Month: September 2016

Development Centre News

Starting on Saturday September 10th our U12s and U16s will be coached on Saturday mornings by first team player David Ferguson.

David is an ex pro with Sunderland AFC and Blackpool FC. This is a fantastic opportunity to receive coaching from someone who was a professional footballer just last season.

A big thanks to David for doing this and we will look to rotate the teams who receive this coaching over the season.

This really shows the links growing stronger between the youth set up and first team.

 

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

Shildon have been drawn away to Evo Stik Premier Division Side Workington.

The tie will take place on the 17th September, Kick Off 3pm

 

Workington History

Workington A.F.C originally were 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, then in 1901 joined the Lancashire League.T he league closed two seasons later, and they returned to the Cumberland Senior League. In 1904 the club were admitted to the Lancashire Combination. In the 1910 season they decided to economise and join the North Eastern League. But, after only one season, the club folded.

The new Workington A.F.C. 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 Third Division North of The Football League replacing New Brighton.

Their first season in the League was a sign of things to come; the club finishing rock bottom, and only improving by one place the following year.

From 6 January 1954 to 15 November 1955 the club was managed by Bill Shankly, who would achieve fame between 1959 and 1974 with his success at home and abroad as manager of Liverpool.

During the 1957/58 season they played the great Manchester United team known as the Busby Babes at home in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, attracting a record crowd of 21,000. This was just a month before eight of the United players lost their lives in the Munich air disaster.

However, at the end of that season, the club dropped into the new Fourth Division under a reorganisation of the Football League which saw the abolition of the regionalised Third Divisions.

In 1964, player-manager Ken Furphy (pictured) led them to 3rd position, earning promotion to the Third Division. During both the 1963/64 and 1964/65 season, they made it to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, where they lost to West Ham United and Chelsea (in a replay) respectively. During the latter cup run, the club beat Lancashire neighbours Barrow 9–1, a record which remained until the mid-1980s.

In 1966 they finished in 5th place, narrowly missing out on promotion to the Second Division, but next year finished bottom, and were relegated back to the Fourth Division. In 1974 and 1975 the club finished 23rd out of 24 and in 1976 they finished bottom. In 1977 the club won only four games, and again finished bottom of the League with attendances falling well below the 1,000-mark. This poor run led to the club being voted out of the League in the summer of 1977, being replaced by Wimbledon.
The club dropped into the Northern Premier League , but failed to trouble the top teams, never finishing higher than 7th, before they were relegated to the NPL First Division in 1988. They continued to struggle, eventually being relegated to the North West Counties League in 1998. However, the club managed to win the League at their first attempt (also their first ever championship). After a 2–0 defeat at Kidsgrove Athletic on 27 February 1999, manager Peter Hampton set the squad a challenge, win their last 14 games and they would win the league. Sure enough after winning the next 13 games Workington squared up to league leaders Mossley at Borough Park in front of a 2,281 spectators, a league record only beaten by the formation of F.C. United of Manchester. Workington ran out 2–1 winners with goals from Stuart Williamson and substitute Grant Holt. Workington became the first club to return to the NPL First Division at the first attempt.

As a result of a 7th place finish in 2004, the club moved up to the NPL’s Premier Division during the non-league restructuring. They then continued their upward movement by winning the first-ever NPL promotion play-offs (after finishing in 2nd place) to win promotion to the Conference North.

Following a mid-table finish in their first season in Conference North, the 2006–07 season saw Workington finish in third place and qualify for the promotion play-offs where they lost 2–1 against Hinckley United. After two mid table finishes the following seasons, Workington made the play offs again in 2009/10 this time going down 4–1 on aggregate to Alfreton Town in the semi final.

FA Cup : Washington 2 Shildon 5

A Five Star Performance

Shildon AFC strode into the 2nd Qualifying Round of the F.A. Cup after a 5 – 2 five star performance away to Washington FC on Saturday 3rd September 2016.

The Railwaymen opened the scoring on 10 minutes when a great cross from David Ferguson was stabbed home by Paul Connor.

Seven minutes later it was 2 – 0 when another great ball, this time from Ben Wood put David Ferguson through.

It was all Shildon with several corners, one after another.

In fact it took Washington 31 minutes to get their first chance of the game, but Callam Hope’s free kick was well saved by Nick Liversedge.

It was 3 – 0 and game over shortly after when David Ferguson’s glancing header easily beat keeper Dale Connor.

Shildon were stunned when Washington pulled a goal back on 42 minutes when a long through ball was missed by Shildon’s Dan Groves and Ashley Davis scored a cracking goal from way out.

Just before the interval the Railwaymen restored their three goal lead when David Ferguson put Paul Connor through and he chipped the keeper.

Half Time:  Washington FC  1  Shildon AFC  4

Just before the hour another long ball found  Washington’s No 8  Joe Walton for the home sides second goal.

Minutes later a long ball down the right put David Ferguson through on the keeper, but he squared the ball to the unmarked Paul Connor who fired into an open goal for his hat-trick and to restore Shildon’s three goal advantage again.

Final Score:  Washington FC  2  Shildon AFC  5

Goalscorers:  Connor 10, 44, 63, Ferguson 17, 38.

Subs:  Dodds for Bell 66, Rae for Connor 73, Vincent for Wood 76.

Man-of-the-Match:  A hard choice, are there were several contenders today. Ben Wood’s distribution was excellent. Paul Connor scored a hat-trick, but David Ferguson just shaded it, scoring two goals and creating two more.