Workington face old rivals Warrington Rylands tomorrow at Borough Park, with the visitors unusually struggling.
While Reds sit tenth in the NPL Premier Division, Rylands are third bottom with only one win and a draw from their first six games.
Three years ago they beat Reds to the NPL West title by a point; Workington followed them to promotion the following season and then last year they were back together in the Premier Division.
Rylands finished fourth and were beaten by Marine in the play-off semi-final.
Although they have started slowly in the League, Rylands did win last week in the FA Cup first qualifying round, beating Thackley United of the Northern Counties East League with four second-half goals.
Reds boss Mark Fell was unhappy with his side’s performance in their FA Cup defeat to Hebburn and is looking for an improvement tomorrow.
“We were far too slow starting the game and in truth we could have been three or four down early doors.
“For ten or 15 minutes we struggled to cope with their changes and ultimately they got their noses ahead and that did for us.
“We didn’t utilise the wide positions, took too many touches at times and couldn’t take the half chances that we created.
“What I want is more consistency from the team. I’m not sure which Workington Reds side is going to turn-up,” he said.
Reds are likely to give a debut to new signing, the highly experienced Efe Ambrose.
Kendal Town are on an upward curve in the Northern League after four straight wins and are back at Parkside Road tomorrow against West Allotment Celtic.
The visitors are next to bottom of the table and on Tuesday night were beaten 1-0 at home by West Auckland.
They visit Cumbria with only one win on the board and manager Jimmy Marshall will view this as an opportunity to make significant progress on their 12th place in the table.
Her wasn’t overly impressed with his side’s [performance against the bottom side in mid-week but the win kept the sequence going.
“We are improving going forward, although I thought we dropped off short a bit on Tuesday against Tow Law. But we were good enough to come from two goals behind to win 4-2 and that was the important thing,” said manager Marshall.
Carlisle City were beaten 3-0 in mid-week at Whickham but it wasn’t a scoreline that reflected the game.
The Skyblues are back at home tomorrow with a visit from Blyth Town, promoted from Division Two and making an impression.
Manager Dan Kirkup said: “I thought the two sides were evenly matched on Tuesday but they had a star player who made the difference, and that can happen in this League.
“We need to be at our best against Blyth who clearly have ambitions to be playing higher. I hope we can be sharper in the final third.”
Darren Edmondson wasn’t happy with some of the decisions on Wednesday when his Penrith side lost 2-1 at Guisborough.
But not one to dwell on such matters he has to prepare a side to tackle one of the favourites for the title, Redcar Athletic.
Penrith will be travelling to a Redcar side who will be smarting from their first League defeat of the season on Tuesday at North Shields.
“Richard (Prokas) and I have a bit to ponder ahead of the game when we look back at Tuesday. We went with a new system at Guisborough and in the main it went well,” said Edmondson.
In the Wearside League Windscale were denied a game for a second time by Bishop Auckland reserves in mid-week. They were again unable to raise a team for the trip to west Cumbria.
The Atoms are on the road themselves tomorrow when they travel to Richmond Town.
Both west Cumbrian clubs in the West Lancashire Premier Division are at home tomorrow with tough-looking opposition.
Cleator Moor Celtic, who got their second win of the season on Saturday, are at home to Lostock St Gerard’s who are third in the table.
Whitehaven entertain Fulwood Amateurs and new manager Carl Short will be looking to topple the League leaders to get his reign off to a good start after last week’s creditable effort in defeat at CMB.
