Carlisle show spirit after Madine exit

CARLISLE United are a rejuvenated club of late.

Absorbing the hefty blow of losing talismanic striker Gary Madine to rivals Sheffield Wednesday, the Cumbrians have simply rolled their sleeves up and got on with the job.

An amazing 4-0 home hammering of full-strength Huddersfield Town in the first leg of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy northern final leaves the club on the verge of a second successive Wembley appearance in the competition's showpiece event.

The return leg at the Galpharm Stadium takes place three days after they play Athletic — and Athletic manager Paul Dickov will hope that the team takes its collective eye off the ball as a result in Saturday’s game in Cumbria.

The win against Huddersfield was one of three in succession achieved to date, all of which have been accompanied by clean sheets.

Lubo Michalik has formed a solid centre-back partnership with loan Hull centre-back Liam Cooper and that has formed the cornerstone of Carlisle's new-found defensive rigidity.

A 4-0 home win over Bristol Rovers put an emphatic end to a run of four games without a win.

And at the weekend, United went to Notts County and brought home the bacon thanks to a single-goal victory achieved through a strike from tricky Ivorian front man Francois Zoko.

Manager Greg Abbott is now hoping to add fresh faces to his squad thanks to the substantial cash the club picked up for Madine, who scored 13 goals for Carlisle before his transfer to South Yorkshire.

Bringing in a striker will be one of Abbott's priorities.

One of Carlisle's players who played on loan with Athletic last year, Jason Price, has failed to catch this term at Brunton Park and looks set to depart on loan to Walsall before the transfer window closes.

If other targets fail to come to fruition, there could be a renewed loan move for Leeds striker Mike Grella.

The New Yorker spent time on loan with the club earlier this season and this week saw a move to Motherwell collapse due to FIFA's regulation that players cannot turn out for three clubs in a single campaign.