards were held at the NEC, Birmingham and subsequently featured in the Non-League Paper where Tony was pictured receiving his trophy.
The popular ‘keeper had a great season for Reds and kept fourteen clean sheets in his 49 (+2 subs) appearances.
The Blue Square Premier Player of the Year Award went to York City’s Richard Brodie while Fleetwood Town’s Alan Wright and Garry Warren of Newport County were the North and South recipients respectively. Border raid cancelled (Thu 03 Jun) Reds’ trip over the Scottish border to compete in the the four-team Annan Athletic tournament has been cancelled leaving a gap in the pre-season schedule.
Annan announced the news following the withdrawal of Partick Thistle. The Jags decided not to play in the two-day tournament after being drawn against Athletic at Galabank in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
Ayr United, operating with a smaller squad next season, had expressed concerns of playing two games in consecutive days which left Annan with no alternative other than to cancel their well established event.
Annan will now play Ayr on the Saturday (17 July) and there was a possibility of Workington travelling to Galabank on the Monday (19 July) but that idea has also been shelved.
Our only other appearance in the Annan tournament was in 2008 when we drew 2-2 (losing 4-3 on penalties) with hosts Athletic on the Saturday before inflicting a 3-0 defeat on Spartans (Edinburgh) the following day.
Manager Darren Edmondson, currently on holiday, has arranged to play Gateshead, Carlisle United, Penrith and Darlington but will add three or four games to that schedule before the season proper gets underway on 14th August. Reds players' shirt auction (Tue 01 Jun) The shirt auction towards the 2013 Fund concluded on Monday evening. A grand total of £974 was raised towards the fund after the bidding for the 34 home and away shirts from last season concluded. The 2013 Fund currently stands at over £36,000 against the target figure of £100,000. Increased mileage next season (Thu 27 May) Reds will travel more miles next season as they prepare for their sixth campaign in Conference North.
Their twenty-one match programme on the road next term will amount to an aggregate mileage of 8,122 – an increase of about two hundred miles on last season.
We lose the relatively short trips to Southport, Fleetwood and Northwich and, instead, make the longer journeys to Boston, Nuneaton and Worcester.
No fewer than ten of our away matches are 200 miles plus with Corby Town (270) the longest of those. Last season, our longest journey for a league game was at Cirencester where Gloucester City were ground sharing. We will be playing City again this season but this time at Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road – some fifteen miles nearer!
The club have requested to play Blyth Spartans for the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day fixtures. That was the intention last season, of course, but both games were postponed because of snow and ice and subsequently played in March.
The constitution of Blue Square North, to be ratified at the AGM at Southport next month, will be as follows:
AFC Telford United, Alfreton Town, Blyth Spartans, Boston United, Corby Town, Droylsden, Eastwood Town, Gainsborough Trinity, Gloucester City, Guiseley, Harrogate Town, Hinckley United, Hyde United, Ilkeston Town, Nuneaton Town, Redditch United, Solihull Moors, Stafford Rangers, Stalybridge Celtic, Vauxhall Motors, Worcester City and Workington.
The league campaign will kick-off on 14th August with final games played on 30th April 2011. Allerdale floodlight funding (Fri 21 May) Allerdale Borough Council invited Reds' chairman Humphrey Dobie along to the council's AGM at The Wave, Maryport. At the AGM Humphrey Dobie was presented with a cheque for £40,000 by Councillor David Wilson, council deputy leader and financial executive. The donation, made toward the cost of new floodlights to be installed at Borough Park during the close-season, was a 'signficant contribution' towards the cost of the new floodlights. Pre-season friendlies announced (Wed 19 May) The Reds pre-season will commence on Saturday 10th July with Conference Premier side Gateshead followed on the Tuesday evening with Carlisle United both at games Borough Park. The following weekend will see the Reds compete in the annual Annan tournamet played over the weekend of the 17th/18th July. Newly demoted from the Football League side Darlington will visit Borough Park on Tuesday 27th July while a Newcastle United side are pencilled in to also visit Borough Park with the date yet to be confirmed. | Date | Venue | Team | Sat 10 July | H | Gateshead | Tue 13 July | H | Carlisle Utd | Sat/Sun 17/18 July | A | Annan Athletic | Tue 27 July | H | Darlington | TBC | H | Newcastle Utd |
League line-up announced (Tue 18 May) The league line-up for the 2010-11 season have been announced by the Football Conference. The league has been re-named the 'Blue Square Bet North' league for the forthcoming season. The new teams in the league are Boston United, Guiseley, Nuuneaton Town and Worcester City. A noticeable absentee is Northwich Victoria who the Football Conference believe are in breach of the competition’s now infamous Appendix E, which says clubs will be expelled, or ‘not eligible for membership’ to use the Conference’s words, if they are in administration and fail to exit without settling debts with creditors in full by the second Saturday in May. The two sides repreived from relegation are Harrogate Town and Vauxhall Motors while Worcester City, reprieved from relegation from the Blue Square South, transfer back into the Blue Sqaure Bet North after spending two years in the southern counterpart. The full line-up of the league is: AFC Telford United
Alfreton Town
Blyth Spartans
Boston United
Corby Town
Droylsden
Eastwood Town
Gainsborough Trinity
Gloucester City
Guiseley
Harrogate Town
Hinckley United
Hyde United
Ilkeston Town
Nuneaton Town
Redditich United
Solihull Moors
Stafford Rangers
Stalybridge Celtic
Vauxhall Motors
Worcester City
Workington AFC 2013 Fund World Cup competition (Sun 16 May) Can you predict the successful teams at World Cup 2010 in South Africa? Choose the teams that you think will go through from each of the groups and then predict the winners of every match all the way to the final. Goto World Cup Competition Dream Team (Fri 14 May) The excellent Non League News 24 magazine in the end-of-season champions special edition has put together their Conference Dream Team picking the season's best gaffer and players from the three divisions. Described as a 'Master of resources', Reds' manager Darren Edmondson gets the Dream Teams' gaffers role. "All three championship-winning bosses deserve credit, but all start with sizeable - if not the biggest - budgets in their respective divisions. "Edmondson had no such advantage, restricted by the Reds' remote Cumbrian location and lack of financial muscle. "Yet he took on board those limitations and crafted a team far greater than the sum of its parts. "Knowing his hard-working men may struggle to create chances (they barely averaged more than a goal per game), the boss ensured every goal counted by organising a tight rearguard. "The reward was fourth place on a wage bill ranking somewhere near the bottom four. "A superb effort". The full line-up of the Dream Team is: | Dream Team line-up | Manager | D Edmondson | Workington (North) | Goalkeeper | Ryan Clarke | Oxford (Premier) | Defender | Simon Jackson | Staines (South) | Defender | Gary Warren | Newport (South) | Defender | Earl Davis | Southport (North) | Defender | Scott Laird | Stevenage (Premier) | Midfielder | Lee Tomlin | Rushden (Premier) | Midfielder | Joe Keehan | Lewes (South) | Midfielder | Michael Bostwick | Stevenage (Premier) | Midfielder | Sean Clancy | Fleetwood (North) | Forward | Paul Brayson | Blyth (North) | Forward | Richard Brodie | York (Premier) |
For subscription enquiries for the Non-League News 24 magazine, Tel: 01778 392088. Reds' shirt auction (Tue 11 May) Fancy owning a Reds players’ shirt, well here's your chance. You can bid for all the players’ shirts, home and away. With the opportunity to have the shirts signed and framed by the Reds player, these are a great gift or souvenir. All money raised from the auction is going into The 2013 Fund. Visit http://the2013fund.co.uk/shirt_auction.aspx for more details. Closing dates for all bids is Monday 31st May. Recovery time for the ground (Tue 11 May) The final game of a long season was played at Borough Park on Monday when the Cumbria Womens League staged their League Cup Final at the ground. Whitehaven and Carlisle Newlaithes contested an entertaining final which the former won 5-2.
