Workington Reds play their penultimate pre-season friendly tomorrow at Ashington on their return to the North East.
The club has confirmed that the postponed friendly with Morecambe, when the League Two side did not have enough players to send, will not be rescheduled.
Manager Danny Grainger is expecting a tougher contest than last week when Reds were clear-cut 6-1 winners at Whitley Bay.
Ashington were promoted from the Northern League First Division last season after finishing runners-up and winning the play-off game with Glossop North End to take their place in the NPL East Division.
The Reds’ hosts should have played their penultimate friendly last night against Richmond Town but it was called off because of the heavy rain.
Their last game was at the weekend when they drew 0-0 with Morpeth Town who are members of the NPL Premier Division and will come up against Reds this coming season.
That was the first game that Ashington had played against a side from a higher league, and have constructed their programme so that they have another NPL Premier Division side to finish with in Workington.
For his part Reds boss Grainger expects to have a near full-strength squad to taken to the North East.
It has been strengthened by the addition of two young full-backs who played in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Penrith – Matty Bell (ex-Carlisle Utd) and Hayden Tait (ex-Penrith).
But Grainger has been thwarted in other attempts to strengthen the squad. Two targets are currently on trial with Conference North clubs while a third, who might have been available on loan, is required by his club after a spate of injuries in pre-season.
“If nothing else happens I am happy with the squad I have got and will be ready for the start of the season on August 12,” he says.
The final pre-season game will be another game in the North East, next Saturday at Dunston.
