Callum Guy hopes Carlisle United’s encouraging start to the league season can now overlap into a cup run.
The Blues, having taken four points from their first two League Two games, now head to Shrewsbury Town in the Carabao Cup.
Tuesday’s first round game pits them against third-tier opposition.
But midfielder Guy says the way United performed against League One sides in pre-season should give them confidence.
They beat Bolton and drew with Morecambe last month, and Guy said: “We’ve spoken about that in pre-season – that we wanted a good cup run, and now’s a first test against League One opposition.
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“We’ll go into that with plenty of confidence after two good results in the league and good performances in pre-season against League One teams.
“Part of the attitude in everyone is that there’s no fear in who we play against.
“If we play our game we know we can give many teams a good test.”
Tomorrow’s game also sees Paul Simpson return to the club he managed from 2008-10.
United could come up against Carlisle-born striker Ryan Bowman, who started his career at Brunton Park.
While Steve Cotterill’s Shrewsbury have one point from their first two league games, and are yet to score, Carlisle are off to a solid start, Saturday’s draw at Colchester United adding to their opening-day win over Crawley Town.
Guy felt the Blues had the better of the first half in Essex but had to battle well in a less enterprising second half.
“I think in the first half we came out really well, created good chances,” he said. “Jack [Armer] at the far post probably should score but didn’t, and with Mox [Owen Moxon]’s deliveries, we’ve been working on them a lot, we just need to start winning first contact now.
“It was disappointing to go behind but our heads didn’t drop, and we kept pushing and pushing – it was a brilliant header by Denno [Kristian Dennis] and a great ball by Moxy.
“It changes the half time team talk. But in the second half it felt we didn’t get going as much as we did in the first half. They brought on some really physical players which I thought our defenders dealt with.
“You’ve got to be happy with a point. We’ve come a long way against a good, experienced team who’ve caused a lot of threats. But we dealt with it.
“They didn’t have many clear cut chances, we had more chances than they did. We’re disappointed in that sense but to come here and get a point, you always take it.
“To go two games unbeaten, it’s a good start. It’s down to us to build on it and keep pushing for more wins and points.”
Guy has an important midfield role in a side that has looked to play very much on the front foot under Paul Simpson. It is a role to which he continues to give his all despite losing the captaincy to Morgan Feeney at the start of 2022/23.
If the 25-year-old is in any way disappointed at losing the armband, he is hiding it well. Guy said Simpson’s decision does not affect the way he approaches games and competes in them for United.
“Simmo pulled me the Friday before the season started and he said he was going to give it Morgan,” he said. “I couldn’t have agreed more with him. Morgan has been brilliant.
“Last year he took over when I was injured and he was fantastic. He’s come back in pre-season and he’s an absolute animal in the way he’s been training and playing. He leads in the dressing room and he couldn’t deserve it any more.
“I’ve just got to keep doing what I do, I’m not going to change the way I am just because I’m not captain. I’ll carry on supporting everyone in any way I can.”
Simpson recently said Guy might even be “freer” without the captaincy. Does the midfielder agree?
“Maybe. I just want to go into every game and play my best not just for myself but the club, and try and help the club be successful,” he said. “Whether I have the armband or not I’ll give my 100 per cent.
“I think there’s a lot more voices on the pitch this year. Everyone’s demanding from each other. If someone’s not doing something you’ll get told, and if someone does something well you’ll get praise.
“I think it’s really important to have that blend of telling people when they’ve done well and they haven’t.”
This is the start of Guy’s third full season with United and he starts it happily recovered from the injury that curtailed 2021/22 early for the former Blackpool and Derby County man.
He remains a key part of a midfield which includes the enterprise of Jordan Gibson and Owen Moxon.
Guy feels the way Simpson has set the team up “is perfect, suit us down to a T.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying playing behind Moxy and Gibbo. They’ve been brilliant. You wouldn’t think he [Moxon] was playing part time last season with the way he’s been.
“We’ve got a good bench now too, with Jayden [Harris] coming on, and who did really well coming on for his debut.
“We’ve got Sonny [Hilton] who’s a very talented player, Dev [Jamie Devitt] has got his experience…there’s good competition for places so you’ve got to be at the top of your game to keep playing.”
After United came from behind at Colchester, it was striking that Guy said: “Probably this time last year we didn’t really know if we’d have managed to get back in the game.
“The gaffer has come in and turned that around, and you could see as soon as the goal went in that we wanted to go on and get another.”
The Simpson regime is clearly to the midfielder’s liking, as United try to build on their good start and progress on various fronts.
“It’s really enjoyable to be around, you come into training buzzing and can’t wait to train,” he added.
“Now the season’s back around everyone’s really excited to play games of football again that matter – playing for three points on a Saturday, there’s nothing that beats it.”
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