Carlisle United's Joel Senior: We want to repay 'outstanding' fans

The Blues are hoping to strengthen their challenge this weekend with a third straight win against Grimsby Town.

Carlisle have got their push for League Two success back on track with back-to-back wins over Colchester United and Crawley Town.

And Senior says the dedication of their followers, both home and away, deserves to be rewarded.

“The numbers they are bringing is outstanding, and pushes us massively during the games,” said the wing-back.

“We want to do it for them and the whole club.

“Seeing the fans turning out in their numbers gives us confidence to put a performance on for them – they’re the ones buying the tickets and putting in the hard yards to watch us play.

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“We want to give it back to them.”

United go into this weekend’s home game against the 16th-placed Mariners in third position, two points above the play-off places.

A fans’ movement has called on supporters to bring flags and banners to the game to help boost the Brunton Park atmosphere.

Manager Paul Simpson has also called for a “noisy” afternoon as his side try to maintain their impressive challenge.

The closeness of the promotion race was underlined in midweek when Stevenage won to leapfrog Carlisle, with others in the race producing mixed results.

But Senior, who got his first goal for the club in last weekend’s 5-2 win at Crawley, says the Blues must not get sidetracked by how rivals are faring.

Joel Senior says Carlisle must focus on themselves and not worry about how their promotion rivals fare (Image: Richard Parkes)

“It’s all down to how you perform,” he said. “If we win on Saturday we know where we can potentially be, or we’re going to stay in the same position at least.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves, not worry about what people behind or in front of us are doing, and I’m sure we’ll be in the best position we can be.”

Simpson has also called on his team to thrive on the position they are in – and Senior agrees.

“If you don’t embrace it and it’s on your mind all the time, that’s where you start to fall back and maybe the pressure takes over,” he said.

“I feel everyone performs at their best when they’ve got a smile on their face and are enjoying the situation they’re in, whereas if you take all the pressure in, I think it’s only going to affect you in the wrong way.

“I feel you’ve got to embrace it. You’ve got to understand the situation that we’re in, and what we can achieve this season, but you’ve got to realise you can do it, believe in yourself and your team-mates, and you’ll see where it takes you. It could take you up.”