Chris Beech admits he’ll be happy to sacrifice his Brunton Park clean sheet record provided Carlisle United beat Plymouth tomorrow.

The Blues boss has not seen his side concede in his three home games in charge so far.

Add that to games before Beech’s arrival and a visiting team has not found the net at Brunton Park for seven hours and five minutes.

That record will be put to the test by an attack-minded Argyle side this weekend, but Beech said his priority is winning.

On the clean-sheet run, he said: “It’s good, but I’ll be honest, I’d rather score one more goal than the opponent.

“We all bend stats up or down, that’s what journalists do, it’s what we do as coaches or managers, to try and get your point across.

“I’d rather score one more goal than the opponent than keep 10 clean sheets.”

Beech's home games so far have seen 0-0 league draws against Grimsby and Bradford, and a 1-0 FA Cup win over Forest Green.

Before that, caretaker Gavin Skelton oversaw a 0-0 draw with Cambridge, meaning the last side to score against Carlisle at Brunton Park was Macclesfield, in the 25th minute of United's 2-1 win on November 2.

United return to their home ground tomorrow after a run of three consecutive away games in league and cup.

The 21st-placed Blues will be looking to increase their seven-point gap above League Two’s bottom spot, against Ryan Lowe’s sixth-placed Devon outfit.

Beech says he is glad to have another home game at last and expects a stern test from Lowe’s Plymouth.

He said: “Having had nine games and only three at home, 100 per cent I’m really looking forward to [being back at Brunton Park].

“I really enjoyed Boxing Day’s fixture [a 0-0 draw with Bradford], it was really good, and I’m looking for another strong, hard, honest performance from the players, but we’re going against one of the league juggernauts – we’re going to have to be right at it to get what we want.

“Plymouth recruited Ryan, the manager, in the summer, having gained promotion from his previous club. Whatever you say about Bury of the past, the budget, the money they had to spend, you’ve still got to put it together and Ryan did that.

“Often towards the end, there were difficulties in players getting paid, so managing that and making sure you get promoted was first-class for his part. He’s gone on to be headhunted and he’s put his stamp and way of playing down there at Plymouth.

“I expect them to be very expansive, possession-based, with great individuals within that team. They have three at the back, which I don’t like, [but] they’re a very good side and they play decent football.

“They get the ball wide, they go for the box and they cross a lot. They have a number of players who can score from outside the box and they have some outstanding individuals.

“They’re in a very good place as a club, they have the new stand open at their stadium, an unbelievable manager and a great facility. They’ll be coming here wanting three points and it’ll be up to us to turn the point we start with into three.”

Beech says he has seen good signs from his players, who impressed in last weekend’s FA Cup draw at Cardiff, but the head coach added they must continue to show improvement.

He said: “I want to see it in actions rather than just words. The players have been responding and they’ve been supporting each other, and they’ve been doing really well with dealing with setbacks during games.

“That must continue and we have to get stronger because we need to create an opportunity for ourselves to get on a winning run.”

Beech also says Carlisle must spend their recent cup proceeds wisely but suggested it might not all go on the team.

He said: “It’s no good getting on a cup run and not utilising the extra revenue. The club will use that, but there’s all sorts of things that come into it, because there are areas where you need to pay the bills.

“That can be things to do with facilities which aren’t relevant to the playing squad, but they are relevant to how the squad plays.

“Whether it’s supporting the groundsman with more equipment, or even seed, stuff like that is really vital and important to a football club that’s improving day by day.”

Opponents Plymouth travelled yesterday and were due to train at Wigan today before completing their journey to Cumbria.

Manager Lowe is without frontmen Ryan Taylor and Dom Telford to injury, with wing-back Callum McFadzean also out.

Argyle could hand a debut to striker Ryan Hardie, who has joined on loan from Blackpool until the end of the season.

Lowe should also have Josh Grant available, having secured the Chelsea defender's return on a loan deal until the end of the season.

United, meanwhile, could have Christie Elliott back in their squad after illness, with Mo Sagaf and Jarrad Branthwaite also close to returning from injury.