1985–86 Lancashire Cup

The 1985–86 Lancashire Cup competition was the seventy-third occasion on which the tournament had been held. Wigan won the trophy by beating Warrington in the final by the score of 34-8.

1985 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Warrington
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Competition and results

This season the total number of entrants remained at the 16 level. With this full sixteen members there was no need for “blank” or “dummy” fixtures or any byes.^[1][2]

Round 1

Involved 8 matches (with no byes) and 16 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Barrow		8-12		Whitehaven	Craven Park	2011
2	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Leigh		40-12		Oldham	Hilton Park	3500
3	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Rochdale Hornets		6-17		Widnes	Athletic Grounds	1269			[3]
4	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Runcorn Highfield		16-38		Workington Town	Canal Street	1000
5	Sun 15 Sep 1985	St. Helens		72-8		Carlisle	Knowsley Road	3630			[4]
6	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Salford		18-14		Swinton	The Willows	3482
7	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Warrington		30-3		Blackpool Borough	Wilderspool	2234			[5]
8	Sun 15 Sep 1985	Wigan		24-13		Fulham	Central Park	8943			[6]

Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 4 matches and 8 clubs

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
1	Wed 25 Sep 1985	Leigh		14-18		Widnes	Hilton Park	4000			[3]
2	Wed 25 Sep 1985	St. Helens		26-8		Whitehaven	Knowsley Road	3853			[4]
3	Wed 25 Sep 1985	Warrington		38-4		Workington Town	Wilderspool	2518			[5]
4	Wed 25 Sep 1985	Wigan		22-20		Salford	Central Park	11188			[6]

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 02 Oct 1985	Warrington		11-4		Widnes	Wilderspool	5633			[3][5][7]
2	Wed 02 Oct 1985	Wigan		30-2		St. Helens	Central Park	18544			[4][6]

Final

The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 19,202 and receipts were £56,030. The attendance was again at a very pleasing level, the second of the five-year period when it would reach around the 20,000 level.

This was Wigan's second appearance in two years and a first victory in what would become a run of four victories and five appearances in five successive years.

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Sunday 13 October 1985	Wigan		34-8		Warrington	Knowsley Road	19202	56030	1	[5][6][8]

Teams and scorers

^[5][6][8]

Wigan	№	Warrington
	Teams
Shaun Edwards	1	Brian Johnson
Gary Henley-Smith	2	Brian Carbert
David Stephenson	3	Paul Cullen
Ellery Hanley	4	Phil Blake
Colin Whitfield	5	Rick Thackray
Steve Ella	6	Ken Kelly
Mike Ford	7	Andy Gregory
Greg Dowling	8	Bob Eccles
Nicky Kiss	9	Carl Webb
Shaun Wane	10	Bob Jackson
Nick Du Toit	11	Les Boyd
Andy Goodway	12	Mike Gregory
Ian Potter	13	Alan Rathbone
	Subs
Steve Hampson (for Gary Henley-Smith 58 min)	14	Mark Forster (for Phil Blake 27 min)
Brian Case (for Shaun Edwards 27 min)	15	Kevin Tamati (for Les Boyd 49 min)
	coach
34	score	8
12	HT	8
	Scorers
	Tries
Steve Ella (2)	T	Brian Johnson (1)
Nicky Kiss (1)	T
Ellery Hanley (1)	T
Shaun Edwards (1)	T
	Goals
David Stephenson (7)	G	Brian Carbert (2)
	Discipline	Alan Rathbone - Sent Off -52 Min - Late Hit on Ian Potter
	Discipline	Andy Gregory - Sent Off - 71min - Stamping on Nick Du Toit
Referee		John Holdsworth (Kippax)
Man of the match		Steve Ella - Wigan - stand-off
sponsored by		Burtonwood Brewery
Competition Sponsor		Forshaws (Burtonwood Brewery Co Ltd)

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

The road to success

	First round					Second round					Semi-finals					Final
	Wigan		24
	Fulham		13
						Wigan		22
						Salford		20
	Salford		18
	Swinton		14
											Wigan		30
											St. Helens		2
	St. Helens		72
	Carlisle		8
						St. Helens		26
						Whitehaven		8
	Barrow		8
	Whitehaven		12
																Wigan		34
																Warrington		8
	Warrington		30
	Blackpool Borough		3
						Warrington		38
						Workington Town		4
	Runcorn Highfield		16
	Workington Town		38
											Warrington		11
											Widnes		4
	Leigh		40
	Oldham		12
						Leigh		14
						Widnes		18
	Rochdale Hornets		6
	Widnes		17

Notes

1 * Knowsley Road was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 to 2010. The final capacity was in the region of 18,000, although the actual record attendance was 35,695, set on 26 December 1949, for a league game between St Helens and Wigan

See also

• 1985–86 Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups