Carlisle United's Paul Simpson gives update on injuries to Ryan Edmondson and Brennan Dickenson

Edmondson was withdrawn at half-time at Morecambe with a hip problem, while Dickenson missed the game with a dead leg.

Simpson stressed the Edmondson substitution was precautionary and that he would assess the striker further.

“He didn’t want to come off in all fairness,” United’s manager said after the 0-0 draw.

READ MORE: Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson's verdict on Blues' display at Morecambe

“He said, ‘I want to stay on’. He actually said, ‘If it’s a league game you’re definitely not taking me off’.

“And I wouldn’t have done. But there’s no point risking it here.

“Ryan just had a bit of tightness around his hip, at the top of his thigh – whether it was his hip flexor or his quads I’m not really sure.

“It was more precautionary. I’m not prepared to take any risks and we’ve got Tobi [Sho-Silva] who is a willing runner, and he came on and did his job up front.

“I’d like to think that Ryan will be ok for Saturday.”

Simpson said left-sided Dickenson suffered his injury against Bolton last weekend and had not yet managed to shake it off.

Brennan Dickenson: Injured against Bolton (photo: Barbara Abbott)

“We expected him to be fine and come through ok, but he hasn’t trained with the group all week,” the manager said.

“We took him up to Scotland [to United’s training camp at Largs] and thought he was going to be fine.

“We tried to get him on the grass on Wednesday but he was still very sore.

“We’ve had to just leave him behind. I hope that at some point [this] week he'll be able to come and join us and be part of the group for next weekend. We’ll wait and see.”

On the selection problems he hopes to have in the build-up to the league opener, Carlisle’s boss added: “I said to the players on the first day back training on June 22 that my aim was to get through to the first game against Crawley with everybody fit.

“Obviously we’ve lost Taylor Charters which is a blow, and Josh Dixon and Joel Senior are still not available.

“I want Brennan Dickenson available, because I want to have a problem selecting the right XI to start the game next week.”