Paul Simpson has pledged that he’ll never use injuries as an excuse - as he bids to keep Carlisle United’s progress on track today.

The Cumbrians take on Crewe Alexandra (Brunton Park, 3pm) hoping to climb into the play-off places.

United’s good start to the season has come in spite of a string of injuries to first-team players.

Two of those – Omari Patrick and Morgan Feeney – could return today.

And manager Simpson says his side can continue to hurdle the injury problems and keep things on a positive footing.

“I want our team to go out every single week, and whether we have 144 supporters at Grimsby or 6,000 in Brunton Park, I want every single one of our supporters to go away and be proud of what the players have produced for them,” he said.

“The players have shown the fans they’re prepared to put a shift in for them to entertain them, and I want a group that can win more games than we lose.

“At the moment we’re certainly doing that even with the injury troubles we’ve had. I’m not going to use injuries as an excuse.

News and Star: Morgan Feeney could return to the squad today (photo: Barbara Abbott)Morgan Feeney could return to the squad today (photo: Barbara Abbott) (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“That’s normal, part and parcel of football and you have to deal with it.

“That’s why we had a good group that we assembled in the summer.

“Hopefully this group, whichever permutation of 11 starters and seven finishers [are selected], can keep picking up results for us.”

Eighth-placed United take on the 11th-placed Railwaymen today with a place in the top seven within reach.

A win or a draw today would also see United go seven games unbeaten in the league for the first time since February-March 2018.

The Blues will come up against two of their former players in Alex defenders Kelvin Mellor and Rod McDonald.

Simpson could hand Jack Stretton his first home league start after the Derby County loan frontman impressed in Tuesday’s win at Grimsby.

News and Star: Jack Stretton could make his first home league start today (photo: Richard Parkes)Jack Stretton could make his first home league start today (photo: Richard Parkes) (Image: Richard Parkes)

United’s manager has also spoken about the way he is aiming to keep the team’s strategy “evolving”.

Recent games have seen a number of mid-game tactical tweaks.

Simpson said: “We had conversations last Saturday night on the way back from Newport with the staff, we then talked on Sunday about changing things, how we start games, doing things a little bit differently, so we did [what we did] for Grimsby.

“It’s strange, you get into a habit of doing things because you think it’s the right thing, but then it becomes a bit ‘Groundhog Day’, and sometimes you need to freshen it up.

“We’re going to constantly just evolve it, change things, and it’s not drastic, not a masterstroke – it’s just a little bit of tinkering with the preparation.

“The good thing about the group of players we’ve got is we are able to start with a type of formation but then adjust it as we go through, when and where we see fit.

“I’m a big believer that formations don’t win games, it’s the players who do. It was the players who went out and did the stuff at Grimsby.

“If we’d played 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 the other night, it wouldn’t have made any difference to Kristian Dennis being alive to a sloppy backpass and scoring.

“The shape wouldn’t have made any difference to Owen Moxon striking that ball from the edge of the area.

“It’s about players going and doing their jobs.”