MATCH PREVIEW: The football is back

Reds return to action on Saturday and welcome the real Gladiators to Borough Park.

Never mind the stuff presented to us on our television screens for the foreseeable, come and see Reds take on the Gladiators of Matlock Town (3pm).

The weather disrupted much of the Northern Premier League programme last week but the ground is in good condition to host, what is, another crucial fixture for Reds.

Based on the form guide, this is almost a reverse of the situation earlier in the season when Reds went to Derbyshire hoping to add to Matlock’s miserable start to the Premier Division campaign.

Town hadn’t won any of their opening eight games but Reds had got nine points on the board and were hopeful of adding to that tally.

And a well worked corner routine produced a first half goal for Reds with Matlock already down to ten men at that stage.  But we faded in the second half and finished second best to a team showing gladiatorial character.

The 2-1 success helped kick-start their season and, under new management, they are now four points better off than us and heading in the right direction.  Indeed, they are the form team in the division and have obtained 14 points from their last six outings which contrasts sharply to the 2 points we have bagged over the same number of games. 

Only the three B’s, Bamber Bridge (46), Basford United (53) and Blyth Spartans (50), have conceded more league goals than Matlock and Workington (42 each) so the likelihood is the fixture will produce goals.

It will be the 52nd time we have met Town under the NPL banner since the inaugural contest back in 1977.  And the Blues hold the bragging rights in this long-standing rivalry winning twenty-seven times in the series compared to twenty victories achieved by the Reds, with just four games drawn.  Worryingly, Town have recorded eleven league wins at Borough Park over the years.

The hosts will be below strength but manager Mark Fell was hoping to have ‘new faces’ in the building to boost his depleted squad.

• There will be a VIP visit on Saturday with a special guest in attendance.  John Scott, a goalkeeper who played for the club for three seasons seventy-five years ago, will be introduced to club officials, the manager and the players prior to the game.
• Now 96, Crosby born John made his Workington debut in a North Eastern League fixture in 1948, helping the club to a point in a 2-2 draw against Horden Colliery Welfare.  He made a decent start to his Reds career, losing just once in his first nine games for the club.  He made seventy-five competitive appearances for Reds and also represented the Cumberland FA XI during his time at Borough Park.
• John then signed for Leeds United and spent five seasons as the regular goalkeeper at Elland Road becoming good friends with the legendary John Charles.  After his playing days, he returned to live in the Maryport area and became a prominent figure in his other passion, golf.