Included in the Whitehaven line-up was Kirsty Robson the grand-daughter of fifties Reds’ legend, Billy Robson. The former inside forward was part of a decent crowd providing family support.
A number of local finals and tournaments have been staged at the ground in recent weeks adding to the forty five first and reserve team fixtures played over the course of the season.
Groundsman Jeff Curwen, (pictured), will now begin the task of getting the pitch back into prime condition for the start of the 2010-11 campaign. Brief mention for Reds in Wembley programme (Tue 11 May) Our FA trophy exploits last season will live in the memory bank for sometime to come and the briefest of mentions in last week’s FA Trophy Final programme will now remind others of our achievements.
In the ‘Road to Wembley’ feature, the programme reports: “Stevenage came from behind against Workington to earn a place in the last four. The Conference North outfit went ahead on 24 minutes courtesy of Phil McLuckie’s opening goal at the Lamex Stadium and it looked as though a real shock might be in store until Long equalised ten minutes into the second half. Workington would have fancied their chances in a replay on home turf but, instead, saw their FA Trophy dreams come to an end as Long notched a second goal on the stroke of full time to break Cumbrian hearts.”
Stevenage Borough’s Michael Bostwick was quoted, “The game against Workington in the Fourth Round was a bit of a struggle (a back-handed compliment, I suppose) as we were 1-0 down.” while a general review mentions Shaun Vipond’s winning goal in the previous round at AFC Wimbledon.
One of the Assistant Referees on duty in the Barrow v. Stevenage Borough final was Newark official, David Coote, who actually refereed our game at Stevenage back in February.
Former Reds players were prominent in the Wembley crowd with Billy Gilmour (he played in the 1990 final for Barrow) and Gary Messenger part of the contingent of former players invited to mark the 20th anniversary of Barrow’s previous appearance at the national stadium. Neil McDonald had the best seat in the house, of course, watching the game from the Royal Box area.
Meanwhile, the club have sent their congratulations to Barrow on winning the Trophy for a second time – a fantastic achievement. Ex. Reds on target for Blues (Tue 11 May) Several former Workington players were involved in the recently held Cumberland Cup Final when Penrith met first time finalists, Gillford Park, at Brunton Park.
Penrith emerged emphatic 6-0 winners – the biggest winning margin for nearly fifty years – with ex. Reds’ David Lynn (2), Dean Douglas (2) and Dan Robinson, (pictured right), amongst the goals.
Apart from the scorers, Penrith also named James Holland, Mark Jones, Graham Anthony, Matty Lea and Richard Prokas on their team sheet – all of whom have played first team football for Reds in the past.
Gillford’s line-up included the likes of Stephen Skinner, James Parker, Peter Ferris, Craig Thompson, Tyran Taylor and Michael Reed, (pictured left), and they too have links with us in the past. Tony Caig (Mon 10 May) Carlisle United are in negotiations with the club with Carlisle's intention of offering Tony Caig a full-time role at Brunton Park. Tony is currently the goalkeepeing coach at Brunton Park, while playing for the Reds. Carlisle United's manager Greg Abbott commented today on their club website, "We are still in the early stages of talks but Darren Edmondson and Workington are aware of what we would like to do."
"If a suitable package can be put together for Tony then that will happen, and it would also involve him registering as a player as well as carrying out full time coaching duties. Along with Adam Collin and Mark Gillespie that would give us three keepers and a bit of strength in depth in that position." The Reds 200 monthly draw (Mon 10 May) The first monthly prize draw was held on Saturday 24th April on the day of the Stafford Rangers game at Borough Park. The winner of the prize package of two hospitality tickets for the Play-off Semi-final 1st leg match against Alfreton Town plus a Reds' goodie bag was George Mackie. The Reds 200 initiative is where were we are looking for 200 individuals or companies to donate by standing order £10 a month for individuals or £25 per month for companies to The 2013 Fund. The 2013 Fund was launched to bring the new stand project to fruition. Fleetwood win play-off final (Sun 09 May) Fleetwood Town won promotion to the Blue Square Premier after a 2 - 1 victory against Alfreton Town at the Highbury stadium this afternoon. A crowd of just under 3,600 witnessed Fleetwood take an early lead through Nathan Pond in the eight minute. But Alftreton levelled the score with an Andy Todd penalty on 72 minutes, but the lead was short lived as Lee Thorpe scored six minutes later to secure the victory and Fleetwood's promotion. Play-off battle for Reds (Tue 27 Apr) All four teams involved in the Blue Square North promotion play-offs use red as their first choice colour but it is the Cumbrian Reds against the Derbyshire Reds which will command most interest in this part of the world.
Although we completed a league double over Town in our first season of Conference North football, we haven’t managed to get the better of them in the eight encounters since and they are unbeaten on their last four visits to west Cumbria.
Results over last five seasons:
Season Home Away 05-06 2-0 3-1 06-07 1-1 1-1 07-08 1-2 0-2 08-09 0-3 0-0 09-10 1-1 0-2
Darren Edmondson didn’t score too many goals in his latter playing days at Workington but he has netted home and away against Alfreton. Edmo found the target in our 3-1 win at The Impact Arena over four years ago then grabbed our equaliser here the season after.
He will have a different ‘double’ to contend with this week as a two match touchline ban will come into force for the two play-off fixtures. Ironically, this follows a misconduct charge for comments made to the referee after our game at Alfreton back in February.
