Caretaker Steven Rudd says Carlisle United will be positive at Bradford City and look to “get at” the Blues’ opponents.

The first league game since Paul Simpson’s departure takes the Blues to Valley Parade tomorrow.

United’s bid for a much-needed positive result comes on one of League Two’s biggest stages in front of a big five-figure crowd – including about 2,000 travelling Cumbrians.

Rudd says Carlisle must be undaunted at Bradford’s ground and believes there are areas where United can “hurt” Graham Alexander’s hosts.

“It’s a big club, there'll be a big crowd, it'll be a good atmosphere and they have got good players,” Rudd said.

“We know as much as we can about them. We're organised in terms of what their threats and strengths are.

“Our aim is to nullify them and stop that becoming an issue or prevent it. But then we've also got areas where we think we can really get at them and cause them problems, which is what we want to do more of in the game.

“We're going there to cause them problems on their ground.

Carlisle will be backed by about 2,000 fans at Valley ParadeCarlisle will be backed by about 2,000 fans at Valley Parade (Image: Richard Parkes)

“I think it's set up to be a really good game. They're coming off the back of a defeat at Grimsby last weekend, we're coming off the back of one against Trammere.

“It's set up really well and hopefully we can come out on top on Saturday.”

Bradford have two wins, a draw and a defeat from their first four league games and sit ninth in the early League Two table.

It is the clubs’ first meeting since 2023’s League Two play-off semi-final which United memorably won on aggregate en route to promotion.

Including the end of last season, the Bantams are unbeaten in six on home soil but Rudd says Carlisle can approach the contest with a similar kind of enterprise they showed in Tuesday’s performance against Nottingham Forest Under-21s, when the Blues created a glut of chances yet lost 2-1.

“This game probably does have a different feel, but our message is that we'll remain consistent,” Rudd added.

“We're not changing things, we'll adapt things, we'll edit things, we'll manage the game.

“Bradford are a good side with good players, there'll be spells in the game where they're on top, but we want our spells to be longer and better than theirs.

“We’re going to Bradford to put our game plan onto the game and put our stamp on the game.”

Rudd says some performances on Tuesday have given the caretaker regime some “headaches”.

“They performed really well, they executed the game plan, they've done themselves no harm at all,” he added.

“We go to Bradford looking for that same level of performance, if not better, and then the result to back it up as well.”