Steven Pressley admits he will try to get some of his Carlisle United players through 90 minutes at Ross County as their build-up towards their League Two opener gathers momentum.

The Blues will end their pre-season campaign, ahead of their 2019/20 season, against the reigning Scottish Championship champions this afternoon (Victoria Park, 3pm kick-off).

Re-signed Nathan Thomas is expected to get his first run-out since his return to the club where he spent the second-half of last season on loan, while trialists Kwame Thomas, Aaron Hayden and Mohammed Ali Sagaf could get another chance to impress in Scotland.

And United’s manager hopes to give some of his players a full game in the Highlands, ahead of their first league clash of the new campaign at home to Crawley next Saturday.

"We will try to get quite a number of the players playing close to the 90 minutes – if not the 90 minutes up there," Pressley said. "We will try to get ourselves ready.

"Next week, we will still need to brush up on one or two aspects as we continue to do throughout the season. But, thus far, it’s a credit to the players how they have come through pre-season.

"There has been a lot asked of them and, for such a small group, they have reacted brilliantly and that has really pleased me."

Meanwhile, the Staggies will also be playing their final warm-up fixture ahead of their opening Scottish Premiership clash against Hamilton Academical next weekend.

"I think what we have done has been to test ourselves on different fronts over the course of pre-season - and this is a slightly different one for us again," co-manager Stuart Kettlewell told County’s club website.

"We have played Dutch opposition, varying teams from the Scottish Leagues in Betfred Cup competition and, now, we take this one on against a Carlisle side, managed by a Scottish manager.

"So, it should be an interesting game and certainly [is] one we are looking forward to."

For United, Jack Iredale and Keighran Kerr returned to training this Thursday.