Carlisle boss excited for 'brilliant games' against Cobblers and Stockport

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson is urging his side to seize a ‘great opportunity’ by winning Saturday’s ‘brilliant’ game against the Cobblers.

​The Cumbrians have back-to-back games against promotion rivals Northampton and Stockport at Brunton Park over the next five days. United are currently fourth, level on points with third-placed Stockport and three behind the Cobblers.

"Now we have two brilliant games to look forward to and we have to make sure we’re right for them," said Simpson after his side’s 0-0 draw at Walsall on Easter Monday. "We know they’re going to be difficult because, like us, these teams aren’t up at the top of the table by accident.

“We’re all up there because we deserve to be, so we have to kick on, make sure we have a good week and get ready to go out and perform against Northampton.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to be involved in it. This is what you want to be involved in, and we’ve just got to make sure we do it properly. These games don’t need any building up or hyping, we’ve just got to be right.

“We’ve set ourselves up for two fantastic games over the next week, both are at home and we’ve got a great opportunity. It is still in our hands.

“We’ve just gone out of the top three, and Stockport have gone in. I’m not surprised at that because I’ve thought all along that they would be up there.

“We’ve got two games coming up, against Northampton and Stockport, where if we do our job properly at home, which we have done for the majority of the season, in what will be tough games, we can be in a really nice position.

“It’s always a tight battle for promotion, that’s how it works out. There are crazy results all over the place. We can only affect ours, we’ve got to try and do everything we possibly can, starting with Northampton on Saturday, trying to get a performance, a result that sets us up for the Tuesday night."