Workington Reds boss looks ahead to Carlisle United friendly

Saturday sees the traditional pre-season meeting between Reds and Blues at Borough Park.

The west Cumbrians are hoping for good numbers on the terraces – and a good contest against Paul Simpson’s League Two visitors.

Fell said: “We know it will be a tough game but these games are so important at this time of year.

“They [Carlisle] are going to give us [the kind of] test that we haven’t had yet, then we’ll get a similar sort of test from Morecambe the week after.

“I’ll probably learn more from those games than I have so far.

“It will be great to see big numbers here. I’m hopeful – if Penrith can get over 1,000 for their game against Carlisle United on a Friday night, I’m sure we can get over 1,000 here.

Steven Rigg was on target in Reds' last friendly (Image: Ben Challis)

“I’m hoping we will get good numbers from both sets of fans, a good atmosphere in the place and let’s give people something to look at [and think] we’re doing things in the right way.

“It will be nice to see some friends from Carlisle but in the same vein we want to give them a tough time as well.”

Workington’s latest friendly saw a 2-1 win over Carlisle City at Borough Park on Tuesday, with Steven Rigg and Greg McCaragher on target for the Northern Premier League Premier Division hosts.

Rigg is one of a number of former United players set to face their old club on Saturday, with Dav Symington, Ceiran Casson, Danny Eccles and summer signings Josh Galloway, Steven Swinglehurst, Kai Nugent, and Alex Mitchell among the ex-Blues in the Reds ranks.

“We’re still rusty, still trying to smooth off some edges and get players to do some things they haven’t done before, or here for a while,” added Fell in a club interview.

“It’s still going to be dynamic, fast, exciting. [Against Carlisle] we’ll have a chance to spend a lot of time without the ball, so the way we defend and the distances we have between units will be critical to us.”