Whitehaven switched their friendly with and Cleator Moor Celtic to the County Ground – but lost the game 3-1.
The Celtic pitch had taken some heavy rain so the local rivals, now together in the West Lancashire League, decided to switch the game.
It was Whitehaven’s fourth friendly – a win and two defeats earlier – and they are looking to develop the kind of play they want to take into the first league game against Fulwood on August 5.
The home side, in fact, started really well enjoying longer spells of possession than they had in their two defeats against Workington and Kendal.
They built some really positive attacking work and they made the breakthrough through the excellent Carl Denver who scored with an audacious overhead kick into the far corner.
Whitehaven were unlucky when they were denied a second goal through offside after Owen Woodburn converted a well placed free-kick.
Celtic were off the pace but once they started mixing it up with their rotations and quicker play they got a better foothold in the game and levelled before the break through Tommy Whitehead.
Celtic were on the front foot at the start of the second-half and were much more dangerous.
They won it with two goals from Adam Smith, tapping in a cross from Whitehead and then with a brilliant header from a whipped-in free kick.
Whitehaven used some younger players in the second-half and continued their policy of playing out from the back.
The Whitehaven head coach Carl Short said: “Our view is that the youngsters brought in last season and in pre-season are starting to come of age nicely for the beginning of the new season.
“A 3-1 loss was full of positives for us to build-on. We feel that the score-line didn’t reflect the whole game for us. We played some particularly good stuff going into half-time.
“We go into the week-end for a rest and some training to prepare for Windscale on Tuesday at home.”
Celtic manager Brian Dawson said: “The second half was much better for us and we looked more comfortable in and out of possession.
“It’s still early days in pre-season and the are just getting back into it but overall I’m pleased with the outcome.
“We’ve got good competition for places this year so the boys need to take their chances when they get them.
“A huge thanks to Jon Karl and the Whitehaven club for agreeing to switch the game. They are progressing nicely year on year so I expect them to be very competitive this season.”
