1978–79 Lancashire Cup
1978–79 was the sixty-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held.
Widnes won the trophy by beating Workington Town by the score of 15-13
The match was played at Central Park, Wigan,. 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; not a bad eight year record.
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
Round 1
Involved 7 matches 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 | |||||
| 5 | Sun 20 Aug 1978 | Warrington | 18-4 | Swinton | Wilderspool | ||||||
| 6 | Sun 20 Aug 1978 | Widnes | 43-6 | Huyton | Naughton Park | ||||||
| 7 | Sun 20 Aug 1978 | Workington Town | 14-2 | Wigan | Derwent Park | 4200 | |||||
| 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 |
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 | unknown neutral ground | 2906 |
Round 2 - Quarter Finals
Involved 3 matches 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 | |||||
| 2 | Sun 27 Aug 1978 | Whitehaven | 6-19 | Salford | Recreation Ground | ||||||
| 3 | Sun 27 Aug 1978 | Widnes | 17-10 | Warrington | Naughton Park | ||||||
| 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 |
Final
Teams and Scorers
| 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 |
| ? | 14 | |
| David Hull | 15 | Les Gorley |
| - | ||
| 15 | score | 13 |
| 5 | HT | 11 |
| Scorers | ||
| Tries | ||
| Stuart Wright | T | Ray Wilkins |
| Doug Laughton | T | Iain McCorquodale |
| T | Les Gorley | - |
| Goals | ||
| Mick Burke | G | Iain McCorquodale |
| Referee | W H Thompson | |
| Man of the match | Arnold "Boxer" Walker - Workington Town - | |
| sponsored by | Burtonwood Brewery | |
| Competition Sponsor | Forshaws |
Scoring - Try = three points - Goal = two points - Drop goal = one point