Workington Reds will again be without goalkeeper Alex Mitchell for their trip to Leek Town tomorrow.
Mitchell had to miss last Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Warrington and has not been passed fit to resume.
It means another outing for dependable deputy Danny Eccles, who has filled that role at Borough Park for the last five seasons.
Although his appearances have been limited he has never let down the side and has earned the respect of team-mates and supporters for his loyalty to the club.
Young Alfie McDonaugh is the only other absentee through injury and manager Billy Barr is unlikely to make many changes from the side which played well in a 1-1 home draw with Warrington a week ago.
However there has been a departure from the squad with former Holker Old Boys midfielder Will McGladdery leaving to pursue other options.
He looked a tidy player on the few opportunities he had, but did suffer a couple of injury setbacks.
Barr told Cumbria Crack today: “We’ve had two very good sessions this week. The players worked really hard on Tuesday and we had more of a tactical session last night.
“The lads did well against an in-form side last week and that was the standard they have to reach every week now.”
Although there have been no additions to the playing squad this week, a new face has been training but any signing is to be delayed a fortnight.
Leek have not had the best of starts to the season but last Saturday collected a very good 3-0 win at Whitby Town which had followed success in the FA Trophy when they beat Scarborough 1-0.
They are currently 17th in the NPL Premier Division table, six points better off than Workington who lie bottom.
Reds have played Leek 21 times in their history with six wins, seven draws and eight defeats so far.
Over the 21 matches a total of 40 goals have been scored with nearly a completely even split (19 for Leek and 21 for Workington) and this results in there being slightly less than two goals a game.
Tributes to Les O’Neill
The Workington club has also been paying tribute to former manager Les O’Neill, who died earlier this week aged 81.
After a distinguished playing career in the Football League serving Newcastle United, Darlington, Bradford City and Carlisle United, Les ended his playing days over the border with Queen of the South.
He was appointed Reds’ manager in October 1989 and remained in the Borough Park hot seat for the remainder of the 1989-90 campaign and then the 1990-91 season, before stepping down on the eve of the 91-92 term.
Les briefly managed Penrith and then worked for several clubs in a scouting capacity including Wycombe Wanderers, Swindon Town, Blackpool and MK Dons.
