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 Workington are close to landing an extra, attractive friendly game at home to Division Two side Morecambe.
The Shrimpers were in touch with Reds yesterday to suggest the game on Saturday, July 31 and Workington will be trying to firm it up today.
Manager Darren Edmondson said: “Morecambe had an attractive list of friendlies lined up with the likes of Bolton, Preston and Manchester City but their new stadium isn’t going to be ready for the agreed hand-over date of July 24.
“It means those fixtures won’t go ahead so they have been looking around for alternatives and we were on the clubs they approached. As far as we are concerned we’d like to firm-up the date of July 31 at Borough Park.”
Morecambe's new £12 million stadium development will be called the Globe Arena and will now be ready to be handed over on the eve of the new Football League season two weeks later than planned.
The club secured a five-year sponsorship deal with Globe Construction, the company responsible for building the new venue in the Westgate area of the town. That's an early picture of the development alongside.
The Globe Arena will comprise a 6,000 capacity stadium, a full-size state-of-the-art, FA standard artificial training pitch as well as other community facilities for five-a-side, netball and hockey.
The Globe Arena will include luxury function, banqueting and conference facilities in addition to a community building with high quality changing facilities and a fully-equipped gymnasium.
Reds already have five more friendlies in the pipeline starting at Penrith next Tuesday. On Saturday, July 24 they travel to play FA Vase holders Whitley Bay; entertain new Conference Premier side Darlington on Tuesday 27th July before visiting neighbours Whitehaven Amateurs on Thursday, July 29.
Morecambe would fit in nicely on July 31 with a trip to Lancaster on Saturday, August 7 set to round-off the pre-season programme ahead of the first Blue Square Bet North fixture on Saturday, August 14, at home to Gloucester City.
Edmondson added: “I think I might have to look at re-arranging the Whitehaven game on the Thursday if we confirm the Morecambe fixture.”
The Reds boss announced himself pleased with the performance of his squad last night despite the 1-0 defeat to Carlisle United. A late header from trialist Nick Wood won the game for the Blues when overall a draw would probably have been a fair result.
“Obviously there are still areas we have to work on but I was pleased with the fitness levels, some of the football we played and the way we got around the park closing down the opposition.
“They switched to a diamond formation in the second half and I thought that caused us a problem or two but overall it was a good exercise.”
Reds have now beaten both Gretna and Gateshead 1-0 and lost 1-0 to Carlisle so goals have been at a premium in the friendlies so far.
The one concern last night was a late ankle injury for defender Lee Andrews but fortunately Reds don’t have another game for a week and there will be time to assess the extent of the damage.
Anthony Wright who took a heavy knock to his ankle at Gretna last Thursday expects to be ready for the Whitley Bay game, although he did join in the pre-match warm-up last night.
To listen to Darren Edmondson’s views given to BBC Radio Cumbria’s John Walsh on last night’s game and the latest events at Borough Park, including the pursuit of midfielder Paul Murray, just click on http://www.getnoticedonline.co.uk/audio/reds/psf-workington-0-1-carlisle-utd-darren-edmondson.html
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