Caretaker boss Gavin Skelton has called on Carlisle United’s fans to get fully behind the team on Saturday as the Blues start life after Chris Beech.

The visit of Tranmere Rovers (Brunton Park, 3pm) sees Skelton in temporary charge.

He will be at the helm of a side third bottom in League Two and in desperate need of improvement after three successive defeats without scoring.

Cumbrian Skelton said the role of passionate and loyal support cannot be underestimated.

Asked what his message was to fans, he said: “Please get behind us, I can’t repeat that enough.

“I know what it’s like, and it sounds corny, but I’ve been there, and whatever your feelings or preferences are, I fully respect that – but get behind the lads because we all want the same thing.

“We want to get up the league table, get away from where we are, and come 5pm we want to be going home with the feel-good factor.”

Skelton said that, while United must learn from recent games, the focus this week has been on Tranmere rather than dwelling too much on past events.

United will be taking on a side who are sitting fifth in the table and unbeaten in four league games.

Micky Mellon’s side, though, have yet to win or even score in five away league games so far in 2021/22.

Skelton, who will be assisted by experienced youth coach Eric Kinder, said: “The focus is on Tranmere, it’s been that way since Monday morning, but we have picked the bones out of previous games to see what we can improve on.

“We’re looking at Tranmere to see where we can cause them problems, and with it being at home we really want the crowd to get right behind us.

“We appreciate that we need to give them something for them to get behind, and we hope to do that because the Brunton Park crowd can be really intimidating and hostile when they’re supporting their team.

“That’s why it’s important to give them something so that they can give us something back.”

Skelton said it was important to shut out the various opinions from various sources about events at Brunton Park in recent days.

“All of the noise around everything else…I can’t get involved in that because we have what will be a tough opponent to get ready for. That’s what I have to concentrate on,” he said.

“I don’t really do social media, that’s just my own choice, so it doesn’t affect me in that way that much. It’s all about Saturday and the rest will take care of itself after that.

“We know what form we’re in, we know Tranmere are in a really good run of form, and we know they’re an experienced team with some good players.

“We have to be aware of that but with the squad and players we have we’re more than capable of putting on a good performance for our crowd.”

Skelton said Joe Riley is back in training with Rod McDonald and Kelvin Mellor both close to returning from injury.

The caretaker could hand a debut to new goalkeeper Mark Howard against the Wirral side.

Skelton, meanwhile, said a major priority was to restore confidence to players in order to boost United’s poor recent goalscoring efforts.

“We have players who have a pedigree of scoring and it’s just trying to help them to rediscover the confidence in doing that,” he said.

“It’s getting used to putting the ball in the back of the net, no matter how it goes in. If they’re doing it in training they start to get a feel for it.

“Once we get that first goal it’ll be amazing and things will feel different.

“Whatever sport you play, it’s sometimes just about confidence. If we do get that first goal it will be amazing how much you’ll see the belief come into everything else.”

On tomorrow’s opposition, led by 39-year-old centre-half Peter Clarke and whose squad includes ex-Blues defender Nathaniel Knight-Percival, Skelton added: “They’re a brilliant challenge. He [Mellon] is a very experienced manager, so that’s a good challenge for me, and they have players who know how to influence games, so it’ll be an interesting one for us.

“We have to understand their threats, how they’ll set up and how they’ll look to play, but we have some really good footballers here who can make things happen.

“They perhaps haven’t shown it all the time so far this season but something will trigger and the crowd will see what a good team this can be.”