Anton Dudik’s Carlisle United debut could come sooner than expected with the Ukrainian striker close to first-team involvement.

A series of injuries to other frontmen at Brunton Park has pushed the 19-year-old up the pecking order.

Dudik was brought in last month as a development project but has impressed manager Paul Simpson in training so far.

He was in the squad for Tuesday’s aborted trip to Burton Albion and has a chance of being involved in the group to face Cambridge United this weekend depending on the availability of others.

“Anton was in the squad for Tuesday night at Burton, and he’s done really well in training – I’ve been really impressed with him,” said Simpson.

“As a finisher he’s really calm, he’s got good power about him, and he’s got hunger like you’ve never seen to want to do well, which is understandable with what he’s been through.

“If we could bottle that hunger and enthusiasm it wouldn’t half help a lot of people.”

News and Star: Dudik joined United last month on a deal until the end of the seasonDudik joined United last month on a deal until the end of the season (Image: Amy Nixon / CUFC)

Dudik, who moved to England following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has played one game so far in United colours, scoring in last month’s 4-1 Fred Conway Cumberland Cup win at Penrith.

The initial idea was to involve the former Shakhtar Donetsk youngster with United’s youth team and in other reserve outings.

But injuries to Terry Ablade, Georgie Kelly, Joshua Kayode and Sean Maguire have put him closer to senior involvement early in his Cumbrian spell.

“The truth is if Sean Maguire was fully fit, if JJ, Georgie Kelly, Terry Ablade were fit, maybe Anton might not have been in the squad,” added Simpson.

“But they’re not. When you have a setback for somebody else it opens the door for another player, and the door’s open now.

“And we’ll see whether he gets that opportunity.

“[The injury situation] does put a bit more pressure on the forward players who we’ve got in the group at the moment. We’ve got Jack Diamond, Luke Armstrong, Jordan Gibson, Dan Butterworth, and with Sean Maguire a doubt that takes him out of it – that puts a lot of pressure on those four so if we can get support from anywhere else it will be greatly appreciated.”

Simpson, meanwhile, reported no further progress on United’s monitoring of the free agent market.

“There were two forward players we were talking about that are not happening. There isn’t anything at this moment in time but that could change,” added the manager.

Nothing was on the horizon regarding non-league loans for any of his current squad, Simpson added.

“Nobody’s come in for them. I’m not expecting it. We’re just going to have to wait and see what comes,” he said.