Last updated at 12:06, Monday, 25 June 2012

Greg Abbott today insisted that patience is now key for Carlisle United as he continues his search for more signings.

Greg Abbott

The Blues have made two summer recruits but manager Abbott has more gaps to fill in his squad.

United are now just 10 days away from returning for pre-season training, with Danny Cadamarteri and Mike Edwards the arrivals so far.

And while Abbott is now hunting for replacements for the departed Francois Zoko and Tom Taiwo, he says he is not going to rush into more additions.

“It is about making sure we get people in who are going to keep us at least at the level we are at, and hopefully improve us,” the United manager said. “There is an excitement about where we are with things and now we can drive on to find the right players to make the squad even stronger.

“I am leaving a couple of positions open to bring players in, and that will depend on where we are between now and the middle of July.”

Abbott’s signing of former Huddersfield player Cadamarteri last Thursday ended a long pursuit of the versatile frontman.

With fellow 32-year-old Edwards also adding experience, United’s next recruits are likely to be at the younger end of the scale, though Abbott retains an interest in former Birmingham utility man Stuart Parnaby, who could join the Blues in pre-season.

Replacing Taiwo’s box-to-box qualities and Zoko’s match-turning tricks are now top aims as Abbott hunts for extra talent, with Jordan Cook still a possibility.

“Francois will be hard to replace because on his day he was at Premier League level, though on other days there was an inconsistency to his game,” the manager said.

“With Tom you knew what you were going to get. We have got to find that reliability and energy to replace him. I think we can do it.”

First published at 11:28, Monday, 25 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk