Take It As Red - Collieries Undermine League Leaders !!

Pontefract Collieries  DWLWWW 4th  v Workington AFC LWWWWW 1st

And so to a first, no second, trip to the Harratts Nissan Stadium in PonteCarlo aka Pontefract. The initial visit to watch Pontefract Collieries against 'The North', Trafford FC, came to a sorry and very wet end - a trip notable for atrocious weather, aggressive undertaking, an absence of rear car lights and numberplates 1VY, OO04 AAH and LO53RSS (!!). Arrival at three minutes to two, and bang on two o'clock, a home official knocks on my car window and informs me the game has just been called off due to standing water in the penalty boxes. When I tell him that I have travelled just under 70 miles to get there, his response is 'Soon be a hundred and forty then'.... Priceless !! Subsequent league matches against Prescot Cables ('The Pesky Bulls'), City of Liverpool ('The Purps') and Clitheroe have all been called off... leaving Colls having played four (yes 4 !!) home league games this season, and nothing since October 5th....

Pontefract is known to have had a football club as far back as the 1890s when a side competed in the West Yorkshire League as Pontefract Garrison. Then there was Pontefract Borough who reached the Yorkshire League in the late 1920s but folded during the 1929/30 season.

By 1935 a club called Tanshelf Gems managed to acquire a ground on Ackworth Road, and became Pontefract United. United ruled the roost in local football, but the appearance of a Pontefract Collieries side saw the latter gain slight bragging rights, with both playing in the West Yorkshire League.

In 1960 the old Collieries club became extinct, only for the name to return a couple of years later when United merged with a local youth side and adopted the 'Colls' name. The club gained in stature and success in the West Yorkshire League, joining the Yorkshire League in 1979.

Colls were founder members of the Northern Counties East League in 1982 and successive promotions took them into the top flight. Progress on the field was matched by improvements to the ground at Skinner Lane, more commonly referred to now as Beechnut Lane which is the access road near the Prince of Wales pit, with much of the work undertaken during the Miners' Strike.

Relegation in 1995 after a decade in the top tier was the prelude to several off field crises. Fires destroyed seats, parts of the stand and the tea bar, the closure of the adjacent Prince of Wales Colliery and the loss of the electricity supply were matched by a significant downturn in the team's performances.

Ponte only avoided relegation out of the NCEL first by seeking and gaining re-election and then being saved by the constant restructuring of the Pyramid non league system. Eventually a corner was turned, and after 15 seasons absence Colls finished Division 1 runners up in 2015 to return to the Premier League. As champions of the NCEL in 2018, Ponte moved up to the Northern Premier League Division One finishing runners up last term and losing the play off final 3-0 to Brighouse Town. Pontefract are in fourth place but with games in hand.

Football in Workington has a very long history. Close by and adjacent to Borough Park, home of Workington AFC, the folk game of "Uppies and Downies" is still an annual event. There are records about the game from 20 April 1775 in the Cumbrian Pacquet which is one of the earliest reports of a football match ever.

Association football was introduced to Workington in the 1860s and became more popular when a group of 1,500 steel workers migrated to the town from Dronfield. They were workers of the Charles Cammel and Co steel works that arrived in the town in 1884. 'Dronnies', as the people of Workington called the newcomers, formed Workington AFC in 1888.

The original Workington AFC was one of the founder members of the Cumberland  Association League in 1888 and played at Lonsdale Park. In 1894 they moved to the Cumberland Senior League, and in 1901 joined the Lancashire League. However, the league closed two seasons later, and they returned to the Cumberland Senior League. In 1904 the club was admitted to the Lancashire Combination, but in 1910-11 season they decided to economise and join the North Eastern League. However, after only one season, the club folded.

The new Workington AFC was born in 1921 and immediately joined the North Eastern League. During the 1933–34 season, the club managed its best ever FA Cup performance, reaching the 4th round, before losing to Preston North End. Later in the decade, the club moved to its present home, Borough Park. In 1951 the club was voted into the Football League, replacing New Brighton.

The first season in the Football League was a sign of things to come - rock bottom and only improving by one place the season after. But things improved - the club was managed by Bill Shankly, played the Busby Babes in the third round of the FA Cup a month before the Munich disaster, reached the League Cup quarter finals twice and was promoted to the Third Division in 1964.

