BRENNAN Dickenson is confident that Carlisle United can avoid another League Two relegation battle next season - and has hinted that the run of form at the end of the season is a sign of better things to come.

The Blues achieved League Two safety with games to spare after Paul Simpson was appointed for a second spell at Brunton Park, with six wins out of seven games in February and March proving to be pivotal.

And Dickenson, who signed a new contract a fortnight ago, believes that the run of eight wins in the last 15 games will set things up quite nicely for next season - especially now Simpson has committed his future to the club.

“As a squad, we have to push on next year,” he told the club's official YouTube feed.

“That’s the way Simmo wants us to think. There are changes being made in and around the stadium, the pitch is being redone, which we all know will be fantastic again.

“Now that we’ve kept ourselves in the league and we know Simmo is staying there’s a lot of positivity around. I think we’ll go into next season with massive confidence and we can push on.

“There are certain things that are changing which is the way Simmo wants to do things, and they’re all positive steps forward.

“There was a real confidence towards the end of the season and hopefully we can keep that, and whoever Simmo brings in can just jump on it and we can all go forward together.”

Half of Carlisle's league wins came in the final quarter of the season as they eased to safety, and Dickenson feels that there was something special building around the club at the climax of the campaign, as supporters backed their team in numbers.

“The atmosphere around the place was great during those 15 games,” he said. “Those are the sort of crowds we want to be attracting every week, home and away.

“The fans were brilliant and the noise and the numbers at home and away were fantastic. It gives us a real sense of togetherness, they want to be here and we want them to be here.

“We want to fill this place and the more fans that come to the games the better. We want to make it a fortress next season so when teams come here they don’t like it.

“That obviously comes from us on the pitch, but also from the fans making it as loud as they can and it being a bit daunting for the away teams.

“Last season is forgotten, we can’t dwell on it. We just have to look forward to getting this season started and making sure we’re not in that position again next year.”