Both Reds go into the play-offs on the back of impressive unbeaten runs – Alfreton on nine and Workington on eleven.
Referee Paul Kettlewell will make a quick return to Borough Park on Wednesday having officiated here in the Stafford Rangers match. He will be the Fourth Official while the man-in-the-middle, Seb Stockbridge, makes his second visit to Borough Park this term having previously controlled the Ilkeston Town fixture. His assistants will be Rob Denton and Chris Poole.
Droylsden and Fleetwood Town will contest the other two-legged tie. *** Action from the Borough Park encounter last season.
Fleetwood's appeal fails (Fri 23 Apr) The Football Association has confirmed its decision to dismiss an appeal by Fleetwood Town.
This is against the decision of the Board of the Football Conference to expunge the playing record of Farsley Celtic from this season’s Blue Square North Table. Fleetwood Town had six points expunged from their record after they had two victories over Farsley Celtic prior to Farsley going bust. Consequently Fleewood Town remain second in the Blue Square North, one point behind league leaders Southport with both sides having one remaining fixture. Bus to Alfreton (Wed 21 Apr) The Reds' Team bus to Alfreton for the play-off semi-final is full and anyone wanting to travel down are encouraged to use the Supporters bus being run by Keith Gate. The Supporters bus will be running to the away leg of the play off semi-final at Alfreton either on Wednesday 28th April or Sunday 2nd May, the date will be confirmed after Saturday's fixtures.
Anyone who wants to book a seat for either day contact Keith on 07821573360. A £10 deposit is required payable at the club shop on Saturday. Reds secure a play-off place (Sat 17 Apr) Workington AFC have secured a place in the end of season promotion play-offs with Saturday's victory at Damson Park, Solihull. The Reds came back from an early second half goal from Solihull's Mark Gardner with goals from Phil McLuckie and Dan Shannon to secure their 10th away win of the season and 6th successive away win to confirm their participation in the post season. It looks increasingly likely that the Reds will be playing a two leg play-off semi-final against Alfreton Town played on Wednesday 28th April and Sunday 2nd May. Darren interviewed by BlueSquare (Fri 09 Apr) Reds' manager Darren Edmondson interviewed following Wednesday's victory against Ilkeston Town. Promotion run-in (Fri 09 Apr)
TOP SIX FIXTURES The key fixtures over the next fortnight are listed accompanied by the points potential of each of the promotion contenders: Southport (p/p – 89) Droylsden (away) Hyde United (home) Alfreton Town (home) Eastwood Town (away) Fleetwood Town (p/p – 85) Ilkeston Town (away) Blyth Spartans (away) Stalybridge Celtic (home) Alfreton Town (p/p – 78) Northwich Victoria (home) Droylsden (away) Ilkeston Town (away) Southport (away) Hinckley United (home) Droylsden (p/p – 69) Southport (home) Alfreton Town (home) Redditch United (home) WORKINGTON (p/p – 74) AFC Telford United (home) Hyde United (home) Solihull Moors (away) Hyde United (away) Stafford Rangers (home) Hinckley United (p/p – 69) Gainsborough Trinity (away) Eastwood Town (home) Harrogate Town (home) Alfreton Town (away) Ilkeston Town preview (Wed 07 Apr) Ilkeston had a free Bank Holiday Monday as they were scheduled to play Farsley Celtic; while on Saturday they came from behind to secure a 2 - 1 win over the Reds' opponents next Saturday, AFC Telford United. New recruit from Corby Town Jason Lee, scored the winner in the second half to secure the three points. To get to the New Manor Ground, (DE7 8JF), from the M1 Junction 26 take the A610 signposted Ripley. Leave the A610 at the first exit on to the A6096 signed Awsworth/Ilkeston. At the next island join the Awsworth by-pass, signed A6096 Ilkeston. Continue for approximately half a mile and turn right into Awsworth Road. Small signpost marked Cotmanhay. The ground is half a mile down this road on the left hand side. Admission costs £9 for adults and £6 for concessions. Game on (Mon 05 Apr)
Borough Park was flooded mid-morning on Monday ahead of the Blue Square North game of the day v. leaders Fleetwood Town. However, groundsman Jeff Curwen and his assistant Peter put in tough shift to make sure the pitch was drained of all the surface water and no inspection was planned before the arrival of match referee, Stephen Smith, at 1pm. Pitch inspection planned (Mon 05 Apr) The Borough Park pitch has standing water on it this morning when the rain ceased but it was being worked on to remove this. The prospects are good for the game to go ahead if there is no more heavy rain prior to kick-off. A pitch inspection is planned for 1:00pm. Fleetwood Town preview (Sun 04 Apr) League leaders Fleetwood Town are Monday’s visitors to Borough Park, (3:00pm kick off). Big spending Fleetwood will have deadline day signing Sam Williamson while Peter Canavagh must wait until the 8th April to play. Sam Williams, a loan signing from Wrexham, made his Cod Army debut in Saturday’s 3 – 0 victory over 4th place Droylsden at the Highbury Stadium. He was brought in as cover for the injured left back Alan Wright. Canavagh, a former Accrington Stanley player, is just finishing an eight month ban from the game. He was charged by the Football Association last April for breaching rules on betting in relation to Accrington's match against Bury on 3rd May 2008 and must serve the remaining period of his FA ban which ends on 8th April. The Reds, having just completed a five game away sequence with four consecutive wins, will be hoping to avenge their worst performance of the season back on the 31st August. Fleetwood won 4 - 0 on the day with goals for Jamie Milligan, Adam Warlow, Mike Wilde and Nathan Pond. But the Reds form has dramatically improved from those early weeks of the season with the latest winning run seeing the Reds progress from a mid-table berth to play-off contenders. With the prospect of 4 games in 9 days, manager Darren Edmondson, (pictured), will have to decide how to shuffle his side around to keep the fresh. But with new signings Conor Tinnion and Jonny Blake both available to bolster the small squad there is some room for manoeuvre. Fleetwood Town are anticipated to bring at least 100 fans to the game, and with hopefully a bumper bank holiday crowd down to support the Reds the atmosphere should be good. We are definitely now at the business end of the season with Fleetwood vying with Southport for the one automatic promotion place and the Reds determined to cement a place in the play-off zone. Currently one place and one point off a play-off place but with games in hand on all the sides above them, the Reds are strong contenders to pick up one of the play-off places. Preece praise for Edmo (Sun 04 Apr) In yesterday's Vics v. Reds match programme notes, Vics manager Andy Preece had high praise for Reds' manager Darren Edmondson. "For me Darren has to be right up there for manager of the season in our league, a great FA Trophy run and now pushing for the play off, all this on a limited budget compared to many in this league. His team are in a great run of form and will be tough opponents today". His analysis of the Reds' team was correct with the Reds securing their fourth successive away win, while his assessment of Edmo's performance this season will be echoed by all Reds' supporters. Tom Aldred (Fri 02 Apr) Tom Aldred (pictured centre) on his Football League debut for Carlisle United v. Bristol Rovers on Friday. He played the full ninety minutes and was nominated sponsors ‘man of the match’.
