Whitehaven players who weren’t involved against Workington Town will see some action on Sunday.

Head coach Gary Charlton intends to use members of his squad who were absentees against Town when they face North Wales Crusaders at the Recreation Ground.

The Crusaders have proved to be Whitehaven’s bogey team over the last two seasons, with victories in each at the Recreation Ground.

Like Haven they will also be tackling their third pre-season game after defeats, but promising efforts against both Barrow and Widnes Vikings.

Charlton, unhappy about a number of things during Sunday’s win over Town, is looking for his squad to step up.

“It wasn’t what we were looking for but there was an improvement from the opening game at Newcastle,” he said.

“That’s what we will be looking for again because we have to improve from game to game.

"We will be working hard on certain aspects of our game during the week and looking for a response against the Crusaders.”

Whitehaven used 19 of their 25 players against Town and hopefully by the end of the Crusaders game all will have had some taste of the action.

Unfortunately, Haven picked up two injuries against Town with the result that both Glenn Riley and Brett Carter will miss the start of the Championship season.

Both are looking at three to four weeks on the sidelines as Riley (knee) and Carter (hamstring) face time on the treatment table.

Injuries are always going to be a headache for coaches in a hard, physical sport and Charlton will be keeping everything cross that he comes through the North Wales game with no more setbacks.

North Wales, who lost 34-16 at Widnes on Sunday were only 14-10 down at half-time and appear to have recruited shrewdly over the winter.

Coach Anthony Murray said: “I feel as though the lads we have brought in are going to be versatile and give us more options.

“I certainly feel it gives us greater depth to the squad and we have more youth about us.

"I fully expect us to be challenging for the play-offs.

"We were only three points off it last season.”