New manager Steven Pressley says the crucial task of adding new players to Carlisle United’s promotion challenge will take as long as it needs – rather than be rushed.

Pressley, who takes charge of his first game against Cheltenham tomorrow, has acknowledged the need to boost the Blues’ attacking options.

But with two weeks left of the transfer window, the Scot says United will use all the time available in order to sign the right players, rather than hurry deals before tomorrow.

“The sooner the better,” Pressley said, “but the most important thing is we get the right players in that complement the group - that’s the key.

“We’d love to have them in by the weekend but if that’s not the case, and we get the right players in the next two weeks, so be it.”

United are pursuing three players with a focus on attacking and wide positions, following the loan departures of key men Ashley Nadesan and Jerry Yates.

The Blues are still hoping to re-sign frontman Yates from Rotherham but either way Pressley concedes that position is an obvious requirement.

“We have the nucleus of a very good squad,” said Pressley, appointed this week on a deal until the end of the season. “The results would certainly indicate that.

“There’s no doubt that in the attacking sense we’ve lost a key player [in Yates], and also Nadesan in a wide attacking area – there are areas we’re certainly going to have to look at.”

Pressley said he would be speaking with director of football David Holdsworth, and coaches Tommy Wright and Paul Murray, about United’s options in the market.

“Looking from afar, I have my own thoughts on certain things but I need to speak to them on their thoughts on where we can reinforce the squad,” he said.

“It’s important we work as a team on deciding the best way forward.”

Former Coventry and Fleetwood boss Pressley took training for the first time yesterday with his challenge to keep sixth-placed United in promotion contention.

The Cumbrians are also aiming to bounce back from last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Northampton which ended a six-game winning run.

On the promotion aim, Pressley said: “It has to be the ambition. We can’t hide from that fact. It’s a much nicer environment to come into.

“There’s a pressure and expectation, but I’d rather have that expectation than the fear of relegation.

“One thing about the team is that we’ve got some good characters and leaders. League Two asks your defenders, in my opinion, to do the basics of the game very well, and in my opinion we’ve got defenders who can do that. That’s a big plus in terms of the real success of the team.”

Pressley, meanwhile, said his priority would be on first-team matters even though he has brought through young players at previous clubs.

Only if he becomes Carlisle’s manager for the longer term will he devote extra time to the club’s academy.

“Hopefully, if things go to plan, we can work on that,” he said. “It [developing youth players] is something I’m very passionate about.

“When you’re a manager circumstance often shapes you. When I first went into management, my thought process wasn’t that I was going to develop young players, but because of circumstance and financial restraints in my first job, I was forced to concentrate on developing young players.

“What I found, if they’re coached properly, and there is a clear way for them to play, they don’t often let you down. When they’ve come through the ranks of a football club they have that football club in their blood, and they tend to connect with your supporters.

“I trust young players. In my next job the remit was very similar – where they wanted me to stabilise the club financially, change the youth structure and bring through young players.

“It was because of my early experiences of football [management] that I learned to trust young players. I think they bring a real energy to a football club, players that come through your system.

“In the short term my concentration has to be on the first team but I hope, if I’m here for the longer term, it’s something I can start to establish.”