Ryan Bowman was named as one of the United substitutes and got the briefest taste of the action for the last couple of minutes.
Adam Collin had a trouble free afternoon following his Wembley heroics while current Reds’ number one, Tony Caig, was on the bench in his role as United’s goalkeeping coach.
To complete the strong Reds’ link, former manger Les O’Neill watched the game from the stand. Bus to Northwich Victoria (Fri 02 Apr) The Reds' team bus leaves Borough Park for Northwich Victoria on Saturday at 9:30am. Meanwhile Vics manager Andy Preece commenting on the upcoming games against the Reds commented, "Workington are flying at the minute. They’ve come from nowhere to be just outside the playoffs with a couple of games in hand. They’ve gone to Hinckley and won last weekend, not too many teams have done that." The Vics have injury and suspension worries with Nat Kerr and Ian Herring suspended; Jamie Vermiglio, Mark Cadwallader, Jon Newby and Jonny Evans are injured while Luke Horrocks, Junior Brown, Wayne Riley and Jonny Allan are carrying injuries. Ex-Carlisle duo sign on for the Reds (Wed 31 Mar) Two new signings were made today, with nineteen year old midfielders Conor Tinnion, (pictured left), and Jonny Blake, (pictured right), joining until the end of the season on non-contract terms. The two lads who had first year professional contracts with Carlisle United were released from the remainder of their contracts allowing them to join the Reds. Blake, a central midfielder, and Tinnion, a left winger, both came through the club's Youth system and have been unused substitutes for the Carlisle United first team. United manager Greg Abbott said, "These are two good, hard-working lads and this is a very difficult decision to have to make."
"But, by releasing them now it means that they have the chance to get to Workington, play some competitive football at an excellent set-up." New date for Ilkeston Town tie (Wed 31 Mar) The Blue Square North fixture at Ilkeston Town, postponed on Tuesday because of a waterlogged pitch, will now be played at the New Manor Ground next Wednesday 7th April (7.45pm). Meanwhile, Ilkeston Town have a new owner. Gary Hodder, previously the marketing/commercial manager at Leicester City, Notts County, Derby County and Northampton Town, has taken over the club. Also, Ilkeston Town have signed 38 year old striker Jason Lee from Corby Town until the end of the season. Ilkeston Town match postponed (Tue 30 Mar) Tonight's match at Ilkeston has fallen foul of the weather. Further heavy rain since the weekend has waterlogged the New Manor Ground pitch making it unplayable. This postponed will add to an already congested fixture list. Ilkeston Town match in doubt (Mon 29 Mar) Tomorrow night's match at Ilkeston is in serious doubt after further heavy rain in the Derbyshire area. Ilkeston's match against Harrogate Town on Saturday only went ahead after a pitch inspection and a pitch inspection is scheduled for 12:30pm on Tuesday to determine if the Reds' match can proceed. The outcome of the pitch inspection is anticipated to be announced around 12:45pm. Ryan Bowman's off to Wembley (Sat 27 Mar) Ryan Bowman is set to join up with the Carlsile United squad at Watford. The Carlisle team are to train at the Hornet's Vicarage Road ground today ahead of Sunday's Johnstone Paint Trophy final at Wembley stadium. Ryan received the call last night as he travelled with the Reds' team on the way down to Leicester where the Reds are staying overnight prior to today's game against Hinckley United. He was picked up at the Marriott Hotel, Leicester at 8am this morning by car and will be joined after today's game by Reds' keeper Tony Caig, Carlisle United's goalkeeping coach. Hardman leaves for Gretna (Wed 24 Mar) Andy Hardman has left the club after being frustrated with lack of game time, regularly being used from the bench throughout this season. Andy has made only five league starts this season plus an additional twelve substitute appearances scoring the winner at Gainsborough Trinity in the first week of the season. Andy has additionally made five cup starts with three sub appearances scoring against Radcliffle Borough in the FA Cup and against Solihull Moors and the winner against Rushden & Diamonds in the FA Trophy. It appears that Andy intends to join Gretna, though it appears that international clearance has not so far been sought. All at Workington AFC wish Andy Hardman well for the future. Trialist to play in County Cup (Thu 18 Mar) The former Rhyl, Durham City and Lancaster City player Lee Ebden will get a run out in tonight's County Cup semi-final at Gillford Park. Ebden, a 26 year old striker, had contacted Reds' manager Darren Edmondson requesting a trial. He turned up at Southport on Tuesday evening and had a run out with the team prior to kick off. Tonight's Reds' side will consist of around eight Reserves with four or five First Team squad players who haven't had much of a run out lately. The match, at the Gillford park stadium, kicks off at 7:45pm. Carling mention for Reds (Sat 13 Mar) Last month’s Carling Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Wembley concluded the 50th anniversary of the Football League Cup competition. To commemorate the fiftieth final, supporters were asked to nominate their favourite moments throughout the history of the competition and Workington’s famous 5-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park during the 1964-65 season made it into the ‘top fifty’. We feature on page 84 of the programme published for the final with a black and white team photograph supplemented by three paragraphs, one of which is factually incorrect, of text. The actual photograph used was taken much later than when the historic match took place and five of our heroes that played at Blackburn – Ian Lindsay, Ken Furphy, Keith Burkinshaw, Barry Lowes and Dave Carr – don’t even feature on the picture! Nevertheless, it was still a proud moment to see Reds featured in a Wembley programme issued for a national final. Gillford bound (Sat 13 Mar) Reds will travel to play Northern League Second Division outfit, Gillford Park, in the semi-final of the Cumberland Cup – a tie which has arranged for Thursday 18th March, kick-off 7.45pm. The draw sets up the possibility of Aaran Taylor playing against his brother, Tyron, while a number of ex. Reds will be hoping to plot our downfall. The likes of Ryan Smith, Craig Thompson, Stuart Moffat, James Parker, Steven Skinner and Mike Read are all playing for Gillford this season having had Reds’ connections in the past. The last time we played each other in the Cumberland Cup was three years ago, also at the semi-final stage, when Darren Edmondson headed home the only goal of the match at Borough Park. Gillford Park accounted for Wetheriggs United in the previous round thanks to an extra time winner from Mike Read. In the other semi, Penrith are due to play the winners of the Harraby CC/ Whitehaven tie which was controversially called off nearly a fortnight ago. The Gillford Park stadium (CA1 3AF) is south of Carlisle city centre, adjacent to the main line railway, and can be accessed via Petteril Bank Road. Farsley gone (Fri 12 Mar) Farsley Celtic’s removal from The Football Conference has been confirmed and their playing record for the league campaign has been expunged. The upshot is that Reds now find themselves in 9th position with forty