James Earl could be back this weekend to strengthen Workington Reds’ midfield ahead of a tough Bank Holiday campaign.

Reds will host Stafford Rangers on Saturday, ko 3pm, before heading to Whitby Town on Monday.

Earl has been missing due to the recurrence of an old knee injury but joint manager Lee Andrews is hopeful that the experienced star will be back in contention.

But he added that two games in three days might be too much for Earl and the situation would have to be managed.

“James might be back available to us but other than that the squad will be similar to the one that played on Tuesday night,” said Andrews. “But we have two games in three days which might be a bit too much for James coming back so we will have to look at that.

“Sam Smith took a slight knock to his calf on Tuesday but he will be okay with that.”

Andrews admitted both games would be tough ones for Reds and they are aiming to improve from their 1-1 draw with Witton Albion on Tuesday night.

“We will just take it one game at a time we need to get a positive result on Saturday before we look ahead to Monday,” said Andrews.

“We were disappointed on Tuesday as we felt it was two points dropped as we dominated for long periods and we were a little bit disappointed with the way we conceded the goal but we have spoken about it and we are looking to cut out the individual errors.

“If we can do that we know we have the quality that nine times out of 10 we will create chances.

“Stafford have started well and they have some quality going forward so we will have to be on our guard. But we are the home side so we need to set the tempo and take the game to them from the start.

“Then it will be another tough game at Whitby. They are a good footballing team but that can bring the best out of us and hopefully it will work in our favour.”