Cleator Moor Celtic manager Dene White says his players will raise their game when they tackle Workington Reds in the quarter-finals of the Cumberland Cup.

The two sides have been drawn out of the hat to face each other in the last eight of the competition in February next year at Borough Park.

And White, who is in his fifth year as manager of Celtic’s first team, is pleased with the draw against the current holders.

“It is an old cliché but if you want to win a competition you have to beat the best team,” he said.

“We beat a very good Carlisle team in October and this is another challenge for our young lads to take on the semi-professionals at Workington Reds.”

White said the pressure was off his Wearside League side as they would go into the game as the underdogs.

“It is easier for us to raise our game because it’s a bigger challenge on a nicer pitch and in a stadium, but it will still be a massive challenge,” he added.

“The lads heard the draw and were talking about it at the week-end and they said it was something to look forward to in the new year.”

Celtic have struggled to get matches played in their Wearside League campaign due to the weather both in Cumbria and the North East.

They are now looking at a backlog of around seven matches.

They are currently sitting in mid-table and White says they will have a tough end to the season.

“It has been a bit stop-start and we hadn’t played for almost a month with the weather,” he explained.

“We are about seven or eight games behind so we will be playing catch-up in the new year. It is going to be tough but it always is.”

And he was full of praise for the young side, the majority of whom are just turning 21.

“This is my fifth year with the first team and a lot of the lads I had with me in the second team previous to that when they were just 16/17,” he said.

“Many are turning 21 this year so they have five years of Wearside League experience now and when you mix that with a few of the older heads it creates a fantatsic bunch of lads that want to do well.

“They have come a long way.”