Joint boss Lee Andrews hopes Workington Reds continue to make picking the team difficult when they face Clitheroe in their final pre-season friendly this afternoon (3pm kick-off).

The game will be the last major chance for players to put themselves in the frame for next weekend’s season opener against Halesowen Town and Andrews admitted so far it has proved hard to decide who will miss out.

He said: “Pretty much everyone has had a strong pre-season, so it’s going to be a difficult task picking the team next weekend.

“It’s not nice to leave people out and there will be some disappointed players but we’d rather have that than be scratching around struggling for a squad.

“The pleasing thing is we are getting closer to the start of the season now and the lads are looking strong and fit, particularly in the last 15 minutes of games.

“We want to make sure we are as fit as we can be so that, if teams aren’t quite at it at the start of the season, we can take advantage.”

The departure of club legend Kyle May this summer left a big pair of boots to fill but Andrews said he and fellow manager Dave Hewson are happy with the way several other players have stepped up to lead.

“Getting Dan Wordsworth back was a massive plus for us and the likes of Matty Douglas have done well this pre-season and staked a claim,” he said.

Sam Smith will be unavailable for today’s game but Josh Calvert is in contention, with Gari Rowntree expected to return to training in the next 10 days.