Workington expect to have four of their six absentees available for the New Year’s Day home game with Stalybridge Celtic.

Reds went down 4-1 at South Shields on Saturday when they could not include Kyle May, Matty Douglas, Brad Carroll, Jamie Mellen, Kyle Walker and Sam Smith. But the final score was harsh on the Cumbrians as three of the home goals owed a lot to good luck.

Acting manager Lee Andrews said: "I thought we did not deserve a result like that because all four of their goals could have been prevented – the last three in particular.

"We might have been six players short, but the team that went out there gave everything and we were happy with the squad. I could not have asked for any more in effort.

"Over the whole game, I thought we had probably more chances than they did, but they got lucky and we didn’t.

"They like to get the ball down and knock it around and I thought we worked really hard and, with our two lines of four, made it harder for them to play through us."

Andrews made a tactical switch at half-time, with Brad Hubbold replacing Kieran Maguire, while Sam Joel limped off with a foot injury after 73 minutes.

"We will have to assess Sam before Tuesday but I’m hopeful that Brad [Carroll] and Jamie [Mellen] will be able to return from injury. Jason [Walker] and Sam [Smith] were unavailable for the Shields game but will be back for Tuesday," said Andrews.

May and Douglas still have two matches to serve of their bans, following the skirmish at the end of the recent game with Scarborough.

Stafford are currently without a manager after the experienced Steve Burr resigned following the 4-1 home defeat to Nantwich on Boxing Day.

As for their own managerial position, Reds are still staying tight-lipped as negotiations are at a delicate stage.