January was always the month of Amateur Cup action, but surprisingly not a good month historically for the club
In past 10 years, there have been 49 games played of which only 15 have been won, 5 of those coming in 2010-11 season as United beat Woodley 4-2, Harrogate Rail 4-2, Witton Albion 4-0, Cammell Lairds 2-1 and Buxton 6-1. January 2011 also saw draws against Bamber Bridge and a solitary defeat at home to Clitheroe. United would go on to fight out the NPL North title with Chester. the title coming down to the very last game of the season, as United beat Ossett Albion 7-2 at Stormy Corner, Chester were losing at Garforth Town. If United had kept a clean sheet they would have won the title.
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SPENNYMOOR PUT TO THE SWORD

With a 1-1 draw the previous week, United faced Spennymoor on 16th January 1971 in the Amateur Cup First Round replay and as the headlines say, “This was the Skem fans have waited for”
Skelmersdale United 5 Spennymoor 1
Two first half goals in the space of one uproarious minute in the first half all but sealed Spennymoor’s FA Amateur Cup fate for 1971, two more in four minutes after the interval knocked the last gasp of fight out of them. Skem’s fifth with its element of luck merely made up the scoresheet with their place already convincingly assured into the second round.

Skem’s first goal on the half hour looked a cracker at the time, though it paled into insignificance when matched with what was to follow. A ruck of players crowded on the edge of the penalty area, Peter Hardcastle took a cool look at the situation, slipped a pass to Paul Clements who slipped in Ted Dicken and saw the ball clip inside of the post. The roars had hardly faded before Alan McDermott broke up a Spenny attack pushed the ball to Alan Wolfe who took hit in his stride from 25 yards, keeper Robson had the angle but the venomous power sent the ball hurtling past him for White Moss Park’s Goal of the Season.

The second period was four minutes old when Wolfe sliced up a Spennymoor build up, lofted the ball into the middle where Dicken soared high but could not reach it, the ball fell to Clements on the edge of the area curling the ball with his instep across the face of the goal and saw it creep inside the far post. Five minutes later and it was Clemmo again, this time the least impressive goal of the 90 minutes when he slid the ball through a ruck of players after an Alan Wolfe corner. Spennymoor pulled one back through Parker sliding the ball under Crosbie. It was all to late and five minutes before the final whistle the Clements genius made itself felt with a delicate chip to the near post where Robson made a frantic attempt to get the ball clear. It ran into the path of Hardcastle who crashed the ball goalwards and Alan Swift hurtling in saw it cannon of his outstretched leg into an empty goal.
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On January 14th 1954, the Advertiser reported, “Skelmersdale United, who have only lost one league game this season and are favourites for the Liverpool Combination Championship, strengthened their claim with a 5-1 victory over Marine, Castle 2, S Jones, Lofthouse, Kirkman the scorers.
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14th January 1967, UNITED THEY STOOD - TEN FEET TALL
Skelmersdale Utd 3 Bishop Auckland 0
The day United came of age, as 10 time winners of the Amateur Cup were put to the sword at White Moss Park, Wally Bennett 2 and Alan Bermingham penalty started United’s run to Wembley.
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January 18th 1969. GRADUATED HONOURS AT OXFORD
Oxford City 0-3 Skelmersdale Utd
Andy Windsor, Mickey Burns and Ted Dicken on the scoresheet as 500 United supporters cheered their side home.
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17th January 1970, FOUR GOAL ROMP INTO HE LAST 16
Bishop Stortford 0-4 Skelmersdale Utd
Verdict of the majority of Bishop’s supporters, who saw their team slide to an unexpected heavy defeat on Saturday was that, “Whoever beats Skelmersdale United will win the trophy”, writes a special correspondent in the Skelmersdale Reporter.
Ted Dicken, United’s best player crashed home an early spot kick to give his side a psychological benefit of an early goal. After 18 minutes Skelmersdale had their 600 or so supporters in high spirits by scoring again, Alan Wolfe out jumped Cherry as they went for a high ball and nodded it into the net.
United’s dominance in midfield was very much in evidence and 10 minutes after the restart they virtually put the issue beyond doubt, Stan Allen worked his way into the penalty area to beat Cherry with a shot which the goalkeeper touched but could not keep out. The scoring was completed 10 minutes from time when Dicken worked his way through the home defence to beat Cherry with a great shot from an acute angle for the best goal of the game.
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January 15th 2001 Rossendale United are beaten 2-0 at Dark Lane in the North West Counties League Cup, goals from Richardson and Rudd.
United would go on to win the trophy at Gigg Lane against Newcastle Town
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January 17th 2015, United faced the long trip to King’s Lynn in the Northern Premier League and came back with all 3 points with the help of a Danny Mitchley “hat trick”
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