A first half hat-trick against Clitheroe saw Scott Allison take his remarkable goalscoring tally to 20 for the season.

The prolific marksman struck during a rampant opening 45 minutes for Workington, who strengthened their position at the top of NPL North West Division.

Brad Carroll also found the net during a fixture which will surely go down as one of the wildest matchdays ever witnessed in Borough Park’s 87-year history, with strong winds turning into a gale force hailstorm in the second half.

After heavy rain overnight, the match against mid-table Clitheroe survived two morning pitch inspections, thanks to the efforts of hard-working ground staff.

Kicking off with a strong wind in their favour, the Reds knew they had to take advantage of the conditions before the half time turnaround.

And Danny Grainger’s table-toppers, full of confidence from the previous week’s 6-0 win at Kendal Town, were in no mood to take their foot off the pedal.

Dav Symington and Liam Brockbank were causing problems down the left side in the opening exchanges.

Brockbank, overlapping from full back, broke into the left side of the penalty area after linking with midfielder Cieran Casson, but his shot from 15 yards hit the side netting.

A combination of wind and Workington attacks kept Clitheroe pinned inside their own half, but on 10 minutes, a rare foray upfield saw Reds keeper Jim Atkinson race 25 yards from his goal to sweep up a ball down the left touchline.

On 13 minutes, Casson was floored in the area following a corner, and Allison found the bottom left hand corner with firmly struck penalty, which sent Clitheroe keeper Chris Thompson the wrong way.

Reds doubled their advantage just six minutes later. A neat one-two saw Allison send Symington away down the left, and the latter’s low cross was slotted home by Carroll, after a lung-busting run into the area.

On the half hour mark, Working defender Sam Smith came close with two headers, both of which were well-saved by Thompson.

Allison’s second goal came on 35 minutes. Receiving a Conor Tinnion pass inside from the right, the forward took a touch to switch his feet, before finding the top right corner from 18 yards with a fine strike.

On 43 minutes, Symington, who was terrorising the visitors down the left, produced another low cross which was dispatched by Allison at the far post to complete a memorable hat-trick.

Clitheroe were a different proposition in the second half. They now had the wind, which had worsened considerably, in their favour, with driving hail showers blowing horizontally into the faces of the Reds’ defenders.

However, home defender Dan Wordsworth came close to scoring on 52 minutes - his volley cleared off the line by Craig Stanley.

Clitheroe pulled a goal back on 66 minutes, with a superb curling effort from Terry Cummings which found the top left corner from 20 yards. They could have had another three minutes later, when a delivery from a corner found its way to the unmarked Stanley at the far post. But the ball hit the unsighted defender’s hip, and was cleared. Hard-working Reds restricted their Lancashire opponents to just one goal.

The match began with a minute’s silence for Workington’s former club chaplain, the Rev. John Cook, following his death aged 72.