Carlisle United boss'sTranmere Rovers 'no pressure' warning

This afternoon’s visitors are in 14th position – but Simpson says it would be foolish to expect an easy ride for his team.

Fourth-placed Carlisle are aiming to reignite their promotion push against opponents under the caretaker management of Ian Dawes following the recent sacking of Micky Mellon.

Simpson said he expects nothing but a difficult encounter against the Wirral outfit despite their inconsistent season.

"They'll be coming with no pressure on them," he said ahead of a game that's set to attract a bumper five-figure crowd.

“In my whole time in football, going back to 1982 as a youth player at Manchester City, I’ve never come across any Tranmere team that will come and just roll over and let us tickle them.

“They will want to come and make it difficult. They’ll have a bit of fire in their belly and are a good football team with some good individuals.

“We know we’re going to have to be at it. The beauty of English football is that every single team goes out and wants to win – nobody switches off.

• Simmo's appeal to huge home crowd for Tranmere game

“The two caretakers [Dawes is assisted by Andy Parkinson] will want to try and make an impression.

“Whether they will want the job themselves I don’t know, but they’ll want to make it a positive game for them and we’ve got to be able to come up against that and make sure we come out on top.”

Kristian Dennis celebrates a goal in one of two Carilisle wins over Tranmere so far this season (Image: Richard Parkes)

Tranmere are winless in five, a spell which has seen three draws.

They have already lost twice to Carlisle this season – 2-1 at Brunton Park in the FA Cup, and 2-0 at Prenton Park in the league.

• Simmo blasts 'ridiculous' promotion conspiracy theory

Mellon was dismissed on March 19 amid a poor run of results, but Simpson said ahead of the Good Friday clash: “It’s going to be a tough game. These are a good side.

“Whatever has gone wrong there has unfortunately cost an experienced manager his job, and I feel for Micky in that situation.

“But the two people in caretaker charge have done this job really well before.

“They’ve got a clear plan about how want to play, good individual players, a big striker in Joel Mumbongo who’s a handful, Harvey Saunders has got legs to run around, Josh Hawkes is a good footballer.

“I think it goes to show we’re having good season, up there above teams like Tranmere.

“I want to see our players perform, respond to the league position we’re in and the crowd we’re going to get, and go and put on a performance that gets us a win against a strong Tranmere side.”