Chris Beech says Carlisle United were "gazumped" for a friendly - when a Premier League club approached one of their scheduled pre-season opponents.

Beech did not name the club concerned, who he said withdrew from a planned game against Carlisle when a Premier League club approached them late in the day.

The head coach said United were grateful that FC Halifax Town then filled the gap in the Blues’ calendar last Friday night.

And Beech added that Carlisle then knocked back an approach from their original scheduled opponent, who tried to get the Brunton Park game back on when their match against top-flight opposition subsequently had to be cancelled.

Beech explained the situation at the club’s latest fans’ forum.

He was responding to a question from a supporter about the standard of some of United’s pre-season opposition, with Halifax having fielded a glut of trialists in Carlisle’s final warm-up game.

Beech said: “We talked about wanting a home fixture, because it’s important that players, especially new ones, go on the pitch before the season starts – and it’s great we managed to get two.

“We did discuss potential opponents. We worked very hard to get them.

“I won’t throw the [opposition] club under a bus [but] we did have a different opponent for the Halifax fixture.

“It was all done. Then we got gazumped, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t think it’s right to publicly [name] the other club.

“I rang round, panicking, because it was the most important fixture, before the season starts – the one you’ve already planned in.

“Once that [date] became available, and I was ringing lots of teams, everybody was sorted, but suddenly now we were not.

“We tried our best to get one, and Halifax were brilliant to say they would come up and play.

“Amazingly, the Premier League team the [other opponents] were now going to play then pulled out of the fixture, so they became available again and were on the phone wanting to play us again.

“But there’s no way I’m going to do that to somebody else. It’s not how I operate.”

Beech also said Halifax had given Carlisle a good test in a game the Blues won 3-0.

He said: “In terms of the quality and content of teams, I wouldn’t be too disrespectful.

“Halifax are always a top six or seven Conference team in the last few years, and the lads who they brought down on trial [included] Chris Taylor, and [Matt] Warburton who Northampton paid for in League One from Stockport.

“There were players whose agents were ringing us to sign. They were coming here to impress, not players just coming for a day out in Carlisle.

“They tried their best [but] we were good].”