Workington Reds must be up for the fight if they are to get their season back on track at Rushall Olympic on Saturday, believes joint boss Lee Andrews.

The Pics will pose a physical threat and Andrews expects his side to have to earn the right to play their style with a battle in the opening 20 minutes.

Andrews said: “When they came up here they weren’t a bad team and they’re always going to be strong, physical and pretty direct.

“In any game you have to earn the right to play so the first 20 minutes, especially away from home, are tight.

“Hopefully our lads can stand up and win that midfield battle to give our footballers the chance to get on the ball then we know what they can do.

“We went on that long good run of form and probably over the last month or so it’s affected it with it being stop-start with matches being called off and the cup.

“We know once we get some momentum we’re more than capable of churning result after result out, it’s just getting that first one.”

Reds travel to Rushall for the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League clash on Saturday (3pm kickoff), then host Marine in a rearranged League Cup tie on Tuesday (7.45pm ko) before travelling to Workington Athletic in the Cumberland Cup on Thursday (7.30pm ko).

Josh Calvert will not feature after picking up a hamstring problem at Bromley but otherwise Andrews has a fit squad to choose from.

“We always say we have a strong squad,” Andrews added.

“Everyone’s pushing each other and wants to start and the lads who’ve been left out recently have been disappointed so that’s good.”