Danny Grainger says his close links with Carlisle United will make no difference to his will to win for Morecambe tonight.

The Shrimps’ Cumbrian assistant manager faces his former club in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy this evening (Mazuma Mobile Stadium, 7pm).

Former United captain Grainger says that, while his affiliation with the Blues is well known, his “sole focus” is victory for the Shrimps.

“It’s no different to any manager or coaching going up against a former team, whether you’ve been a player or had any association with a club,” said Grainger.

“I was there [at Carlisle] for five seasons and captained the club. But it’s not about that – it’s about three points for Morecambe Football Club. That’s my sole focus.

“I’ve got a good affiliation with the club, I’ve still got a lot of friends inside the football club, but I won’t approach it any differently to if we were playing anyone else.”

It will be Grainger’s first encounter with Carlisle since he joined Morecambe as Derek Adams' No2 in the summer.

That followed the end of his second spell as Workington Reds manager.

Grainger was a United player from 2014 to 2019 and is conscious of his old club’s improvement in their last two outings.

Grainger joined Morecambe in the summer after the end of his second spell as Workington Reds manager (Image: Ben Challis)

“They’ve had changes up at Carlisle in the last few months. The new manager [Mike Williamson] has come in and is trying to implement his style of play,” said Grainger in a club interview.

“They’ve had a positive performance against Wigan in the FA Cup even though they were defeated, and they’ve picked up three points on Saturday [at Salford City].

“We’ve done our research on them, we’ll look at their strengths and also their weaknesses where we think we can get at them, and we’ll concentrate on ourselves once we’ve identified those areas.”

Morecambe will top northern group C of the Trophy if they avoid defeat tonight, having won their first two games. Carlisle cannot qualify for the knockout stages after losing their two fixtures so far.

Grainger added: “There’s no hiding [that] some people don’t take [the competition] as seriously as other clubs.

“But for us it’s a chance to bring in revenue for the football club. It’s another chance to get another home game in front of our fans.

“We’ll be taking it as seriously as we can to make sure we get the three points and top position [in the group].”