1978–79 Lancashire Cup

1978–79 was the sixty-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.

1978–79 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	14
Winners	Widnes
Runners-up	Workington Town
← 1977–78 1979–80 →

Widnes won the trophy by beating Workington Town by the score of 15-13

The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 10,020 and receipts were £6,261.00

After relatively little success in the competition, Workington Town had reached the semi-final stage in 1973, 1974 and 1975, had been runner-up in 1976, winner in 1977, and now runners-up again in 1978. They would go on to be runners-up again in 1979.

Background

The total number of teams entering the competition remained at last season’s total of 14 with no junior/amateur clubs taking part.

The same fixture format was retained, but due to the number of participating clubs, this resulted in one “blank” or “dummy” fixture in the first round, and one bye in the second round.

Competition and results

^[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 18 Aug 1978	Salford		30-15		Oldham	The Willows
2	Fri 18 Aug 1978	Whitehaven		15-12		Blackpool Borough	Recreation Ground
3	Sun 20 Aug 1978	Barrow		13-17		Leigh	Craven Park
4	Sun 20 Aug 1978	St. Helens		14-14		Rochdale Hornets	Knowsley Road	4000			[3]
5	Sun 20 Aug 1978	Warrington		18-4		Swinton	Wilderspool				[4]
6	Sun 20 Aug 1978	Widnes		43-6		Huyton	Naughton Park				[5]
7	Sun 20 Aug 1978	Workington Town		14-2		Wigan	Derwent Park	4200			[6]
8		blank				blank

Round 1 – First replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 23 Aug 1978	Rochdale Hornets		8-8		St. Helens	Athletic Grounds	2384			[3]

Round 1 – Second replays

Involved 1 match and 2 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Fri 25 Aug 1978	St. Helens		28-9		Rochdale Hornets	Central Park	2906			[3]

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sun 27 Aug 1978	Leigh		21-4		St. Helens	Hilton Park	5600			[3]
2	Sun 27 Aug 1978	Whitehaven		6-19		Salford	Recreation Ground
3	Sun 27 Aug 1978	Widnes		17-10		Warrington	Naughton Park				[5][4]
4		Workington Town				bye

Round 3 – Semi-finals

Involved 2 matches and 4 clubs

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 13 Sep 1978	Salford		8-9		Workington Town	The Willows
2	Wed 13 Sep 1978	Widnes		28-14		Leigh	Naughton Park				[5]

Final

Game No	Fixture date	Home team		Score		Away team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Saturday 7 October 1978	Widnes		15-13		Workington Town	Central Park	10,020	6,261	1	[5][7]

Teams and scorers

^[5][7]

Widnes	№	Workington Town
	teams
David Eckersley	1	Paul Charlton
Stuart Wright	2	David Collister
Mal Aspey	3	John Risman
Mick George	4	Ray Wilkins
Mick Burke	5	Iain McCorquodale
Eric Hughes	6	Derek McMillan
Reg Bowden	7	Arnold "Boxer" Walker
Jim Mills	8	Harry Beverley
Keith Elwell	9	Alan Banks
Glyn Shaw	10	Eddie Bowman
Mick Adams	11	Robert Blackwood
Alan Dearden	12	Peter Gorley
Doug Laughton	13	Bill Pattinson
Paul Woods	14	David Smith
David Hull (for Alan Dearden)	15	Les Gorley (for William "Bill" Pattinson)
15	score	13
5	HT	11
	Scorers
	Tries
Stuart Wright (1)	T	Ray Wilkins (1)
Doug Laughton (2)	T	Iain McCorquodale (1)
	T	Les Gorley (1)
	Goals
Mick Burke (3)	G	Iain McCorquodale (2)
Referee		W H (Billy) Thompson (Huddersfield)
Man of the match		Arnold "Boxer" Walker - Workington Town - scrum-half
sponsored by		Burtonwood Brewery
Competition Sponsor		Forshaws (Burtonwood Brewery Co Ltd)

Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Widnes		43
	Huyton		6
						Widnes		17
						Warrington		10
	Warrington		18
	Swinton		4
											Widnes		17
											Leigh		10
	Barrow		13
	Leigh		17
						Leigh		21
						St. Helens		4
	St. Helens		14-8-9
	Rochdale Hornets		14-8-28
																Widnes		15
																Workington Town		13
	Whitehaven		15
	Blackpool Borough		12
						Whitehaven		6
						Salford		19
	Salford		30
	Oldham		15
											Salford		8
											Workington Town		9
	Workington Town		14
	Wigan		2
						Workington Town
						bye
	blank
	blank

Notes and comments

1 * Central Park was the home ground of Wigan with a final capacity of 18,000, although the record attendance was 47,747 for Wigan v St Helens 27 March 1959

See also

• 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups