Workington Reds have called off their friendly at Consett on Saturday because of a crop of injuries and unavailabilities.
They have played the new NPL East members on several occasions at this time of the year and manager Danny Grainger was looking forward to testing his squad at the weekend.
But chairman Phil Norman said: “Danny rang me to say that he was struggling to get a team together to go over. We have a number of players unavailable and on top of the injuries we have at them moment it meant it was unpractical.”
Reds are hoping that the crop of injuries can be cleared up before the season starts on August 13 and there won’t be a repetition of last season when numerous players were laid low by injuries.
Several senior players have also prebooked holidays which were taken out of season so they would be available for the season proper.
Three Workington players – Steve Rigg, Sam Smith and Ceiran Casson – have not kicked a ball yet in pre-season as they nurse injuries, while one or two others have picked up knocks in the last two games. Charlie Birch dropped out of Tuesday’s game at Carlisle City through illness.
Consett finished runners-up in Northern League Division One last season and won promotion to NPL East through the play-offs. They would have been a good test for the Reds.
Consett have now been looking for replacement opposition for a game at the Belle View Stadium on Saturday.