However relegation in 1967 was the start of a lengthy decline; in 1974 and 1975 the team finished next to bottom, and in 1976 Workington propped up the league. This was replicated the season after, in a campaign with only four wins, and The Reds were voted out of the Football League, replaced by Wimbledon, being the penultimate team to fail to gain re-election (Southport were the last in the year after).

The club dropped into the Northern Premier League with further relegations to Division One in 1988 and the North West Counties in 1998. However the title was won the following season concluding with a final 14 game winning streak and Workington were promoted to the Conference North in 2005.

After two unsuccessful play offs the Reds were relegated back to the Northern Premier League in 2011 and last time out finished 21st out of 21, following North Ferriby's liquidation, and were demoted to Division One North West, but currently lead the division by five points.

Light traffic on New Year's Day, and no more ELCTRICAL. TOILETORIES. as the shop has been taken over by Parcel Post Services. A glorious day too showing off Saddleworh Moor and Scammonden in all their glory, the sun penetrating the shimmering mist.

Two numberplates today V4MPS and O ER1C, before I turn off the M62 into Pontefract, past the racecourse and the Prince of Wales Reclamation Site, the old pit now being transformed into a vast industrial and housing complex. I arrive early so a quick stroll into town reveals Site for Sore Eyes (designer eyewear), the Castle which is free but disappointingly closed - I circumnavigate it anyway - and the historic water pump in the Market Square.

PonteCarlo is also home to Haribo, the Pomfret Gallery, Mr Motivaper. the Liquorice Festival and a huge array of pubs including Beastfair Vaults and the Liquorice Bush.

The main car park comprises sheet mud and deep pit holes atop a training pitch, leading to a small access road also featuring mud and pot holes; I park on the last remaining concrete patch away from the ground, but the car tyres are still filthy afterwards, nonetheless.

Pontefract may not be that large a town but it still supports three train stations - Monkhill, Bagshelf and Tanshelf, the last of which is virtually next to the ground. Sadly none of thom are disgorging vast numbers of away fans, probably because they are already frequenting the pubs.

£8 in, a good crowd of 321 including at least a hundred Reds who have undertaken the near 300 mile round trip. Inside the main stand features undercover seats and alongside open seating, whilst opposite is a 'dangerous area' fenced off, backed by the railway (2 Drax freight trains during the game plus, unusually, a regular Northern Fail service !! ) The near end holds a covered one step terrace whilst afar is a walkway backed by woodland.

Ponte, with their 100% home record (OK only 4 games), and playing their first home league game in 88 days, are in blue and white, and the Reds, without talisman Gari Rowntree who retired on Boxing Day, strangely in change yellow and black - much to the chagrin of the travelling support who have, to a man, donned the red home shirt.

Within two minutes Colls have the lead. A corner is headed on by the impressive Jameel Ible to the unmarked Joe Lumsden who finishes scruffily low at the near post at the second attempt - Reds' keeper Jim Atkinson blocking his first shot.

Thereafter Workington dominate but without threatening the Pontefract goal, aside from a sliced shot from Connor Tinnion which hits the frame of the goal. The Reds' policy of playing out from defence backfires spectacularly, as, after one close escape, Ceiran Casson's ball back to Atkinson is horribly underhit and Cody Cromack intercepts and lays the ball off for Lumsden who accepts the late Christmas present and it's 2-0 at the break.

The second half begins with the sun disappearing, temperatures ticking down to 4C and a red smoke bomb from the away fans' terrace, and matters quickly become heated on the pitch with five bookings and three melees - plenty of (alcohol fuelled) vitriol amongst the crowd too. Four minutes in Reds' player manager Danny Grainger introduces himself to the fray.

It is a half where Workington lay siege to the Pontefract goal; Seb Malkowski saves superbly from Nathan Waterston and then incredibly tips Matty Clarke's piledriver round the post. There then follows a lengthy delay as objects are thrown on to the pitch and Malkowski, allegedly, is the subject of discriminatory abuse.

Finally, with 20 minutes to go, the dam is breached; Malkowski saves bravely from Dave Symington but the rebound is fired unerringly into the top corner by Scott Allison, and it's 2-1.

It seems only a matter of time before Workington draw level - Waterston hits the post, and there are near misses from Liam Brockbank, Allison and Waterston, but heroic defending (and timewasting !!) sees Colls prevail through five minutes of stoppage time. Workington stay top but their advantage is cut to two points, whilst Ponte remain fourth but only five points behind the Reds with four (home) games in hand.

Happy New Year, one and all☺