From play-off heartache to popular players leaving to sensational clean sheet runs, it's been an eventful 2016 for Workington Reds. Daniel Baker looks back at the last 12 months.

Workington Reds started 2016 very much in the promotion hunt, but the New Year didn't get off to the best of starts.

Conor Tinnion had put them a goal to the good against Colwyn Bay but the Welsh outfit scored two late goals to stun Borough Park.

But the defeat galvanised the team, who then went on a sensational winning run which began with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Ashton United with braces for Tinnion and Scott Allison.

They then went on to win their next six games in all competitions without conceding, a run that continued into February.

The month began with a win over promotion rivals Blyth, who were beaten 2-0 at Borough Park followed up with a 1-0 triumph over Marine.

Following the win over the latter, veteran stalwart Kyle May announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season.

They say all good things must come to an end and their winning run finally came to a halt with a 1-0 reverse away at Whitby on February 13.

This was followed by a 3-2 League Cup defeat against Marine but Reds got back to winning ways against Stamford a few days later.

They ended February with a 2-1 cup win over Penrith and a 1-1 draw with struggling Ramsbottom.

The match against the Lancashire side proved to be Phil McLuckie's final game of the season after he went off with a broken jaw.

March began the way February ended with a late equaliser denying Reds three points, this time against Grantham.

Reds then travelled to Salford City and, despite being level for more than 20 minutes, they went down 5-3.

The Borough Park outfit went into their next game against Ilkeston with a long injury list, but they came away with an admirable 3-0 win.

The management added former player Steve Hindmarch, who answered an SOS, and ex-Carlisle man Connor Hammell to their ranks in March.

They also beat Keswick 3-0 in the Cumberland Cup, drew 1-1 with Stourbridge and beat Mickleover 2-1 which made Kyle May's 500th club appearance for the club even sweeter.

Blyth got their revenge for February's defeat on Easter Monday to round off the month as they romped home 3-0.

April was Reds' busiest month of the season and they went into it knowing it was boom or bust.

A win against Matlock and a draw with Rushall started the month followed by defeats against Frickley and Nantwich.

With three games to go, their promotion dream was on a knife edge and they needed three wins to stand the best chance.

Hard-fought victories over Ashton United and Matlock left Reds as one of three teams battling it out for two play-off spots.

They were thrown a lifeline by Frickley, who beat rivals Stourbridge to leave the race for the top five wide open.

And Reds secured their second consecutive play-off berth thanks to a 5-0 triumph over Buxton and other results going their way.

The Buxton game was also Kyle May's final game at Borough Park...or so he thought.

Derek Townsley's men faced an unenviable trip to Blyth in the play-off semi-finals knowing that defeat would end their season there and then.

Fans were expecting a mouth-watering clash, but not even the most die-hard supporters could have foreseen what was going to happen.

Reds found themselves 3-1 up with just over 20 minutes to go thanks to Scott Allison's hat-trick but Blyth managed to pull level late on.

But Rob Wilson scored a late winner to round off a pulsating night at Croft Park and set up a final date with Salford City.

Having lost twice to the well-publicised club, Reds were desperate to make it third time lucky and got off to a dream start when Kyle May opened the scoring on what was meant to be his final ever game.

Salford pulled level on 14 minutes, but Gareth Arnison put Reds back in front soon after to put the visitors in the driving seat.

A year on from their play-off heartbreak at the hands of Ilkeston, Reds thought they'd finally fulfilled their promotion dream.

But late goals from Billy Priestley and Jordan Hulme saw Salford home as they went up at Reds' expense.

Some fans did at least have the consolation of seeing Gary Neville and Paul Scholes and the play-off final featured in a BBC documentary about Salford.

The beaten finalists had to pick themselves up quickly with another final to contend with, this time against Aspatria in the Cumberland Cup.

This time, they made no mistake as Reds won 4-1 to end their season with some silverware and on a high.

