Interesting clashes ahead for non-league teams this weekend

Carlisle City aim to put their disappointing Northern League form behind them tomorrow.

City host Blyth Town in the second round of the FA Vase, at a time of change within the visitors’ ranks.

Long-serving and highly successful manager Michael Connor has moved on to take charge at neighbours Blyth Spartans.

As a consequence Connor’s number two Gavin Fell has moved up into the hot seat.

He took charge last Saturday when Blyth lost 4-2 to Newcastle Blue Star and was then subsequently confirmed as Connor’s successor.

City were beaten 4-0 at North Shields last Friday and have recently suffered a 6-0 defeat at Shildon.

In between they beat Seaham Red Star 5-0 at Gillford Park and it’s that kind of performance that manager Dan Kirkup is hoping his side will bring to the table tomorrow.

Workington Reds

Workington Reds produced their best performance of the season to beat second-in-the-table Worksop Town 2-1 last week – despite having seven players missing from the squad.

There was another injury on Tuesday at training when young defender Tyler Beck suffered a serious ankle injury which looks like keeping him out for most of the season.

But manager Mark Fell is hopeful that Jamie Allen and Kaedyn Kamara will return for the trip to Gainsborough Trinity tomorrow.

They scored a 2-0 win at Whitby Town on Tuesday night but stay in he bottom four, but only four points behind the Reds and with three games in hand.

So really they are in a false position and in Declan Howe have one of the smartest finishers in the Division.

They are still in the FA Cup and in the second round have been drawn away at Harrogate Town.

Penrith

In the Northern League both Penrith and Kendal Town have away fixtures.

Penrith, who were 4-0 winners in mid-week against Windscale in the Fred Conway County Cup, travel to Seaham Red Star.

Manager Darren Edmondson will have targeted this one for an away win as Red Star are next to bottom with only three wins in 21 games.

But Edmondson will be well aware that Fred Star recently turned over Kendal Town 4-3 and certainly can’t be underestimated.

Kendal Town

Since then Kendal have moved up to fifth place and travel to Guisborough on the back of a 4-0 win at Whickham.

They have already played Guisborough three times this season, winning one (in the FA Cup replay) and drawing the other two.

But Jimmy Marshall is aware that there’s a new manager in the opposite dug-out with several new faces in the side so this will be a different test.

Holker Old Boys

Holker Old Boys lost their top of the table battle at Atherton LR 2-0 last week and drop to third.

They haven’t an immediate chance to make amends as they are involved in the second round of the Edward Case Cup with a trip to Daisy Hill.

The Westhoughton side from Greater Manchester are 11^th in the table, some 17 points behind the Old Boys from the same number of games played.

Windscale

Windscale earned a lot of plaudits from Penrith boss Edmondson after their clash in mid-week, feed-back which the Atoms can take into tomorrow’s fixture.

They travel to Farringdon Detached in the second round of the Shipowners Charity Cup extra keen to do well.

They were knocked out of the Alan Hood Charity Cup last week – a trophy they had won last season.

Cleator Moor Celtic

In the West Lancashire League there’s no denying that Cleator Moor Celtic and Whitehaven need points.

They share bottom spot with Whitehaven having a slightly better goal difference.

For Celtic though tomorrow is about the Fred Conway County Cup and an extremely interesting second round tie.

They must travel to Maryport Athletic, champions of the Cumberland County League, who made a failed application to join the West Lancashire League in the summer.