Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver believes "big, physical" Carlisle United remain firm title contenders in League Two.

The Sulphurites boss has said his side must be ready for United's style of play in tomorrow night's game at the EnviroVent Stadium.

And Weaver says that, despite United losing ground in the table after a string of postponements, Chris Beech's side remain very much in the race.

Weaver, whose assistant is ex-Blues skipper Paul Thirlwell, said: “It’s certainly going to be a big challenge for us. We've got to be prepared and organised and not be put off our own game.

"They [Carlisle] are a big, strong, physical team, [who] load the box, try and win the first ball and they get bodies around that, [they have a] long throw into the box...quite similar in some ways to Cheltenham's style.

"They’ve done brilliantly and are up there for a reason, so we’ve got to be really up for it because they could end up winning the league, could Carlisle."

Weaver also played down the fact United have been limited in game time recently.

"You don’t pin your game-plan on them being short of football and think we’ll just run through them," he said in a press conference today. "There’s more to it than that.

"We've got to keep learning; there have been a lot of positive signs in the last few weeks and we've learned a lot from our last game [a 1-0 defeat to Cheltenham last Tuesday]. We've got to play more football when we can and compete in both boxes.

“We are just looking forward to a really big challenge and if we can do well against Carlisle then it’s going to be another massive boost for the confidence.”

United's first trip to Harrogate this season, on December 29, was called off after eight minutes because of concerns over the pitch at a time the hosts led 1-0. A a second attempt to stage the fixture two weeks later fell victim to a power cut.

Weaver added: "Looking at the forecast, finally the temperatures are up and we should have a game on, but it's going to be a big challenge for us."