1988–89 Lancashire Cup

1988–89 was the seventy-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
Wigan won the trophy by beating Salford by the score of 22-17
The match was played at Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, (historically in the county of Lancashire). The attendance was 19,154 and receipts were £71,879.00

1988–89 Lancashire Cup
Structure	Regional knockout championship
Teams	16
Winners	Wigan
Runners-up	Salford

This was Wigan’s fifth appearance and fourth consecutive victory in what was a run of four victories and five appearances in five successive years.
The attendance was again at a very pleasing level, the fifth of the five year period when it would reach around the 20,000 level, and the receipts reached a new record level exceeding the previous record by approximately £4,500.00; a record which would never be beaten in a Lancashire Cup Final

Background

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.

Competition and Results

[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 18 Sep 1988	Barrow		10-24		Wigan	Craven Park	5528			[3]
2	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Carlisle		17-7		Chorley Borough	Gifford Park	645		1 2
3	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Oldham		64-2		Workington Town	Watersheddings	3877
4	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Rochdale Hornets		25-14		Fulham	Athletic Grounds	645
5	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Runcorn Highfield		4-42		Warrington	Canal Street	2017			[4]
6	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Salford		42-8		Whitehaven	The Willows	2551
7	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Swinton		24-14		Leigh	Station Road	3225
8	Sun 18 Sep 1988	Widnes		32-24		St. Helens	Naughton Park	10764			[5][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 28 Sep 1988	Oldham		2-18		Salford	Watersheddings	5497
2	Wed 28 Sep 1988	Warrington		34-18		Carlisle	Wilderspool	2586			[4]
3	Wed 28 Sep 1988	Widnes		38-4		Swinton	Naughton Park	4988			[5]
4	Wed 28 Sep 1988	Wigan		36-4		Rochdale Hornets	Central Park	7719			[3]

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 05 Oct 1988	Salford		15-2		Warrington	The Willows	7316			[4]>[5][7]
2	Wed 12 Oct 1988	Wigan		14-10		Widnes	Central Park	17813			[3][5][8]

Final

Game No	Fixture Date	Home Team		Score		Away Team	Venue	Att	Rec	Notes	Ref
	Sunday 23 October 1988	Wigan		22-17		Salford	Knowsley Road	19154	71879	3	[3][9]

Teams and Scorers

[3][9]

Wigan	№	Salford
	teams
Steve Hampson	1	Peter Williams
Tony Iro	2	xTex Evans
Kevin Iro	3	Keith Bentley
Dean Bell	4	Ken Jones
Joe Lydon	5	Adrian Hadley
Shaun Edwards	6	Paul Shaw
Andy Gregory	7	David Cairns
Ian Lucas	8	Steve Herbert
Martin Dermott	9	Mark Moran
Adrian Shelford	10	Peter Brown
Andy Platt	11	Ian Gormley
Andy Goodway	12	Mick Worrall
Ellery Hanley	13	Mark Horo
Ged Byrne (for Joe Lydon 76min)	14	Ian Blease (for Peter Williams 68min)
Denis Betts (for Ian Lucas 49min)	15	Mick McTigue (for Mark Horo 74min)
Graham Lowe	Coach	Kevin Ashcroft
22	score	17
8	HT	3
	Scorers
	Tries
Kevin Iro (2)	T	Tex Evans (1)
Adrian Shelford (1)	T	Keith Bentley (1)
Dean Bell (1)	T	Steve Herbert (1)
	Goals
Kevin Iro (3)	G	Peter Brown (2)
	Drop Goals
	DG	Mick Worrall (1)
Referee		Kevin Allatt (Southport)
Man of the match		Paul Shaw - Salford - stand-off
sponsored by		Greenall Whitley
Competition Sponsor		Grünhalle Lager

Scoring - Try = four (4) points - Goal = two (2) points - Drop goal = one (1) point

The road to success

	First Round					Second Round					Semi Finals					Final
	Barrow		10
	Wigan		14
						Wigan		36
						Rochdale Hornets		4
	Rochdale Hornets		25
	Fulham		14
											Wigan		14
											Widnes		10
	Widnes		32
	St. Helens		24
						Widnes		38
						Swinton		4
	Swinton		24
	Leigh		14
																Wigan		22
																Salford		17
	Oldham		64
	Workington Town		2
						Oldham		2
						Salford		18
	Salford		42
	Whitehaven		8
											Salford		15
											Warrington		2
	Runcorn Highfield		4
	Warrington		42
						Warrington		34
						Carlisle		18
	Carlisle		17
	Chorley Borough		7

Notes and comments

1 * The first Lancashire Cup match to be played by the newly renamed club Chorley Borough
2 * The first Lancashire Cup match to be played at Carlisle's new stadium
3 * 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

• 1988–89 Rugby Football League season
• Rugby league county cups

References

1. "Rugby League Project".
2. Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1991). John Player Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
3. "Wigan "Cherry and White" archived results".
4. "Warrington Wolves - Results Archive - 1897". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.
5. "Widnes Vikings - History - Season In Review - 1896-97".
6. "Saints Heritage Society - History - Season 1896-97".
7. Club Programme dept. Match Programme. Salford RLFC.
8. Club Programme dept. Match Programme. Wigan RLFC.
9. Raymond Fletcher and David Howes (1991). Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1991-100. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0 35617852 8.

External links

• Saints Heritage Society
• 1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.com
• Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897
• Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896-97
• The Northern Union at warringtonwolves.org