points but our good fortune is in contrast to that of Callum Ruttledge and Jonny Wright who both ‘lose’ the goals they scored against Farsley Celtic at Borough Park back in October. Callum had put Reds ahead in that game with a fine angled volley, his only league goal of the season, and Jonny’s header soon after made 2-0 in our favour. But Celtic staged a late recovery and goals from David Syers and Lee Ellington salvaged a point in a game which was a superb advertisement for Blue Square North football. The revised table with Farsley's results expunged is here. Reds progress to the semis (Sun 07 Mar) The Reds progressed to the semi-final of the Cumberland Senior County Cup with a three-nill victory over Carlisle Amateurs yesterday. The Reds semi-final opponents are Gillford Park with the match to be played at the Gillford Park Stadium, Carlisle. The other semi-final will be contested between Penrith AFC and the winners of either Harraby Catholic and Whitehaven Amateurs. Dan Shannon makes stunning debut (Sat 06 Mar) Dan Shannon made an impressive start to his loan spell with Rossendale United scoring twice for them on his debut v. Curzon Ashton in Saturday’s Unibond League First Division North fixture. Curzon had opened the scoring on 19 minutes with the only effort of note in the first hour of the match. Dan Shannon came on as a 66th minute substitute and had an also immediate dramatic impact when he had a shot parried by Curzon 'keeper Michael Hale with team mate Danny Ellis being first to react to net the equaliser. On 79 minutes Shannon was sent clear of the Curzon defence and a clinical finish put Rossendale into the lead. The game was made safe for Rossendale three minutes later when Shannon burst through the Curzon defensive line and slotted the ball past an advancing Hale. Rossendale manager John Hughes had three new signings in his side on Saturday which also included former Barrow player Ryan Zico Black. Rossendale remain at the foot of the Unibond League First Division North but the performance against promotion hopefuls Curzon Ashton and the three points gives them hope of avoiding relegation. Simply Reds February draw results (Fri 05 Mar) The Simply Reds draw for February was held at half-time of the Blyth Spartans game on Tuesday night. The first prize of £500 was the highest ever in the lifetime of draw. The results can be found in the 'Supporters Section' of the website. Late Farsley deal fails (Fri 05 Mar) The deal intended to saved Farsley Celtic, brokered by Farsley Celtic's president John Palmer with help from Leeds City Council, failed when no bid acceptable to the administrators was received by the administrators 12 noon deadline. The Football Conference had set a 2:00pm deadline to allow time for a fax to arrive from the John Palmer consortium informing the league of a successful deal had been brokered with the administrator, but no such fax was received. The Farsley Celtic website this evening only states, "Tomorrow's match against Workington will not take place. Full details to follow. Updated 3.40pm, Friday 5th March." Farsley Celtic saved (Fri 05 Mar) The impending folding of Farsley Celtic appears to be on hold for the time being as it appears a deal has been struck with the administrators to pay off the club's creditors. A previous deal fell through resulting in the cancellation of Tuesday's tie against AFC Telford, but Reds' manager Darren Edmondson has been informed by his Farsley Celtic counterpart Neil Parsley that Saturday's match at the Throstle Nest will be going ahead. The Football Conference has stated that it may be lunchtime Friday before we are informed, either way, what will happen regarding Saturday's fixture. Redditch United preview (Fri 26 Feb) Action from last season’s clash in west Cumbria. Redditch United will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run against Workington to seven matches at Borough Park on Saturday as they attempt to scramble clear from the lower reaches of the Blue Square North table. They will also be keen to complete a second successive league double at Reds’ expense having won 2-1 The Valley Stadium on a very pleasant warm afternoon back in September. Reds have only won twice in nine league meetings against the Worcestershire Reds and have lost the last four encounters. Workington, who have lost their three most recent games, are currently 13th in Blue Square North while Redditch, five points behind, are 19th. Head to head: Season Home Away 05-06 1-2 6-3 06-07 1-0 1-4 07-08 1-1 0-2 08-09 0-1 0-2 09-10 1-2 We have also met in the FA Trophy during the 96-97 season with Reds winning 1-0 at Borough Park. Reserves' match off (Fri 26 Feb) The Reserves’ Lancashire League fixture at Bamber Bridge on Saturday has been postponed because the Irongate pitch is waterlogged. Their next scheduled fixture is at Borough Park on Wednesday (3/3) when Curzon Ashton are the visitors. Kick-off 7.45pm. New date (Thu 25 Feb) The away game at Ilkeston Town, postponed for a second time on Tuesday, will now be played on Tuesday 30th March (7.45pm). That will mean a very demanding schedule of six consecutive away games during March and April. Jonny fit to play (Sat 20 Feb) Reds star striker Jonny Wright has passed an early morning fitness test and is ready to start this afternoon's FA Trophy quarter final tie against Stevenage Borough. Jonny had a run out with Reds manager Darren Edmondson at the team's hotel in Bedford. Jonny Wright had missed the last to matches after a hamstring injury but he has recovered sufficiently to resume his partnership with strike partner Gareth Arnison. With a travelling squad of 18 and himself to pick from, manager Darren Edmondson will have a tough decision to make of who to leave out of the starting eleven plus five substitutes. Injury update (Fri 19 Feb) The fitness of Anthony Wright and Jonny Wright was assessed by physio Sue Pollock on Friday night at the hotel. Winger Anthony Wright looks like he has recovered from his hamstring injury and will be available to for Saturday's FA Trophy quarter final tie at Stevenage. Meanwhile striker Jonny Wright, (pictured left), faces a Saturday morning fitness test with manager Darren Edmondson. Jonny was still feeling some stiffness on Friday but was hopeful that this would ease with a run and treatment off physio Sue Pollock. Reserves' fixture update (Tue 16 Feb) The Cumberland Cup tie against Carlisle Amatteurs is to be played on Saturday 6th March and as this coincides with Reds match at Farsley Celtic, the Cup tie will be played as a Reserve team fixture. The Reserves next few fixtures are as follows: Mon 22 Feb | Fleetwood Town | (away) | Sat 27 Feb | Bamber Bridge | (away) | Thur 4 Mar | Curzon Ashton | (home) | Sat 6 Mar | Carlisle Amateurs | (away) | Thu 18 Mar | Stalybridge Celtic | (home) |
United's Ryan Bowman signs loan deal (Sun 14 Feb) Carlisle United striker Ryan Bowman signed an initial month loan deal on Friday in time to make his debut against Droylsden yesterday. Ryan made a postive contribution on his debut troubling the Droylsden defenders on a number of occasions. The teenager is getting some ‘work experience’ during a loan spell from Carlisle United where he has scored regularly at youth and reserve team level. Open meeting announced for all Reds fans (Thu 11 Feb) An open meeting has been arranged for Thursday 18th February, 7:30pm in the Borough Park Social club.
The meeting presided over by the Reds Chairman Humphrey Dobie and Commercial Manager Les Smallwood will outline the future plans for the development of Borough Park and highlight the initiatives planned to help realise these plans.
“Exciting plans to take the club forward will be unveiled and we want the fans, to be part of that journey.”
“Edmo’s men have shown a great togetherness on the field which has helped take us so close to Wembley with a 12-match unbeaten run and into a possible play-off challenge in Blue Square North.”
“We want that same togetherness off the field and want to keep the supporters fully informed of where we are going and what we are planning” announced the new Commercial Manager Les Smallwood, (pictured right).
Humphrey Dobie, (pictured left), stated, “We want to take the supporters along with us every step of the way, to see and hear what we have in mind and how we think our objectives can best be achieved.”
“These are exciting times for the club. We are currently on the crest of a wave and we want to keep moving forward.”
Every Reds fans is encouraged to come along on the Thursday night to find out what the future plans are for the club. Southport match re-arrangement (Mon 06 Feb) Due to Reds’ continued involvement in the FA Trophy, the Blue Square North fixture at Southport, originally scheduled for Saturday 20th February, will now take place at Haig Avenue on Tuesday 16th March (7.45pm). Bus to Stevenage update 3 (Mon 06 Feb) The second has been booked, cost will be £25 per head. There is a limited number of seats still available for this bus.
If you want a seat on this second bus contact Herbert Briggs on 07591149062. Bus to Stevenage update 2 (Sun 05 Feb) Payment for seats on the supporters’ bus for the Stevenage Borough game is required by this Tuesday. The cost is £22.50 per seat and should be made to Herbert Briggs. There are currently 22 names down for the second supporters' bus. A price is being obtained for either a 24 or 33 seater bus.
If you want a seat on this second bus contact Herbert Briggs on 07591149062. Bus to Stevenage update (Thu 04 Feb) The supporters’ bus for the Stevenage Borough game has been successfully filled with no more seats available.
Herbert Briggs is taking names and phone numbers from anyone who are interested in going and if there are sufficient numbers a second bus will be organised.
To record your interest, contact Herbert on 07591149062 Simply Reds lottery launched (Fri 05 Feb) The new 'Simply Reds' lottery was launched at Borough Park this morning in conjunction with CFM Radio. The Reds have adopted CFM's Cash for Kids as their charity for 2010 and will contribute £1 to the charity for every new member to the Simply Reds lottery. The Simply Reds lottery can be found under the 'Supporters Section' of the website. Simply Reds Supporters bus to Stevenage (Thu 04 Feb) A supporters' bus has been arranged to travell to Stevenage Borough for the FA Trophy Quarter Final tie on Saturday 20th February. After speaking with Reays, the bus will depart Borough Park at 6:00am to arrive at Stevenage for 1:00/1.30pm we will leave Stevenage around 5:30/5:45pm. It will cost will £22.50 per person. All those already booked onto can you please pay for your seats after this Saturday's game (Solihull) or Tuesday's game (Stalybridge). Payment should be made to Herbert Briggs who will be in the social club after both matches, however he wont be at the game on the Saturday 13th February, so money must be paid on or before Tuesday's game. Any queries, contact Herbert on 07591149062. Manager of the Month (Tue 02 Feb) It was announced last night on the excellent BBC London, 'Non League Football Show' that Reds manager Darren Edmondson had won the Blue Square North Manager of the Month for January. Blue Square's Alan Alger announced the award on the radio show during an interview with Reds Chairman Humphrey Dobie. You can listen to the interview below, (10 min 28 secs). The BBC London Non League Football Show can be listen to online at or can be downloaded as a podcast. FA Trophy Fourth Round draw (Mon 01 Feb) The Trophy 4th Round draw took place at Wembley today, but with only four clear results from Saturday's fixtures there is a few fixtures yet to be clarified. The four sides conformed as through to the Fouth Round include the Conference's top three teams and ourselves. The full draw is: Stevenage v Workington AFC
Cambridge/Salisbury v Guiseley/Tamworth
Barrow/Gateshead v York City
Oxford v Worcester/Kidderminster Ties to be played Saturday 20th February. First ever meeting presentation (Mon 01 Feb) Humphrey Dobie makes a presentation of engraved glassware to Wimbledon Chief Executive, Erik Samuelson, to mark the first ever meeting of the two clubs. Reserves match updates (Sun 24 Jan) After numerous fixture cancellations the Reserve team are now playing catch up with between two and six games in hand over all the opposition teams. Last Thursday’s thrilling 5 – 4 win at Formby lifted the Reserves three places from the bottom place in the league table to eighth. Further victories next Thursday against Barrow at Borough Park, (8:00pm kick off), and on the following Monday 1st February also at Borough Park, (8:00pm kick off), against league leaders Woodley Sports could see them comfortably into the top half of the table still with games in hand. The draw for the Lancashire League Cup has given the Reserves a bye in the First Round, with them playing away to the winners of Bamber Bridge and Lancaster City in the Second Round. The date for this tie is yet to be confirmed. The draw every Reds fan wanted (Sat 23 Jan) Our reward for the superb win over Rushden & Diamonds is an away tie at AFC Wimbledon – the tie, I think, most Reds’ fans wanted. It has created a great deal of interest and the team will have the backing of a decent support at The Cherry Red Records Fans’ Stadium (Kingsmeadow) on Saturday week. The nearest rail station is Norbiton which is less than a mile from Kingsmeadow. Trains run from Waterloo every fifteen minutes via Clapham Junction and Wimbledon (terminating at Shepperton or Strawberry Hill). Leave the station via the rear exit and take the first left onto Norbiton Avenue. Turn right at the end onto Gloucester Road and continue to Kingston Road. Turn left and Kingsmeadow is 400 yards on the right. | Admission charges: | Seating | £14 (adults), £7 (concessions), £3 (under 16) | | | Terracing | £12 (adults), £6 (concessions), £2 (under 16) |
Should we draw, the replay will be staged at Borough Park on Tuesday 2nd February. Match updates (Fri 22 Jan) Cumberland Cup match v. Greystoke arranged for Monday 25th January kick-off 7.30pm. The away game at Hyde United has had to be re-arranged due to our continued involvement in the FA Trophy. We will now visit them on Monday 19th April.
