Youngsters with the Workington Reds Academy will experience something a bit special tonight.
The Borough Park club is taking eight age group teams this week to play at the Etihad Complex, home of the Premier League champions Manchester City.
The Reds run teams through from under-8s to under-16s and six of them will be in action tonight, with two others going on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Head of the Academy Brian Dawson said: “I contact clubs all the time to try and arrange academy age group games and already we’ve been to Newcastle United and Burnley. It isn’t easy to get fixtures against Premier League clubs so we are delighted to get games against the youngsters with the Premier League champions.
“We recently played Newcastle and one of our sides just lost 3-2 which won praise, especially as the same side had beaten Sunderland quite easily in a previous game.
“We have some talented young players across the age groups and these sort of games are a good test for them. I know they are excited about the trip to City.”
A number of parents travelled down with their children and stayed overnight ahead of today’s games while others are travelling as teams on hired coaches.
The oldest side involved tonight are the Under-16s and it will be a night of mixed emotions for one of their players Sam Firby.
He plays for Red and Cockermouth each weekend with Saturday and Sunday matches. Two weeks ago playing for Cockermouth in a top-of-the-table clash with Castletown he broke his tibia.
Gutted to miss the City game he is still travelling to Manchester complete with crutches to cheer on his teammates.
