Carlisle United will be without two senior players this weekend - with both Dean Furman and Joshua Kayode on international duty.

Midfielder Furman has joined up with the South Africa squad ahead of two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

And loan striker Kayode is again with the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad for a pair of European Championship qualifying games.

The pair are set to miss both this weekend's League Two clash with Cheltenham and next Tuesday's Papa John's Trophy visit of Aston Villa's Under-21s.

Furman flew to South Africa after starting in Carlisle's FA Cup game against Hayes & Yeading last Sunday.

He has trained with the Bafana Bafana squad from Tuesday with their first game against Sao Tome e Principe tomorrow, then a return game against the same opposition on Monday, both played in South Africa behind closed doors.

It is likely to see 32-year-old Furman add to his 54 South Africa caps.

Furman is a highly popular figure in South African football but said he will have to judge carefully the matter of prolonging his international career.

Speaking to ESPN, Furman said: "The reality is I'm getting older; the reality is that I now live in the UK and flying back to South Africa to represent the national team is not the same as leaving my apartment in Johannesburg and driving down the road to join up with camp.

"It's now a 12-hour flight; it's now missing training with my club. As I'm getting older, it's taking a greater physical demand on my body, so I will have to assess that on an ongoing basis.

"I've always loved representing my national team. Pulling on the Bafana jersey has been one of the highlights of my career, but as we've seen with many other players, travelling can take its toll and it's something that I'm just going to have to assess and see how it coincides with my club football over here."

Kayode, meanwhile, could be in action for the Irish Under-21 side against Iceland on Sunday and Luxembourg next Wednesday.

It is the latest call-up for the Rotherham loan man, who was in the squad as an unused sub for last month's defeat to Italy.

Both men started United's last game so boss Chris Beech will be forced into a reshuffle. 

The midfield change involving Furman is likely to see Callum Guy return to starting contention, while Lewis Alessandra could replace Kayode.

Beech made five changes for the Hayes & Yeading game, and other regular starters who could come back into the side are Paul Farman, Rod McDonald and Nick Anderton.