Captain Danny Grainger says Carlisle United are under no illusions that only a win at Exeter tomorrow will be enough to keep their promotion dream alive.

The Blues are facing the biggest 90 minutes of their campaign in Devon as they try to seal a top-seven finish.

Victory would guarantee a play-off place - but a draw or defeat would leave Keith Curle's side at risk of missing out.

Other results could still go in Carlisle's favour should they fail to win, but that prospect is not on the players' mind, Grainger insists.

The Cumbrian defender said: "We have to win the game, there's no ifs and buts about it.

"If there were one or two teams chasing, you could maybe think we could get away with it, but not with the number of teams still in with a chance.

"If we lose I can't see us being in the play-offs, if we draw I can't see us being in the play-offs. That's as simple as it is.

"We've got to go down there and win. I don't think any player or manager would talk about playing for a point and hoping the results go our way.

"Now it's the business end of the season we have to make sure we push ourselves over the line."

Grainger said it would be one of the highlights of his career if he could lead the Blues to victory at St James' Park and then to further glory in the play-offs.

Should they beat Exeter and finish sixth, they would then face the Grecians again in the semi-finals, with the first leg at Brunton Park next Sunday and a return to Devon the following Thursday.

If they fail to win but still cling on to a play-off place in seventh, Luton could be their opponents.

That scenario, though, would require a host of chasing sides to fail to take advantage, with Blackpool at home to Leyton Orient, Stevenage hosting Accrington, Wycombe against Cambridge, Colchester at home to Yeovil and Mansfield heading to Crawley.

A convoy of travelling fans is heading to St James' Park for a game which kicks off at 5.30pm.

Grainger, who has signed a new one-year deal, added: "We've always said that when the fans travel in numbers and get right behind us it can pull us over the line.

"Come Saturday we're going to need every little bit of energy that we've got, plus a bit more from the fans as well.

"When we were going through our sticky patch we always said if it had to go down to Exeter, so be it. Before the Newport game [last Saturday] I walked down to Mark [Gillespie] just before kick-off and said that two years ago we were playing Plymouth to keep our Football League status. Now this is what we're about - going for promotion. It shows how far the club has come in two years.

"We know we haven't been good enough this second half of the season but we're sixth with a game to go. Most people would have taken that at the start of the season, even though we're disappointed we haven't sealed promotion already.

"We need everyone behind us and pushing us forward. I've been lucky and blessed to have played in some important games in my career, but if I can lead us into the play-offs and be part of a team that gets us back into League One, it's going to be massive personally."

Manager Curle said fit-again Jason Kennedy is "doing everything possible" to force his way into tomorrow's squad.

"He's having ice baths, needles sticking in and out of him, getting rubbed, massaged - a constant barrage of getting every single ounce of energy, mobility and agility into Jason's body," Curle said.

Curle and striker Jabo Ibehre both missed out on divisional awards despite being shortlisted, with Portsmouth's Paul Cook winning April's manager of the month prize in League Two, and striker Ibehre - who has scored five goals in successive games - beaten to the player award by Newport's Mickey Demetriou.

Ibehre will equal a club record for scoring in consecutive appearances if he makes it six in six tomorrow.