Manager Keith Curle says has has been impressed with how quickly Richie Bennett has taken to life with Carlisle United.

The big summer signing from Barrow has caught the eye on his two starts so far.

Bennett caused problems for both Fleetwood and Cambridge as he helped the Blues to successive victories.

That came after 26-year-old Bennett made a promising debut from the bench in the opening-day defeat to Swindon.

"Richie has integrated very well on a personal and professional level, and he doesn’t look out of place," Curle said.

"He's understanding his role in the team framework, which I think is good.

"He knows it's not all about Richie Bennett being the club's top scorer. It's about him understanding his role as an individual and professional inside the team.

"He's adapting very well. But it makes it easier when you've got a very good environment that welcomes talent on board."

Bennett will now be eyeing his first Brunton Park start this weekend when United host Cheltenham.

Curle, meanwhile, says United's attractive cup tie with Sunderland next week should help clarify his and the club's spending power before the end of the transfer window.

A good crowd is expected for the Carabao Cup second round encounter next Tuesday.

Curle has met the club's directors regarding the budget, and said: "Everything's been made a little bit clearer because of the situation with the cup draw.

"What's going to happen now is we're going to take stock, hope ticket sales go well, and we're going to estimate roughly what sort of finances and revenue's going to be coming.

"We have to pay our bills and pay our way. That can't change. We need to make sure we've got good housekeeping. Has a defined figure been put on it? No, but obviously the more crowd that comes, the more revenue comes with it."

Curle said the club also still needed to establish exactly how and when they will receive sell-on proceeds from Brad Potts' transfer from Blackpool to Barnsley.

The manager said: "They [the board] need the fine detail of how and when the payments are coming.

"If the money comes outside the window, it's going to have to sit in the biscuit barrel on the boardroom table. The ideal scenario would be you get all your money up front. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that.

"If the payments are staggered, the money we receive is staggered, and then it's the fine detail of when we get ours."

Curle suggested he may also put on hold plans to organise a reserve friendly game because of the Sunderland tie.

He said: "Now we've got the Sunderland game, it's a case of looking at the availability of the players to play in that. What we don’t want is to have a game for the sake of it.

"We're into the season, we're happy with the fitness levels of the squad, and while we've got some players, such as the development players, who haven't played 90 minutes, we've got the staff who can pick that up and monitor it.

"The amount of games we play in the first few weeks, we need everybody fit and available. Plus we've got a competitive youth team who, if needed, we could play."