KEITH Curle insists NO player's place in the Carlisle United team is safe for Saturday's trip to Newport - despite their impressive win against Accrington.

The manager is keeping his squad on their toes by offering no guarantees of selection as the Blues head for south Wales.

United returned to form with their 2-0 win against Stanley, a game which saw Curle make five changes to his line-up.

And though several of the recalled men impressed, the Blues boss says they must earn their places again for the Newport battle.

Curle said: "Players are now stepping in, we’re keeping clean sheets and winning games.

"Those players have got every right to come and see me if the next team selection finds them not involved.

"But they do know that, just because they’ve played and played well, it doesn’t guarantee them their place next weekend.

"It will be based on how they train, how they perform and conduct themselves in training, and the team I want to select will be on how I think we’re going to beat the opposition."

United are eyeing a further rise up the table after reviving their play-off hopes with the 2-0 Accrington win.

The Cumbrians are now facing a run of nine games in 29 days, featuring several games in hand, that gives them the chance to leap into the top seven.

That starts at Newport in a game that kicks off earlier than normal at 1pm, to avoid a clash with the Six Nations rugby union game between Wales and Scotland.

The rugby clash kicks off at 4.50pm and is expected to see heavy traffic in the M4/M50 areas.

Newport are fifth bottom under new boss Warren Feeney, who was once a Carlisle target under ex-manager Greg Abbott.

Curle will hope to have at least some of his injured players back for the weekend, with Tom Miller, Luke Joyce, Bastien Hery and Danny Grainger all missing out against Accrington.

That saw Alex McQueen handed a recall at right-back in Miller's absence. "Alex had been chomping at the bit and it was a good game for him to get back into the fold to give us a different option in a wider area," Curle said.