Sixty years ago today Workington Reds were playing one of the most memorable games in their history in the third round of the FA Cup. That memory was to receive an unexpected blow just weeks later when the team they were playing captured headline news for devastating reasons.

It was of course the famous Manchester United Busby Babes who beat Workington 3-1 at Borough Park.

But just one month later British European Airways flight 609, which was carrying the young, talented team, crashed on its third attempt at take-off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany.

Twenty of the 44 people on the aircraft died at the scene with three more dying from their injuries.

One of the Reds players who took to Borough Park on January 4, 1958 was Billy Robson and he can remember both events very vividly.

Whitehaven-born Robson remembers the transition of emotions from high to low in just a short few weeks.

Emerging from the tunnel to the roars of an appreciative crowd, Robson admitted there was no better feeling.

“It was a brilliant feeling, I thought I was king dick,” he said. “They were full-timers and such a good team.”

He recalls going up against his favourite player, the legendary Duncan Edwards.

With barely room to manoeuvre, 21,000 packed into Borough Park to get a glimpse of one of the most famous teams of all time.

And in a dream start, Workington took the lead, with the heaving terraces erupting in delight as Clive Colbridge lobbed Harry Gregg.

That goal put Reds to the top of the tree, even if was just for a very short time, leading what was touted as the best team in the world.

“When Colbridge scored the first goal I thought ooh here we go,” recalled Robson.

“Then I have a picture of them diving at my feet to stop me. I should have had two goals that day.

“I hit the crossbar and scooped one over the bar. But they were just better and it didn’t happen.

“Defensively they were good. And on the day I would say they were just slightly better than us.

“Bobby Charlton and all them fellows were so good.”

But it was Edwards that Robson was drawn to, and not just for his undeniable talent on the pitch.

“I was very friendly with Duncan Edwards because I think he took a liking to me because I was right into him,” said Robson.

“If I tackled him or he tackled me he would just pat me, he was just somebody else that lad.

“Then after the game we went for dinner and he was great, a lovely talker.”

A second half hat-trick from Dennis Viollet killed off any hopes Reds might have had of defeating Manchester United.

But Robson remembers how gracious the team and, in particular, manager Sir Matt Busby were afterwards.

“We were good and had some really good players, including myself of course,” he jokes.

“And they didn’t run us down, Matt Busby or anyone, they just praised us for playing a good game.

“He was a nice fella, very quiet, he came in to see the teams after the match, there’s only the gentleman that would come.

“He congratulated us on the game which was good and to say how well we had played.”

Unbeknown to them at the time, Reds were to be one of the last English teams to play the talented side.

The disaster in Munich just one month later shocked the world.

Manager Matt Busby was left fighting for his life, and Bobby Charlton was among those
injured.

Five of the team who played at Workington perished: Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones and Duncan Edwards.

The young Charlton goalkeeper Harry Gregg and full-back Bill Foulkes, who also played, were spared.

“They were the best team in the world, they were travelling everywhere and they were winning,” said Robson.

“When the plane crashed it broke my heart.

“I know how I felt and I cried. They were just such good blokes.”

Robson went on to score 53 Football League goals for Reds in 128 appearances but admitted that nothing could eclipse the Saturday afternoon the Busby Babes came to town.

The Kells’ kid’s love of football eclipsed all else and he featured for Carlisle and Kendal, as well as Workington.

“How I was picked I don’t know, I was just a kid really,” recalled Robson.

“E D Smith signed me for Workington after a four-hour argument for a pound. I was getting four pounds and I was arguing for five.

“I went to his house because I said ‘no, I’m not signing’ and he sent for me.

“I was in for about four hours and I lost the argument in the end and still signed.

“There were some blokes from Kells involved with Workington so went there but I would have played for anybody, I just liked playing football.”

Robson had a long career in the game, and after hanging up his boots, he was instrumental in the emergence of Whitehaven AFC, a club his family still have strong ties with today.