Whitehaven AFC and Kendal Town came together at Parkside Road Stadium on Saturday to celebrate the life of Bill Robson Snr, with a day of football featuring youth, women's and men's matches culminating in the Bill Robson Cup clash between the clubs' first teams.
Representing Whitehaven in the early football build-up were Whitehaven U10, U13 Mixed, and U18 Boys, along with the U12 Girls & U14 Girls.
The games were played in brilliant spirit and hard-fought in sweltering heat before they watched the Senior Teams.
Senior Men's Report (Brian Dawson, Men's First Team Manager)
We went into the game with apprehension due to the severity of our unavailability issues.
However, we needn’t have worried, we were outstanding from start to finish and more than matched the higher-level opposition.
The game started at a frantic pace in sweltering conditions with Kendal asking questions of our back line and they managed to get the breakthrough on 20 minutes.
Credit to the group, their reaction was excellent.
We grew into the game and managed to create several decent chances ourselves whilst playing some excellent football in the process.
It was very competitive for the remainder of the game.
Kendal managed to double their lead on 80 minutes before the impressive Oscar Pickering netted on his debut to make it 2-1.
We went in search of an equaliser but it wasn’t to be.
We were delighted with the performance overall, especially with the fact we had ten U18s in the 14-man squad.
Next up is Workington Reds at 7.30 pm on Tuesday in the Shaun Hocking Memorial Match in aid of British Polio at the County Ground, which will be another tough workout.
Entry is £5 for Adults, £3 for U12s and Concessions.
Senior Ladies Match Report (Rob Campbell, Ladies First Team Manager)
This was the Ladies' first preseason game against long-term friends in Kendal Town Ladies.
We knew it would be a tough game against last year's Lancashire Division 1 North Champions and County Cup Champions, but the focus was embedding new players and giving the opportunity for some of our "A" Team players to step up into the First Team.
As expected, Kendal came out of the blocks quickly, showing their quality, and we were just trying to force the killer ball too soon, which meant we were turning over possession too often.
Kendal took a deserved lead in the 7th minute in a very good move.
However, on 10 minutes we started to find our rhythm and held onto possession more, and in turn, set up attacks with better quality.
From this point, the ladies were outstanding, two goals in two minutes, first from new signing Scarlett McAvoy with a thunderbolt from 20 yards followed by Striker Ashleigh McAllister who netted her first of a hat-trick on the day, put us 2-1 up.
Holly Laing who stepped up from the "A" Team pounced on a ball from a corner to drill her effort into the net, which was followed up by another new signing in Ellie May Callander who capped a terrific performance to make it 4-1 at the break.
Into the second half and again Kendal came at us with more intensity in an evenly balanced opening period of the second half, with goals exchanged, first through Vice Captain Samantha Bennett before Kendal struck back to make it 5-2.
However, the Whitehaven Ladies lifted their game again to take control, with Samantha adding a second and Ashleigh McAllister rounding off her hat-trick to complete an 8-2 win.
The ladies now turn their attention to Annan Athletic Ladies First Team at 3 pm on Sunday at Galabank as they continue their season build-up.
Bill Robson Jnr said on the day: "As a family we would like to give a big, big thank you to Kendal AFC for all the work in setting up these games!
"The respect they have shown to Dad for what he did for them.
"The naming of the stand would mean so much to him.
"He loved playing and managing them so much.
"As local football clubs it is so important that we never forget our history and the wonderful people who made it possible for us to be hear today.
"Kendal have asked to come to us next season for a full day festival of football between both clubs.
"I know Dad would love this connection between the clubs.
"Long may this connection remain and grow.
"Thanks to all who made us a very proud day for the Robson And Law family !
"Love you Dad."
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