They play the West Lancashire League outfit in the Shaun Hocking Memorial Trophy, their second pre-season friendly. It will be Whitehaven’s first game of the summer.

Although they lost the inaugural fixture back in 2011, Reds have lifted the trophy for the past six years winning rather emphatically in the four most recent.

But ‘rebuilt’ Whitehaven will provide more of a challenge on this occasion with several familiar faces in their line-up. Scott Redhead took over the managerial reins in June, with a number of players with strong Reds links signing up for the County Ground outfit.

Although without the trio of Gari Rowntree, Jamie Mellen and Ben MacDonald, Reds have named a twenty-one man squad with all the players expected to play a half each. Aaran Taylor, Matty Douglas, Conor Tinnion, David Renyard and Aaron Bradbury will get their first taste of pre-season football after holidays and work commitments saw them miss out at Carlisle City a week ago.

And a nineteen-year-old from the northeast, who has played for Newcastle United and Middlesbrough, is also expected to feature on a trial basis.

Squad: Taylor (g/k), Casson (g/k), Smith, Douglas, Tinnion, Bradbury, Cowperthwaite, Walker, Renyard, Pearson, Winter, Maguire, Tidy, Hubbold, Pattinson, Hetherington, Harker, Holliday, Mossop, O’Brien, Trialist.

Dan Wordsworth is now recovering from his operation (hernia) while Dav Symington will undergo his (ankle) on Thursday.