Chris Beech insists Carlisle United are not giving up on their play-off hopes.

The head coach says the Blues will not admit defeat on their top-seven chances while there are still 12 points to play for.

Beech admits Carlisle cannot afford another defeat this season as they bid to bridge a five-point gap.

It is a tall order for the Cumbrians, who host Harrogate Town this Saturday followed by games against Cheltenham Town, Leyton Orient and Walsall.

But Beech says his 11th-placed team will give their all in a bid to salvage what appears to be a dwindling promotion chance.

“I’m not giving in and the players are definitely not giving in,” he said.

“We’ve got four opportunities to try our best.

“We’re in a position, really, where we probably can’t get beat, and you’ve got to try and break 70 points.

“If we can do that – and we’ll certainly try to – we will possibly be in the play-offs.”

Beech’s 70-point target means Carlisle – currently on 60 – would need to end the season with at least three wins and a draw, or ideally four consecutive victories.

The Cumbrians have enjoyed such a winning sequence once before this season – back in December, when they beat Salford, Bradford, Stevenage and Mansfield.

United’s recent six-game unbeaten run came to an end at Bolton on Tuesday night.

The 1-0 defeat also left Carlisle winless in four and goalless in three.

Beech said: “It just makes it a little bit harder for us to try to achieve what we want to achieve.

“We know right now that we have no room for any result-type mistakes, even though we’ll see mistakes within games, because we have to try to break 70 points.

“We’ll be giving it our best shot. Our players have done that all season, in very harsh circumstances, and the way they’ve represented us has been excellent and commendable.

“But we work so hard, and I’m so ambitious, we all want to touch something. It’s still available so we’ve got to try our best to get in there.”

Beech said Carlisle had faced major and unexpected challenges this season and would not give up on trying to end the campaign successfully.

“When I set out in pre-season of showing what we need to do to be in the top three [or] top seven, I didn’t know coronavirus was coming and didn’t know we’d have 10 games called off,” he said.

“But I did know I could get a bunch of lads really at it, and focused, which we have done, and it’s still attainable, but it’s harder to achieve. But nothing’s ever straightforward.”