Carlisle United boss' demand ahead of Blackpool reserve game

The Blues’ reserves take on Blackpool in their second Central League Cup game.

The fixture at Penrith’s Leo Group Stadium (kick-off 1pm) offers Simpson’s fringe players a quick chance to atone after last week’s EFL Trophy shocker against Nottingham Forest’s Under-21s.

Many of the players who featured that night are set to be involved against the Tangerines today.

Simpson said he expects much higher standards in performance.

“There has to be more,” said the manager.

“They know that they let themselves down, they let us all down, everybody got let down [last] Tuesday night.

“And we’ve got to make sure we have a better level of performance then.”

Simpson will involve a host of senior players with the likes of Ben Barclay, Corey Whelan, Jack Ellis, Jack Robinson, and Dan Butterworth in line for outings.

Those players and more will look to press their case for first-team involvement in the face of recent criticism from the manager.

The game is played on Penrith’s new artificial pitch, on which the home club played in the league for the first time in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Northallerton Town in Northern League Division One.

Penrith's new artificial pitch (Image: Northern League)

It sees Penrith return the favour after the Bonny Blues used Brunton Park for an FA Vase game earlier this season while their own ground was out of action.

Carlisle often used Penrith's previous grass pitch for reserve games and Simpson added of the new pitch: “It’s a good surface, I think it’s a true surface.

“It cannot be used as an excuse because these are proper important games, they’re an extension of the training.

“Everybody says they want to play – unfortunately if you are not starting in the first team you need to play in these games.

“They’ve got to go and do it properly, make sure they do everything right, try and get a positive result but more than anything get a positive performance.”

Entry at Penrith this afternoon is £2.