Workington Town boss Phil Veivers says their travelling army of fans will be their 18th man against Whitehaven this afternoon.

Town sold out of their allocation of tickets earlier this week for today’s Summer Bash derby clash with Haven at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, ko 4.45pm.

And the vocal support will be a big boost for the Town players as they go searching for two crucial Championship points against their long-time rivals and neighbours.

“It’s a fun afternoon for the spectators and having our crowd down there for the game is like having an extra man,” said Veivers.

“That will be really important to the boys. We just need to go down there and concentrate on our game.

“I know Whitehaven have signed two new players and I know Anthony Walker from when he was at Saints and I know what he is about.

“We don’t know anything about the French lad so he will be an unknown but I am more concerned about how we will push up and try to cause them more problems than they cause us.”

Veivers admitted it will be another tough day for the pack, with Haven’s forwards looking stronger with the new additions.

But he is confident his in-form players can cope with the task ahead.

“We know Whitehaven’s pack is big and uncompromising, especially with their two new additions,” he added. “So our guys know they need to lay the platform for the backs to be able to do their job.”

And with Jarrad Stack and Graeme Mattinson ruled out through injury and family commitments, Veivers says there is an opportunity for other players to get their chance.

Jason Mossop, Karl Olstrom, Alex Szostak and Stevie Scholey are all named in Veivers’ 19-man squad but have not played for a couple of weeks.

“They’re all chomping at the bit to play and it proved that with the amount of bodies at training this week,” he added.

Today’s match is televised live on Sky Sports 5.