Paul Simpson says he has every confidence in Corey Whelan if the Carlisle United defender makes his first start for four months tomorrow.

Whelan is a strong contender to come back into the side for the game against Stockport County.

Ben Barclay is unable to face his parent club under the terms of United’s loan agreement with the Hatters.

If Simpson opts for a straight replacement at the back, Whelan would be likely to make his first start since December.

United’s boss has not ruled out a system change, which would bring other players into the mix.

But if Simpson opts for Whelan, he feels Carlisle can rely upon the 25-year-old to make a successful return to the team.

“Corey hasn’t let us down this season,” Simpson said. “I would be absolutely confident.

“It may be that, once I think about it, [there could be] a change of shape – we could do that to try and get a bit of an influence and affect it.

News and Star: Ben Barclay is unavailable to face his parent club Stockport tomorrowBen Barclay is unavailable to face his parent club Stockport tomorrow (Image: Ben Holmes)

“But I wouldn’t have any hesitation if Corey had to come in.”

Whelan’s last outing in the starting XI came in the 2-1 defeat at Northampton Town on December 20.

Since then he has been limited to four brief substitute appearances, with Simpson preferring Morgan Feeney and Barclay on the right of the back three, and Paul Huntington and Jon Mellish in the centre and on the left respectively.

Ex-Liverpool and Wigan Athletic man Whelan featured much more often in the first half of the campaign, and has 18 starts to his name this season along with eight sub outings.

The 25-year-old would return to a back line that has kept 19 clean sheets so far in the league, the second best total in a season in United’s history.

It is at the other end where improvement is needed after six out of the last seven games without a goal.

Simpson added: “Nineteen clean sheets is some achievement. I thought Tomas Holy was excellent on Saturday [in the 0-0 draw with Northampton]. There’s a lot of good things there.

“Maybe [in terms of the lack of goals] it’s the shape we’re playing – maybe we’ve gone away from being that front-foot attacking team because of that shape.

“That’s something I’ll need to have a look at because my head at the moment is saying we were still aggressive in our front play with the shape we’ve got now, but we may need to look at something different to try and force us to get results.”