Keith Curle says sidelined Jason Kennedy and John O'Sullivan are desperate to return to the fold for Carlisle United after injury and illness affected their pre-season.

Kennedy has only figured in one of the Blues' first four friendlies while O'Sullivan is awaiting his first outing this summer.

O'Sullivan has been recovering from a groin problem suffered in a freak training ground incident, but the winger took part in some of the exercises in yesterday's Cassius Camps outdoor training session.

Kennedy, meanwhile, was not at the south Cumbrian facility as Curle revealed the midfielder had been given a short period of rest.

"Jason's had an injury problem, and now has an illness on top of that," the Carlisle boss said.

"With the sort of rigorous exercise [at Cassius Camps], it can attack your immune system when you're ill and you can end up with something else.

"It was a medical decision from [physio] Neil Dalton that Jason's going to benefit from having a couple of days' rest and then coming back into the group as soon as he can.

"He's had a slight reaction to his injury that he's had as well. Jason's had a summer of doing a lot of running, and we've come straight back into football with a lot of twisting and turning and that's caught up with him.

"What you need to do sometimes in that situation is take your foot off the gas but, knowing the characteristics that Jason has, no matter how much running or physical activities you do, the kid is raring to go."

O'Sullivan has sat out United's games against Carlisle City, Penrith, Workington and Blyth Spartans but the former Blackburn man is getting closer to a return.

Curle said: "He slipped on the training ground surface and suffered a groin and lower abdominal tear.

"It was unavoidable - the sort of thing that can happen in pre-season, December, whenever.

"We just needed to take him out of what we were doing. There were certain aspects of [yesterday] that John wasn't able to do, but I took the decision that I wanted him here because of the dynamics of the group.

"John's a very vocal part of the group, with good banter, a driving force, and probably one of the more vocal new signings that we've brought into the building. You need that.

"He's got an understanding of what we're trying to bring to the club."

The rest of Curle's first-team squad took part in yesterday's gruelling activities including fit-again midfielder Mike Jones, who made his comeback in Saturday's 3-0 win at Blyth.