Reserves’ Lancashire League match at Curzon Ashton, scheduled for next Wednesday, has been cancelled.
The home game v. Barrow will now revert to it’s original date of Thursday 28th January kick-off 8pm. Trophy preview (Mon 18 Jan) Shaun Vipond and Jonny Wright tangle with Rushden & Diamond's Lee Tomlin. There will be much relief around Borough Park tonight as Reds return to action for the first time in over five weeks. The delayed FA Trophy tie v. Conference Premier outfit, Rushden & Diamonds, will be their first outing since the odd goal win over Nuneaton Town in the First Round of the competition back on 12th December.
Since then, of course, the club have had to postpone eleven fixtures including last night’s Cumberland Cup tie v. Greystoke which, unlike the others, was not pitch related. The playing surface was perfect but a problem with the floodlights (no cherry-picker available to install new bulbs) meant the game had to be cancelled.
It has been a frustrating time for manager Darren Edmondson and, although keen to have another crack at Justin Edinburgh’s talented side, he will be disappointed to go into the tie with a depleted team. Phil McLuckie and top scorer Gareth Arnison miss out through suspension for misdemeanours over a month ago while Anthony Wright was a major doubt through illness.
Edmo’s preparations have been far from ideal and will be in sharp contrast to that of Edinburgh. The Diamonds party travelled up to Cumbria yesterday and a light training session and plenty of relaxation will precede their short trip to the stadium. Edmondson, meanwhile, will watch his players turn up at the ground having spent the day at work.
A repeat of Diamonds’ comfortable 3-0 FA Cup victory in October is the most probable scenario although R & D have only played once themselves during the cold spell and they, too, will be 'ring rusty'.
Match referee tonight will be north-east based Scott Duncan who was last here eighteen months ago for the pre-season friendly v. Carlisle United. He was on Football League duty, on the line, at Barnsley on Saturday.
The FA assessor, meanwhile, will be a former Football League referee who was one of the few officials to gain popularity amongst the Borough Park faithful. Barrow based Mike Pike refereed Reds no fewer than a dozen times between 1989 and 1999 with ten of those occasions at Workington. He last controlled a Reds game in the FA Vase quarter-final at Bedlington Terriers eleven years ago and then spent over a decade on the Football League in the middle.
It will be the first time Reds have met the same opposition in both FA Cup and Trophy during the same season.
Cumberland Cup (Mon 18 Jan) Workington’s Cumberland Cup tie v. Greystoke, due to take place on Monday night, has been postponed due to a problem with the floodlights. The problem will be rectified tomorrow in time for the FA Trophy fixture v. Rushden & Diamonds. Reds back in action (Sun 17 Jan) The dramatic improvement in the weather will enable Reds to make inroads into their congested fixture list this week with matches due to be played in the Cumberland Cup, FA Trophy, Lancashire League and Blue Square North. They will play the Cumberland Cup game v. Greystoke at Borough Park on Monday (7.30pm) followed by the eagerly awaited FA Trophy clash v. Rushden & Diamonds twenty-four hours later (7.45pm). The Reserves will play their first game for a month at Formby on Thursday and then, on Saturday, the first team will play their first league match since the 5th December when Gloucester City make a first ever visit to west Cumbria. Hectic schedule (Sat 16 Jan) Reds face an unprecedented hectic end to the campaign with virtually two games a week until the end of the season. That could possibly extend to three games in some weeks if further progress is made in the Trophy, and to a lesser degree, the Cumberland Cup. Of the seven Tuesday fixtures at this moment, five are away with just two at Borough Park. Revised fixture list: January | 19 | RUSHDEN & DIAMONDS | HOME |
| 23 | GLOUCESTER CITY | HOME |
| 26 | Vauxhall Motors | Away |
| 30 | Hyde United | Away | February | 06 | SOLIHULL MOORS | HOME |
| 09 | STALYBRIDGE CELTIC | HOME |
| 13 | DROYLSDEN | HOME |
| 16 | Alfreton Town | Away |
| 20 | Southport | Away |
| 23 | Ilkeston Town | Away |
| 27 | REDDITCH UNITED | HOME | March | 02 | BLYTH SPARTANS | HOME |
| 06 | Farsley Celtic | Away |
| 09 | Blyth Spartans | Away |
| 13 | CORBY TOWN | HOME |
| 20 | Eastwood Town | Away |
| 23 | Harrogate Town | Away |
| 27 | Hinckley United | Away | April | 03 | Northwich Victoria | Away |
| 05 | FLEETWOOD TOWN | HOME |
| 10 | AFC TELFORD UNITED | HOME |
| 13 | HYDE UNITED | HOME |
| 17 | Solihull Moors | Away |
| 24 | STAFFORD RANGERS | HOME |
Postponements reach double figures (Fri 15 Jan) Belper referee Stephen Cooke confirmed what we all expected when he called off the Blue Square North fixture between the Derbyshire Reds and their Cumbrian counterparts at 3.30 this afternoon. The Impact Arena was declared unfit so Reds will face another mid-week trek when the two clubs can agree on a date. The loss of the Alfreton Town match became Reds’ tenth successive postponement. 100 Years Ago (Fri 15 Jan) Workington’s FA Cup campaign for the 1909-10 season began in the 1st Preliminary Round in September. Six victories later, they were hosting Manchester City at Lonsdale Park on a very wet afternoon in January.
Their progress included wins over Wigton Harriers (4-0), Barrow St. Lukes (8-0), Barrow (2-1), Penrith (6-0), Seaham Harbour (3-1) and Tunbridge Wells Rangers (6-0). Drawn away to Tunbridge in the 5th Qualifying Round, Reds offered their opponents £165 to switch the tie to Workington and they accepted.
Workington’s reward was a home-tie against Manchester City who suggested switching the tie to their ground but Reds politely turned down the £250 financial sweetener and opted to play the 1st Round proper match at Lonsdale Park. The decision backfired, though, mainly because of the weather.
Saturday 15th January, 1910 was a wet, miserable day and, instead of an anticipated record crowd, only (!) 5,233 spectators braved torrential rain throughout to see Reds lose narrowly 2-1. Our goal, a penalty, was scored by Swan.
