The History of Worksop Town: Season 1902/03 – Title heartbreak for Tigers

In those days all Bank Holidays were used for football fixtures, so Easter usually produced matches on Friday, Saturday Monday and Tuesday, all of which would be well attended.

There was no internet, TV, or even radio then, so if you wanted to see it, you had to be there.

On this day some sources had the crowd down as a record 2,500 for the 'new' Central Avenue enclosure while others estimated a 'mere' 2,000.

The afternoon was gloriously sunny and the crowd erupted as Hutton opened the scoring for Worksop with a fantastic drive from 20 yards.

'Good Old' John Binney then headed in a Copestake cross, 2-0 to Worksop.

But Browning pulled one back for the men from Bramall Lane and ended the first half pressing for an equaliser.

However, the second half saw Worksop take charge as Reid headed in another glorious Copestake cross and then converted a penalty, awarded when he was tripped in the box for a final score of 4-2 and Worksop held on to second place in the table, just one point behind leaders Wednesday Reserves.

Easter Monday found Worksop Town running out at the Baseball Ground against third place Derby County Reserves.

Both teams needed to win to have a chance of catching Wednesday at the top.

In the end a competitive 1-1 draw ensued, Hutton scoring, but this effectively handed the championship to Wednesday.

A trip to Denaby United on the Saturday then saw a demoralised Worksop team collapse in the second half losing 6-1, Hutton again on target.

The final match was away at the new champions, Wednesday Reserves, at Owlerton (now known as Hillsborough) where 4,000 fans celebrated their team’s success as they were 4-0 up by half-time.

Worksop 'stiffened their sinews' and drew the second half 1-1, the goal a penalty conversion by Eyre.

This meant that after all the hope, they finished third behind Derby, but for a small-town club, it was still a great achievement.