MANAGER: We'll look to take it to them

Manager Keith Curle looks ahead to the Plymouth game

Manager Keith Curle spoke to us about the FA Cup trip to Plymouth at his Thursday morning press conference.

“You never know where a cup run can take you,” he said. “It can be a massive bonus for the football club. We've tasted a little bit of cup success already this season where we made a lot of friends with our performances and how we conducted ourselves.

“We’ll treat Plymouth with a lot of respect because they're flying high in the division. They've had a lot of the type of luck that successful teams seem to get. Cup competitions can be slightly different and we’ll look to take it to them.

“We're playing against a team who are top of the division and playing with lots of confidence and belief. They're in their own back garden but we know we can go down there and perform because we did it earlier in the season. We go into every game with the mindset of being able to get the win.

“I know exactly how we lost there earlier in the season. I'm also mindful of the fact that for 40 minutes of that game we gave them a footballing lesson. They were desperate for half time to come but they got the goal and that changed their half time team talk completely.

“There were a lot of pleasing things in that first 40 minutes that we can build on. We'll take those into the game and we'll give them a gentle reminder that we can play football. We caused them lots of problems and that will stand us in good stead.

“We're preparing exactly the same as we would for a league game and that's a massive credit to the football club. They allow me to prepare the team in the manner I think is the right. We're a football club who have to travel long distances but we never see that as a barrier.”

“The one thing I do know is that Plymouth won’t want a replay at our place,” he commented. “I think that can play a part because they will not want to come to Carlisle on a Tuesday night. That’s something we can possibly use to our advantage.

“A replay would suit us, but not them, and it would be like jetlag for them because they would have two or three days of travelling. That will be in the back of their mind and they’ll want the game settled at the weekend.

“We’ll go there to do our jobs and we’ll be looking to test them as much as they will want to test us.”