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"When the players came in on Monday they were all very eager and they are all looking forward to what is a very big game in the context of the remainder of our season. At one stage in their separate games last weekend Leyton Orient, Wycombe and Grimsby were all ahead so in the end things ended up alright for us.
"We know we won't win promotion with sixty odd points and its what we do in these last eleven games that will determine our league position come the end of the season. We need a continuation of our recent form and if we have that we know we'll be there or thereabouts come May. The other teams won't do it for us but we have the incentive for this game and we know a win would take us above Carlisle and to the top of the league.
"There is a nice optimism amongst the squad and although we have got to play with passion we have got to be calm and control what we do at the same time. We must match what Carlisle do and play at a tempo that will hopefully cause them some problems. They've been on excellent form recently and they got through to the LDV Vans Trophy final during the week.
"We know that we are in for a really tough game but first and foremost we must try and beat a team that is currently above us in the table. Last season we drew with Swansea and Yeovil here and lost to Southend and Scunthorpe and to make ourselves better this year its those results that we have got to turn around and this game gives us the opportunity to try and do just that."
"Carlisle will have used up some energy this week but they will be very buoyant and they won't be content with just doing what they have already done this week. We know quite a bit about Karl Hawley and we have done quite a bit of work on Carlisle during the week. We've looked at how they like to play but we have just got to put our team out against theirs and see who comes out on top.
"I think the next five games will be a good judge as to how tight it can be, we've got to be aggressive and a win on Friday night would put us in real prime position. The incentive of being the league leaders drives you on and that makes things incredibly exciting. A certain pressure is added when you are top of the league and I think Carlisle have found that.
"We want our players to go out to express themselves and to show the fans that they deserve to be at the top of the league. If we can put on a performance that shows that we deserve to be there then I think the result might go with us.
"I think the players here have got enough ability about them to win us enough games between now and the end of the season. I think the group we've got here is good enough to get better results than six out of the other seven teams that are in the top seven at the minute."