# 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, (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
### Round 1

Involved 7 matches (with one “blank” fixture) and 14 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| 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 | Central Park | 2906 | | | |

### Round 2 - Quarter-finals

Involved 3 matches (with one bye) and 7 clubs
| Game No | Fixture date | Home team | Score | Away team | Venue | Att |
| 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

| 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 | |

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