Workington Reds have arranged their Cumberland County Cup tie with Whitehaven Amateurs for Wednesday night at Borough Park.
It will give manager Chris Willcock an opportunity to get more minutes and game time into several players who have been out through injury recently.
Three of them – Brad Carroll (hamstring), Ruben Jerome (hamstring) and Rowan Roache (shoulder) all got 20 minutes towards the end of Saturday’s FA Trophy defeat to Dunston.
Dav Symington (hamstring) and Scott Allison (calf/shoulder) both did an extended workout before the game and are said to be closing in on a return.
Nico Evangelinos (quod) worked hard before the midweek game at Warrington and spent part of Saturday doing more rehab in the gym.
Full-back Kieran Charlton (groin) and midfielder Brad Hubbold (hamstring) both watched the game on Saturday and said they are about a week away from a return to action.
Two other players, Dan Wordsworth and Conor Tinnion were rested against Dunston after making successful returns from injury a week earlier at Glossop.
This all means that manager Chris Willcock is closing in on having a full squad to pick from for the first time since he took over ahead of the new season.
To plug the gaps in his squad Willcock signed several replacements so he will soon have plenty of decisions to make.
“I’m going to have a headache with selection but that’s the sort you don’t mind. Our situation with injuries has been well documented and we have done remarkably well to still be top and gone 11 games before we were unluckily beaten,” he said.
