Carlisle United boss looks ahead to Barnsley clash

The Blues take on promotion-chasing Barnsley (Brunton Park, 7.45pm) in the latest fixture of a troubled League One season.

Relegation looks inevitable at United who are 16 points adrift of safety with ten games to go.

But manager Simpson says everyone at the club is still giving everything to improve – both on a short and longer-term basis.

“I hope the fans [at Charlton on Saturday] saw that there's still a desire and an intent to go and try and finish this season properly,” said Simpson.

“Certainly nobody is throwing the towel in – we are doing everything we possibly can.

“And I hope that soon we'll give them a quick boost. That will give them belief that that we can build for next season.”

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Carlisle, after ten defeats in 11 games, tonight take on a fifth-placed Barnsley side who sit five points outside the automatic promotion places.

Neill Collins’ Tykes have been in good form recently but on Saturday suffered a shock 5-1 home defeat at the hands of Lincoln City.

United boss Simpson, who is assessing Josh Vela’s knee injury ahead of the game, wants his side to take the positive things they did in the 3-2 defeat at Charlton into tonight’s encounter.

“We’ve got to go again with that type of performance and that type of intent and desire. And we've got to stay with the game,” he said.

“I have seen [positive signs] both on Saturday and in other games as well.

“But we have to try and get some wins to give everybody a boost while still preparing and building for next season.”

One aspect which has cost United of late is their inability to hold onto a lead for long.

Their last five away games have seen the Cumbrians score first, but they have only won one of those fixtures and lost the other four – including the away clash with Barnsley in January, a 2-1 defeat at Oakwell.

Carlisle tonight host a Barnsley side who beat the Blues 2-1 in January (Image: Richard Parkes)

At home, meanwhile, United have not led or taken a single point since Jon Mellish’s late winner in the 2-1 victory over Port Vale on New Year’s Day.

“The truth of it is over the season, getting a lead and holding the lead has been [tough]…it's been the story of our season,” added Simpson.

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“And that's because we're at a really tough level. But we've just got to go again [tonight], we've got to try and get the right level of performance again, and see where we go from there.

“Far too many times we’ve had a good performance then let ourselves down, particularly at home.

“We know it’s another tough game, they [Barnsley] are a team who are chasing promotion.

“We’re at home and we’ve got to make sure we approach it properly.

Ian Bishop was United's goalscorer when they last faced Barnsley at Brunton Park (Image: News & Star)

 “I think we’re getting a bit of pride and respect back with that type of performance [we saw on Saturday] but we want to do it in front of our own fans as well.”

Tonight is Barnsley’s first visit to Brunton Park since September 1985, when the sides drew 1-1 in the old Division Two, Ian Bishop the goalscorer for United.