Gary Liddle says there should be no “knee-jerk” reactions at Carlisle United as the wait goes on for news on the manager front.

The Blues remain under the caretaker charge of Tommy Wright and Paul Murray as they bid to bounce back from the defeat at Northampton which ended a six-game winning run.

Experienced defender Liddle shares Wright’s belief that the sooner the position is clarified the better.

But he says that, whatever decision is ultimately made, there is no need to make dramatic changes.

“I think in an ideal situation you’d want it sorting, and the sooner that is, probably the better it is for everyone,” Liddle said.

“But it’s important that no knee-jerk reactions are made after [Saturday]. There’s a lot of hard work gone in over the last month or two.

“Any new manager coming in doesn’t want to upset the applecart too much and go and make wholesale changes.

“Yes, we’ve lost a game, but we won the six games previous. There’s not much wrong. We’ve lost a couple of players but it can be rectified with incomings and the current squad we’ve got.”

United are understood to be considering a narrowed-down list of candidates, as well as keeping a close eye on how Wright and Murray perform at the temporary helm.

New names finding favour with the bookmakers include ex-Coventry and Fleetwood boss Steven Pressley (2/1), former QPR coach Marc Bircham (3/1), and former Notts County and Crawley chief Harry Kewell (6/1).

Wright is 8/1 with BetVictor and Murray 16/1, with others including Robbie Stockdale - linked with the post last summer - at 25/1.

This week’s focus is also on the transfer market with the sixth-placed Cumbrians keen to make more attacking additions.

Liddle admitted the loss of loan men Jerry Yates and Ashley Nadesan hurt United in the second half as Northampton scored three without reply.

He said: “The Nadesans and Yateses bring you that directness and pace, which we lacked.

“I’ve got no doubt Tommy and Muzza will be working around the clock to try and get them back or [sign] like-for-like.

“It was pretty evident that, although we created chances, we lacked that genuine pace and directness to go in behind that people like Nads have.

“They would make bad balls into good ones, with the raw pace they had.”

Liddle, though, praised full league debutant Liam McCarron for his efforts on the United right.

He said: “He did well in parts of the game.

“It was a tough one to come into but he didn’t shy away from it, he grafted, he was just in front of me [down the right] and he’ll come on from that.

“It wasn’t the result he’ll have wanted on his full debut, but plenty of positives.”

United host Cheltenham next Saturday hoping to sustain their recent climb into the play-off places.

Liddle added: “We wanted to make it seven out of seven [at Northampton] and continue the run, but we’ll take the positives.

“If you’d said to us before the seven games that you’d win six and lose one and still be in the play-offs after the seventh, it’s something we’d have certainly taken.”

He added: “We have to jump back on the horse and put it right next week at home to Cheltenham.

“It’s massive now. A lot was made of it and we were all jumping for joy at the fact we’d won six in a row - the real test is when you do lose, can you get back on it?

“We can’t get too deflated with it. It’s obviously difficult, because we’re not too used to losing games over the past month or so. It’s a bitter pill to swallow but we’ll go back in, prepare right for next week and we’re still right in there.

“It’s very tight, results have swung either way with teams in and around us, which is always the case in this league.”

Liddle insisted the squad had not been adversely affected by the recent loss of John Sheridan, who resigned in order to take charge at Chesterfield.

“It might have been different if Tommy and Muzza had gone with John - then you’re looking at who to look up to,” the defender said.

“But nothing will change for us. We don’t know anything about the manager situation, we’ve just been told to give our all, as we’ve done, and what will be will be.

“We’ve had a tough run of games [prior to Saturday]. I know we’ve won them all but it takes a lot of hard work, especially over that Christmas period when you’ve got game upon game over the space of a few days.

“It will be important to get some light training or some rest in this week, and recharge the batteries a bit. Maybe they’ll get one or two players in who can help us next weekend.

“If not we’ll go as we are and go out to put [Saturday] right.”

“It’s finding that consistency again. We’ve won six, now we’ve lost, now can we get in another run.”

United’s rivals, fifth-placed Mansfield who are level on points with the Blues, yesterday bolstered their bid with the loan signings of Charlton striker Nicky Ajose and Nottingham Forest midfielder Jorge Grant.

Carlisle’s Cumberland Cup quarter-final at Cleator Moor will be played on Tuesday, February 5 at McGrath Park, kick-off 7.30pm.