United face Workington at Frenchfield Park in round two of this season’s Cumberland Cup on Thursday evening and academy boss Darren Edmondson is looking forward to seeing more of his young players take on the challenge of coming up against older and more experienced opposition.
“It’ll be a good game,” he said. “Yet again we’re very grateful to Penrith for their help because they’re allowing us to sue their facilities and pitch.
“It’ll be another good test. Physically the lads will need to stand up to going up against older players, even though we’re not sure what type of team Workington will put out.
“That doesn’t necessarily matter because they’ll be some years older and naturally that bit stronger. It comes down to whether we can man-up and test ourselves against what will be a decent side.”
“The Cumberland Cup games are a great experience for the lads and I know I always looked forward to it when I played in them,” he commented. “Further along my career, when I was managing at Workington, we used to be pleased if we were drawn against Carlisle.
“I spoke to Eric Kinder when he was here and he used to like the games because it gave his young players a totally different kind of opposition to deal with. As long as the game is done correctly, which it always is these days, it becomes an excellent development tool.
“You find out a few things about individual personalities because they’ll have their own little battles to contend with all over the pitch. We’re looking forward to it and hopefully a few people will be able to get down to cheer their respective teams on.”
United v Workington, Frenchfield Park, Thursday 2 November, kick off 7.30pm
