Last updated 11:55, Friday, 10 October 2008

AFTER being knocked out of the FA Cup the other week, Reds have a weekend off despite the club’s directors trying hard to get an opponent from somewhere.

The time off will probably do some of the players good. A week without footy is a week that Jonny Wright can use to recover following his broken toe.

Reds’ top scorer is not likely to feature for six weeks after an X-ray confirmed the break last week.

But you try telling Michael Owen that he’s got a game this weekend. The Newcastle striker will wonder just what he has to do to get into Fabio Capello’s England plans.

Owen has notched up five goals in all competitions this season but Senor Capello says goals are not enough.

If that is truly the case then I would love to know what else someone like Jermaine Defoe brings to the England squad.

England have two easy games coming up now against Kazakhstan and Belarus and I don’t care what anyone says – these are easy matches.

After beating Croatia on home soil, this team must push on. The England fans will not settle for scrappy games against two of the minor teams in the group. Wembley will be bouncing. England expects.

Also this week reports were leaked that Workington Reds may have to cut players in a cost-cutting exercise. It is good to hear that is not entirely the case. Reds are looking to save cash but they stress they are not in debt.

Director Alec Graham said it was up to Darren Edmondson as to whether players were cut and that is just what football needs – trust put in the people employed.

Other clubs with their directors of football wielding the axe and picking the teams have underlying issues that cause problems for managers who are not left to manage.

With a wafer-thin squad already at Borough Park, I hope no players will be forced to leave. With Jonny out, if anyone else gets injured or suspended, then goals will prove even harder to come by.