Paul Simpson has a quip from his old No2 Dennis Booth at the front of his mind on the eve of Carlisle United’s clash with Hartlepool United.

Simpson believes the Blues have trained well this week - but knows it is only from 3pm on Saturday where it matters.

And he went back to his old United double-act with Booth to underline the point.

“I remember Dennis once said to me, ‘You could play tiddlywinks all week – if you win on Saturday it doesn’t really matter.

“That is the truth of it. It’s about how we perform on a weekend.

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“I like to think we’ve prepared properly. As a manager I like to go home on a Friday feeling that we’ve done our preparation and can’t do any more.

“I feel that way. This week has given us the chance to get some energy back into the group, and it certainly looks like that has been the case – but the proof is how we play at Hartlepool.”

Simpson said United have trained on Gretna’s artificial pitch on one day this week as part of their build-up.

The Blues’ own training pitch, meanwhile, was out of action today after the heavy rain, but Carlisle’s boss is refusing to use that as any sort of excuse.

“The weather has caused us a bit of an issue today, in that we’ve not been able to get on the grass, but we’ve been in the Neil Sports Centre and been able to get a real bright, lively session in there,” he said.

“I don’t get screwed up about things like that. I remember back in the 2000s when I was here last time, we had the floods [in 2005] and we trained on there for weeks on end and did the work we needed.

“It certainly didn’t do us any harm.

“We’ve got to make sure we go to Hartlepool, take the energy we’ve been able to keep in the bank this week and show we’re fresh and ready to go.”

Simpson says he has made some changes to United’s training this week in a bid to freshen things up.

“I felt as though week to week was just becoming a bit samey,” he said. “So we changed the training schedule, and been able to have three really good training days, and the players have had some recovery days.”

Simpson felt his side were lacking energy in last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Crewe Alexandra and is calling for a sharper display in the north east on Saturday.

He also wants his side to demonstrate more control in the game than they showed last time out.

“I have this thing about retaining the ball and making sure we have sequences of six passes – once you get that five or six passes in, the opposition lose their enthusiasm to press,” he said.

“We didn’t do that enough times in the second half against Crewe.

“We’ve talked to the players about having a bit more control. I think if we can take more control in games, we’ll have better chances of getting wins more often than just draws.”