It will be part of Penrith and Workington’s pre-season preparations but there could be a more serious aspect to a possible repeat in a month’s time.
Penrith host Workington tonight at Frenchfield Park but on August 20 they could be lining up at the same venue in the preliminary round of the FA Cup.
That will be dependent on Penrith beating West Allotment Celtic in the extra-preliminary round two weeks earlier.
At the moment, though, for respective managers Darren Edmondson (Penrith) and Danny Grainger (Workington) it’s all about preparing well for the upcoming season.
Edmondson has suffered a couple of heavy defeats at the hands of Carlisle United and Barrow, while his new-look young side beat Westmorland League side Kirkby Stephen 8-1 in their latest outing.
Lamim Cham (2), Connor Shields (2), Hayden Tait, new signing Taylor Cullen, Kenzie Fleming and Alfie Brunskill provided the Penrith goals. They follow up with a game against another local side, Kirkoswald on Friday night.
Both teams – as is to be expected at non-League level – have been hit by absences, mainly through holidays, but particularly in Workington’s case because of injuries and illness.
They would not have been able to send a strong enough team to play newly promoted Consett on Saturday so that one was called-off.
There will be some notable absentees tonight but Grainger is likely to get longer looks at some of the younger players who impressed in last week’s 4-0 win at Carlisle City.
After the trip to Penrith, Reds will play at Kendal Town on Saturday and also have a trip to Marske on the agenda on August 6 before the season proper starts at home to Mossley on August 13.
Penrith’s Northern League campaign starts on July 30 at Whitley Bay and a week later comes that GA Cup-tie at home to West Allotment – with a possible Cumbrian derby riding on the result.
