Workington Sunday League secretary Ron Caffrey has explained why official linesmen are being used at certain games.
It came after complaints when no referee arrived for the Premier Division game between Deer Orchard and Dearham yesterday. At the same time, two official referees ran the line for the game between Sun Inn and Glasson Gardeners.
The secretary said: “A lot of people are saying that we have failed two teams because we had linesmen at the Sun Inn game. We are only doing that if we have official referee’s spare, which we had on this occasion with three officials sitting at home.
“We did it because we are trying to help the new, young referees get game time with the help of linesmen.”
Unfortunately, the official referee did not appear at Wakefield Road, although the explanation has not been given.
The game did go ahead, however, with both teams agreeing on a stand-in referee taking the whistle. In this case, it was a former Orchard player Graham Ireland who took charge and did a sound job.
He awarded a penalty to each side and the Orchard one came after a blatant hand-ball, a fine diving save – but by a defender. Kyran Bertram had the chance to complete his hat-trick from the spot but missed.
The other Orchard goals came from Brian Straughton and Sam Wright while James Langstaff’s penalty for Dearham was from the last kick of the match. Steven Stoddart scored the other.
Premier Division champions Northside were comfortable 9-3 winners against Seaton Rangers.
Tommy Whitehead led the way for Northside by scoring four goals while Antony Zajac (2), Chad Grisedale, Adam Kilgour and Callum Killick scored the others. Matthew Perry’s hat-trick for Seaton was in vain.
Dan Pearson was another hat-trick hero, helping Sun Inn to a 5-3 victory over Glasson Gardeners. Richard O’Keefe and Richard Hudson were also on target. Greg Mounsey (2) and Ally Shaw replied for Glasson.
A Ben Powell hat-trick gave Blue Bell a 3-1 win at Salterbeck for whom Paul Monkhouse was the scorer.
In Division One Senhouse were 5-3 winners over Highfield as Andrew Brown (2), Kieron Messenger, Mike Herbert and Jean Pierre scored for the Workington side. The Cockermouth visitors replied through Dan Graham (2) and Jack Stephenson.
Both the other games finished 3-1 as Maryport Athletic won at Flimby Social Club and JJ’s beat visiting Junction.
Steffan Miller, Callum Foy (pen) and Ciaran Laverty scored for the Athletic with Lazo Rayner hitting the net for Flimby.
Keenan Musgrave, Ryan Doran and Ryan Smith scored for JJ’s with Scott Birney replying for The Junction.
