Carlisle United will step up their pre-season efforts in today’s third friendly at Workington Reds, says Billy Barr.

The Blues head to west Cumbria this afternoon for the traditional pre-season meeting between the clubs (kick-off 3pm).

United, having had 8-0 and 3-0 wins at Penrith and Kendal Town respectively, now take on Mark Fell’s Workington at Borough Park.

Carlisle have given players 45 minutes each in their opening two games but some could be on the pitch for longer today.

“We’ll possibly look to increase it for the next two games – Workington and then St Mirren at the end of next week, which will be a long training week at St Andrews [University],” said joint assistant manager Barr.

“It’s probably that time now where you’ve got to go beyond the 45s.

“You then move to the stop-start thing, where you start the game, it’s half-time, and then you’ve got to get going again, which is important.

Billy Barr, left, says some players are likely to get 60 minutes at WorkingtonBilly Barr, left, says some players are likely to get 60 minutes at Workington (Image: Ben Holmes)

“Then we’ll swap it around. Whatever we do [today] in terms of 60-30, we’ll do the opposite in the next one.”

The game at Borough Park will be a latest outing for United’s summer signings, with latest arrival Archie Davies likely to get his second appearance since joining from Dundalk.

Fellow new arrivals Charlie Wyke, Terell Thomas, Aaron Hayden, Cameron Harper and Ethan Robson should again be involved.

Keeper Harry Lewis, meanwhile, is likely to step back up for a second pre-season outing, with Paul Simpson having fielded Jude Smith and Gabe Breeze in the Kendal friendly.

United could also again involve some of their teenage prospects including four who had loan spells at Workington last season - Sam Hetherington, Josh O'Brien, Jake Allan and Aran Fitzpatrick.

Workington are hoping for a good crowd today in a game which will see a host of former Blues face their old club, including Josh Galloway, Kai Nugent, Steve Swinglehurst and Alex Mitchell, all of whom joined Reds this summer, along with existing players such as Dav Symington, Steven Rigg, Ceiran Casson and Danny Eccles.

Barr anticipates a good test against Fell’s team who are preparing for the new Northern Premier League Premier Division season, but stressed the focus is firmly on what United do.

“We don't know where everybody is at the moment in terms of their pre-seasons, don't know how many players they've got in, but we just have to focus on us,” said the coach.

“The rest of this week has been about working on more of the stuff that we’re trying to work on, on a daily basis, to hopefully take into the Workington game.”

Entry at Borough Park is £10 for adults, £6 for concessions and £2 for under-18s.