Carl Forster will lead from the front on Sunday as he looks for a big improvement from his side at Barrow.

Whitehaven crashed 42-0 in their opening friendly at Keighley last weekend with Forster watching from the sidelines.

“It’s going to be a very long day if we play like that at Barrow," he said. "There simply has to be a big improvement.

“Whether it was rustiness or whether we had so many new faces in the line-up I don’t know, but that wasn’t good enough and I want to see it put right on Sunday,” says Forster.

The Haven coach will play at Craven Park but he won’t be taking his full squad, limiting it to 17 or 18.

All of the 26-strong squad who don’t have injuries or suspensions will have had an opportunity to push their claims before Forster has to get serious and pick a team for the opening competitive game.

Two of the players, Glenn Riley and new recruit Kurt Maudling, suffered cuts at Keighley and are likely to be kept out of the action on Sunday.

Karl Olstrum is still suspended after his switch from Workington Town while Scott McAvoy and Troy Armstrong continue to recover from their operations.

But Whitehaven do have a concern over Dion Aiye, who is still back home in Papua New Guinea awaiting his visa clearance to return to west Cumbria.

“I’m sure it’s going to be sorted out fairly soon and Dion will be on his way,” said chairman Tommy Todd.

The first competitive game is on Sunday, February 19 when Workington Town visit the Recreation Ground in the League One Cup, and the League season starts a fortnight later with a trip to South Wales.

After Sunday’s Cumbrian clash at Craven Park, Whitehaven still have to travel to Newcastle Thunder (Saturday, January 28) and to Workington in the Ike Southward Memorial Trophy on February 5.