Cumbria’s three Northern League sides all figured in excellent mid-week results with two home wins and a fine away draw against the table-toppers.
The trick now will be to follow up tomorrow when they are all back out in League action.
Penrith had felt the full force of Redcar Athletic’s summer recruitment when they lost 5-0 but they bounced back well to beat Crook Town 1-0 with a late goal from Robbie Hebson.
Manager Darren Edmondson is our guest this week and you can hear below his thoughts on that game and tomorrow’s follow-up home fixture against Newcastle Blue Star.
Carlisle City were 3-1 winners against Birtley Town after conceding the first goal, and they travel to Easington Colliery who were four points behind sixth-placed City from the same number of games (12).
City manager Dan Kirkup has added ex-Workington Reds defender Sam Smith to his squad and that can only strengthen the side in an area where the Sky Blues have looked suspect at times.
City’s West Cumbria-based players Tom Mahone and Callum Birdsall have been instrumental in persuading 31-year-old Smith to lace up his boots again.
Kendal Town stretched their unbeaten run to six games with arguable their most significant result to date – a 1-1 draw at leaders Boro Rangers who had previously won 10 of their 11 games.
Manager Jimmy Marshall feels his side are now adapting to the change in style of the League from where they had been used to playing and will look to continue their good run at Whitley Bay.
The Cumbrians are stacking-up nicely at the moment – Carlisle City (6th), Penrith (8th) and Kendal (9th) – on 19, 18 and 17 points respectively.
In the Northern Premier League Premier Division Workington Reds travel to Matlock Town – a side stuck at the bottom of the table without a win. They have lost six of their eight games so far and drawn the other two.
But things are on the move at the Derbyshire club. There is new investment, said to be up to six figures, two new players have arrived and a manager might be in place to oversee tomorrow’s game, although at the moment interim boss James Holmes will be in charge.
Reds were beaten 1-0 in mid-week at Blyth Spartans who are next to bottom of the League and that was their first win of the season.
So not good form figures going into a battle against the bottom side and Reds fans with long memories will view the fixture with trepidation.
However, there was enough in the opening 20 minutes at Blyth to suggest that Reds have it in them to handle this one – but like all levels of football it is about taking chances when on top, something Mark Fell’s side have not been doing.
In the Wearside League Windscale moved back up to third when they beat Hartlepool Youth 3-2 in mid-week and they now face two away trips tomorrow and Wednesday.
The Atoms are at Bishop Auckland reserves tomorrow in the Shipowners Cup and then on Wednesday visit Easington Lane in the League. Bishops are next to bottom but Easington are right behind them in fourth and will represent a stiff challenge.
In the west Lancashire League Whitehaven have a free week which will give new manager Carl Short more time to work with his side ahead of a trip to Blackpool Wren Rovers on the 21st.
Cleator Moor Celtic are at Wren Rovers tomorrow and manager Gareth Agnew is hoping to extend an unbeaten run of two games.