The summer saw faces come and go, particularly in the goalkeeping department, with Aaran Taylor rejoining his old club and Jonny Jamieson and Alex Mitchell leaving.

Matty Douglas, David Symington, Tom Kilifin and Nathan Waterston also arrived during the summer.

Connor Hammell, Matty Tymon and Rob McCartney were among the departures.

There was also a slight shake-up with the management structure with Derek Townsley made general manager and Dave Hewson and Lee Andrews made joint managers.

The move was made due to Townsley missing more games than he anticipated.

Pre-season saw Reds get wins over Whitehaven, Carlisle City, Gretna 2008 and Kendal and draws with Penrith, West Auckland and Lancaster with their only defeats coming against Queen of the South and Carlisle United.

The Queen of the South game saw former player/manager Gavin Skelton return to his old stomping ground in the away dugout.

August marked the start of a new season and the return of Kyle May, who effectively came out of retirement.

The 34-year-old admitted he was missing playing football and would play when work commitments allowed.

The new season began in the best possible way with wins over Rushall Olympic and Frickley, but August ended badly with defeats against Barwell, Buxton and Blyth and a draw with Sutton Coldfield.

But perhaps the biggest news of the month was the departure of striker Gareth Arnison who left the club following talks with the management.

Arnison is Reds' top scorer in the modern era with 127 goals in three separate spells but his health meant he was unable to train in pre-season.

He later wrote an open letter thanking the fans and the club for their support.

September began with an FA Cup qualifying match against Warrington which Reds won 3-0 thanks to goals from Josh Calvert, Jake Simpson and Scott Allison.

Despite losing to Halesowen and drawing with Frickley, they ended the month with three wins.

Shildon were seen off 3-1 in the FA Cup, while Grantham and Skelmersdale were beaten in the league.

Reds could have been forgiven for being sick of the sight of Matlock Town with the sides meeting three times in a week at the start of October.

The teams drew their first clash 1-1 in the FA Cup, but the Derbyshire won the replay 3-1 at Borough Park.

The sides then met in the league on October 8 and Matlock won by the same scoreline again.

New loan signing Elliot Newby, who joined from Barrow, did at least have a good goalscoring debut that day.

Reds were dealt a blow when striker Tom Kilifin announced his departure with commutes from Lancaster making the forward jaded.

And things went from bad to worse when Phil McLuckie decided to hang up his boots due to injuries and falling out of love with the game.

The marathon month was rounded off with a draw against Whitby, despite Reds having just 14 players available, wins against Warrington, Ashton and Aspatria in the Cumberland Cup and defeats against Stafford and Whitby again, this time in the FA Trophy.

The Whitby defeat was made worse by the fact that Reds threw away a two-goal lead to lose 4-3.

November got off to a bad start with a 4-1 defeat at Spennymoor who were not showing signs of being distracted by their plum FA Cup tie with MK Dons. Dave Symington was also sent off that night.

But Reds often come back stronger from a defeat and, following the Spennymoor game, they won their following five games without conceding.

Frizington were seen off in the Cumberland Cup and Marine, Corby, Ilkeston and Spennymoor were all beaten to reignite Reds' promotion dream.

But their run came crashing to a halt when they were thrashed 5-0 by Stourbridge with all five goals coming within the 27 minutes.

What was arguably their worst performance of the year was followed up by a hard-fought win over Ramsbottom on penalties in the League Cup.

Reds had young goalkeeper Tom Fowler to thank for saving two penalties that night.

At the other end of the pitch, the management team boosted their striking options with the signing of Jack Ryan.

Inconsistency carried into December with home defeats against Hednesford and Coalville starting off the month.

Coalville bagged four goals at Borough Park to extend Reds' losing run to three games and plunged their goal difference into arrears.

Then came a chink, a light in the tunnel for the Reds as they finally got a win on the board again, this time at strugglers Corby Town.

But it was a ray of hope as they went into the festive period with matches against Nantwich and Blyth looming. Hopefully 2017 will prove to be more fruitful.