That was Reds’ only first team encounter against City until August, 1978 when, in a pre-season friendly, we avenged the Cup defeat overcoming a youthful City by the same 2-1 scoreline. City, who included future first teamers Dave Bennett, Nicky Reid, Alex Williams and Tommy Caton as well as old-timer Glyn Pardoe, took a first half lead but rare goals from Jimmy Irving and Kenny Wallace secured a home win. N.B. A sum of £250 in 1910 would be the equivalent of around £15,000 - £20,000 in today's money. FA Trophy Third Round draw (Mon 11 Jan) The Trophy 3rd Round draw took place at Wembley today, but with all Saturday's 2nd Round fixtures being cancelled the draw had no definite matches. If the Reds overcome Rushden & Diamonds on Tuesday 19th January, a potential intriguing fixture against AFC Wimbledon, who have to overcome Altrincham, may be a possibility. AFC Wimbledon, formed by Wimbledon FC fans disgusted that the FA allowed their team to be relocated over 60 miles away from their Merton home to Milton Keynes, are currently in a play-off place in Blue Square Premier. It was the original Wimbledon FC that replaced the Reds in the Football League in 1977 and rose through the leagues to reach the top tier of football in 1986. The FA Trophy 3rd Round draw in full is: 1 Newport County or York City v Stalybridge Celtic or Corby Town
2 Blyth Spartans or Guiseley v Gainsborough Trinity or Tamworth
3 Worcester City or Carshalton Athletic v Kidderminster Harriers or Lewes
4 AFC Wimbledon or Altrincham v Workington or Rushden & Diamonds
5 Cambridge United or Eastbourne Borough v Salisbury City or Maidstone United or Histon
6 Stevenage Borough or Vauxhall Motors v Fleetwood Town or Dover Athletic
7 Maidenhead United or Barrow v Gateshead or Chippenham Town
8 Chelmsford City or Crawley Town v Oxford United or Woking Gus Alexander (Mon 11 Jan) Former Reds player Gus Alexander passed away on New Year’s Day – just over a week short of his 76th birthday.The popular Scot, an inside forward or halfback, joined the club in late February 1958 from Southport in exchange for Tommy Kinloch making his Third Division (North) debut in a goalless draw at Barrow. His first goal was in a 6-3 defeat at Mansfield Town and he subsequently scored v. Chester, Hartlepools United, Barrow and Accrington Stanley (FA Cup). Gus was a regular in the side throughout the 58-59 campaign but, at the end of the season, he moved to York City in a deal which brought Tommy Brownlee to Borough Park. After his playing days, he returned to live in Workington (Vulcan’s Lane area). The funeral service was held at Distington Crematorium on 8th January. He is survived by wife Celia, son Jason, daughter Kim and four grand children. Reds career: | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | 1957-58 | 12 (2 goals) | | 12 (2 goals) | 1958-59 | 37 (2 goals) | 1 (1 goal) | 38 (3 goals) |
Trophy tie postponed for a second time (Sun 10 Jan) Reds will have to try for a third time to stage the FA Trophy tie v. Rushden & Diamonds following the postponement of the 2nd Round match on Sunday. Local Contributory referee, John Corkhill, reached the inevitable decision in a matter of seconds when he conducted the pitch inspection on Sunday afternoon and, after liaising with match referee Scott Duncan, he called off the match. The Diamonds match has now been re-scheduled for Tuesday week, 19th January, with the league fixture (Hyde United) originally pencilled in for that night re-arranged for April. Apart from the frozen pitch and dangerous terracing, club officials are now faced with a mopping-up operation at Borough Park after flooding inside the main building. The rise in temperature on Sunday resulted in several burst pipes with the tunnel, boiler room and three dressing rooms all inches deep in flood water. Hyde match (re-)rescheduled (Sun 10 Jan) The Hyde United game, re-scheduled for Tuesday 19th January, has had to be moved again to Tuesday 13th April to accommodate Hyde United's 2nd Round Manchester Premier Cup (County Cup) match against Trafford FC. Cumberland Cup (Fri 08 Jan) The weather has triumphed yet again with Reds’ re-scheduled Cumberland Cup tie v. Greystoke at Whitehaven on Saturday becoming the eighth successive postponement.
The game was due to be played on the 3rd Generation pitch at the Focus Scaffolding Sports Complex but frozen snow on the pitch could not be cleared so no action once again for Darren Edmondson’s squad who trained last night at an indoor venue in Penrith. Match updates (Fri 08 Jan) The Rushden & Diamond fixture has been re-scheduled for Tuesday, despite both clubs suggesting the following week (19/1) being a more sensible option, a Monday morning pitch inspection has been requested. The new date for the Harrogate Town fixture is Tuesday 23rd March. The Reserves’ game v. Lancaster City has been brought forward to Thursday 14th January, 2010 kick-off 8pm. Cumberland Cup (Thu 07 Jan) Following the inevitable postponement of the FA Trophy tie v. Rushden & Diamonds, the club have hastily arranged to play the protracted Cumberland Cup tie against Greystoke on Saturday.
The 3rd Round tie, postponed on three previous occasions, will be staged at Whitehaven’s Focus Scaffolding Sports Complex with a 12:30 kick-off.
The club are grateful to Whitehaven AFC, for making their excellent facilities available, and Greystoke FC for agreeing to play the game at such short notice.
Whitehaven’s ground, adjacent to Whitehaven Rugby League Club, is accessed via Coach Road (CA28 9DB). Reserves' Lancashire League match off (Sun 03 Jan) The Reserves’ Lancashire League fixture versus Stalybridge Celtic, due to be played at Borough Park on Monday evening, is the latest game to fall victim to the frost. The inevitable postponement was made on Sunday afternoon with the playing surface frozen solid. The Reserves have only played seven league games and sit bottom of the Lancashire League. Their next scheduled league fixture is on Friday week (15/1) when Lancaster City visit Borough Park. Harrogate Town update (Fri 01 Jan) Discussions between the two clubs have been held this morning with a view to playing the Blue Square North fixture at the CNG Stadium, Wetherby Road next Tuesday 5th January. Harrogate Town were due to play Farsley Celtic on New Year’s Day but, although the pitch was playable twenty-four hours earlier, the snow ensured the game didn’t go ahead. Kick-off on Tuesday will be 7.45pm. Cross those fingers!
Blyth match off (Fri 01 Jan) Today’s Blue Square North fixture at Croft Park has been postponed because of a heavy overnight snowfall.
The pitch, playable for the last couple of days, is now covered by a blanket of snow but an additional problem is the road network around the town as some of them are impassable. | |
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