CARLISLE UNITED midfielder Brennan Dickenson has spoken of his delight at signing a new contract at Brunton Park - but admitted that the most important thing was making sure the Blues stayed in League Two.

Dickenson put pen to paper on a new deal last week after a season where he made 39 appearances in a United shirt, and revealed that although the uncertainty of reaching the end of his contract was daunting, he was only ever focused on the battle against relegation.

“Coming towards the end of the season you never know what’s going to happen but thankfully the club offered me a deal and we’ve got to a conclusion,” he told the club's official YouTube feed. “Knowing you’re out of contract can be difficult, as you get older you get used to it, but it can be tough.

“That uncertainty is daunting but you just have to put it to the back of your mind. When Simmo came in we had 15 games left so that was all we were focusing on.

“Some players were in contract, some out of contract, and we had loan players, but everybody has to put everything aside because at that time all we were thinking about was making sure we stayed in the league.”

The 29-year-old winger, who was employed in a more central role towards the end of the season, revealed he is settled in Cumbria and wanted the outstanding contract issue tied up before the summer break, where he is getting married.

“I am settled here,” he agreed. “I’ve got a house which definitely isn’t for sale, even though that’s the rumour on Twitter!

“The contract took a little bit of time to sort, Simmo said he wanted it done before the end of May and I wanted it sorted as quickly as possible.

“I’m getting married in the summer and I’m going away, so I wanted it all taken care of before that. It’s done now and I can just look forward to pre-season and seeing all the boys again.

“I didn’t really think about whether I’d be getting an offer or not,” he added. “I felt like I was playing okay and he was playing me quite a lot, so I had a sense that he might have liked me as a player, especially with playing me out of position in the role I had."