West Cumbrian rivals Whitehaven and Workington Town have been paired together in the first round of the League One Cup.

They were the first two out of the hat in last night’s draw made live on BBC Radio Leeds and will square-up at the Recreation Ground.

The two sides are already due to meet at Derwent Park on Sunday, February 5 in the annual Ike Southward Memorial Trophy.

After the pre-season friendlies, the League One Cup presents the participating clubs with their first competitive games of the new season as the ties will be played on the week-end of February 18/19.

Tommy Todd, the Whitehaven chairman, said: “I am absolutely delighted. From a Whitehaven perspective it’s a great draw. The only thing better would have been the pair of us meeting in the final.

“It’s a shared gate in this competition so it’s going to benefit both clubs. If we can market it properly there’s no reason why we can’t attract a bumper crowd.

“We will be talking to Workington about the game and I don’t think there’s much doubt that it will be played on the Sunday.”

Gary McKeating, an associate director with Workington Town, said: “It’s always great to play derby games and we will be looking forward to this one.

“It will come two weeks after we have met in the Ike Southward Memorial game so one of us will be looking for revenge, which is always a good thing.

“We will hopefully get a good crowd because it’s always important at that time of the year to keep the finances turning over nicely.”

Barrow, the third Cumbrian club involved in the draw, will travel to Rochdale Mayfield, the amateur club who won the Conference Challenge Trophy.

The draw was split into two pools – north and south – but will be an open draw in the next round, the quarter finals.

The full draw is: Pool A – Whitehaven v Workington Town; York v North Wales Crusaders; Hunslet v Newcastle; Keighley v Doncaster; Rochdale Mayfield v Barrow.Pool B - Oxford v Coventry; South Wales v London Skolars; Hemel Stags v Gloucester All Golds.

The final of the competition is to be played at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road as part of the Summer Bash on May 27.