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" When you come off the back of three out of four results like that then you want the next game to come quickly but the lads have worked really hard over Christmas and have behaved themselves, so they deserved a little bit of time off. They have come back this week flying again though and everybody is really looking forward to the game. They needed a rest, everybody needs a rest after the Christmas period because it's a big ask to ask players to play three or four games in such a short space of time so that's come at the right time. Everybody is fine now, everybody has recharged their batteries hopefully and we're looking forward to the game tomorrow.
" We were always going to go through a sticky patch, we've had a little sticky patch before and what we are trying to do is to make sure that those indifferent results are well spread. Then hopefully if we do have a little sticky patch now until the end of the season it's a long way away from the last one. We've still got a couple of injuries, Peter Murphy and Kevin Harper haven't made it but everybody else is fit.
" They (Grimsby) have taken over Simon Grand's contract, they had to sign him on an emergency loan so that he could play on Tuesday, and then in the last couple of days they have secured his services on a full-time basis by taking his contract over. I think considering that he only played in two games and came on a couple of times as a substitute then that really showed that I thought more highly of other people. When he has played he has done his best, the lad is still young and he needs to play football, he's gone to Grimsby to do that and we wish him all the best.
" He (James Krause) played against Swansea in difficult circumstances and he played really well against Brighton so we've seen the potential and that's why we're trying to tie up the deal to take him to the end of the season. He'll be good cover, we know that he can deal with the situation, he's played in two very difficult away games and he's come through with flying colours.
" I'm keeping my cards close to my chest on new players, we are in discussions with different managers and we'll see how they develop. I think it's rude for them (Karl Hawley and Peter Murphy) to talk about the ambition of the football club, the club has come from the Conference and we are now playing in League One three points off the play-offs. This is the highest level that the two players have played at so we are trying to persuade them to stop. If they don't then we'll try not to lose sleep over it and we'll try and bring somebody else in, we're very, very hopeful that both of them will commit their future to Carlisle though. We've had no enquiries on them so far, nothing concrete anyway.
" We're trying to get players at the right price, but it's difficult to try and sign somebody when players are going from the Conference for £200,000. We've given ourselves a good chance of getting into the play-offs, we're in a good position and are on a good little run at the moment. We've been on a couple of good runs before and then, not so much taken our foot off the pedal, but come up against a very difficult couple of teams that have put us in our place. We're on guard and we're really looking forward to it, if we get a result, either a point, or three points which we will certainly be looking for tomorrow then that puts us in a fantastic position. "