It’s been relentless, and United still have three weeks of Saturday-Tuesday fixtures to go as they head into the run-in and the final month of the campaign.
With each game ticked off, the task of preparing for the next one in the queue becomes that little bit harder as both mental and physical fatigue are to be faced, attacked and defeated.
Looking ahead to tomorrow night’s away game in South Wales, manager Chris Beech explained the strategy for getting his players as ready as they possibly can be for another tough opponent.
“We hardly do anything now to that point,” he revealed. “We played Saturday, Newport played Friday, so they have an extra 24-hours.
“They’ll think that’s an advantage, but I’m not too bothered. We go home, and the good thing is that Barrow is closer to home than most clubs, so the lads were able to be in their beds early, which is all part of getting ready for Tuesday.
“Logistically Carlisle is where it is, that never changes, so we have to look at how we train, recover and travel, wherever we go. We’ve spent a lot of time on the bus and in cars recently, so it’s important to use your time at home well.
“You can’t beat a good night’s sleep. It is hard to sleep after a game, you’re naturally alert, but hopefully they’ll get their rest because it’s the best recovery strategy we have.
“I told them after the Barrow game to go home, eat a lot, drink lots of water, get to sleep and recover, because that’s the only thing we can really do.”
Having mentioned that some of the lads had perhaps looked jaded during certain spells of Saturday’s game, he told us: “Yes, they possibly did, but it’s now gone. It’s been in some of them, but I don’t think it will stay in.
“If anything I probably should have made some changes before we played, but how can you change a team that’s had three clean sheets and won each game 2-0.
“I was disappointed we gave away our clean sheet to not a lot, we made scoring for Barrow too simple, and that was harsh for me and the lads to take.
“But the lads are handling it well, as we’ve seen from the results they’ve given us. They want to achieve, and I know they’ll look after themselves so that they’re ready to go again for the next one.”