Exeter City manager Matt Taylor says the trip to Carlisle will be another test of his side’s mentality as they look to continue their positive run.
The Grecians go into the game yet to taste defeat in Sky Bet League Two, and the City manager wants his side to continue their form but is well aware of the threat that United will pose at Brunton Park.
He explained: “We’re in good form, we’ve started the season well, but Saturday is another test of our squad and our mentality.
“Whenever you go away from home you have got to be tough and start the game well, and we know what to expect from a really good Carlisle team. I expect it to be a good game between two good teams.”
City have picked up wins at Stevenage and Morecambe as well as a draw with Oldham Athletic so far on their league travels and Matt believes those results were due to some resilient performances from the players.
“So far, we’ve been pretty tough,” said Matt. “The keeper (Lewis Ward) has made saves when we’ve needed him to, the defence has stood up well to pressure at times, and we’ve played some good attacking football.
“It’s usually a good pitch at Carlisle and hopefully it’s a good day for football, a team that are going there in form against a team on the back of a really good victory away at Scunthorpe last week. It’s going to be tough, but it’s a game that we should look forward to.
“It’s all over the pitch (resilience), everyone is playing their part and the front boys are working their socks off to stop any service into our backline. It’s a team ethic at the moment and long may it continue because that’s a foundation for any good team, and we’ve got to keep working on the attacking side of it.”
The Grecians have a couple of injury concerns that will be monitored ahead of the game and Nigel Atangana is steadily making progress in his recovery from long term injury.
On the fitness situation, Matt explained: “There are a couple and we’ll see how they are. We had the game on Tuesday night and picked up one or two niggles and we had to look after one or two who had been struggling the previous weekend. We’ll see how they are, Nigel (Atangana) is still a couple of weeks away, as is Lee Holmes, but the rest of the group will hopefully be available.
Matt was also keen to underline that squad members who haven’t played a great deal of minutes throughout the league campaign so far will undoubtedly be called upon as the Grecians continue the test of a League Two season.
He said: “They will be needed; they’ll play and are very much a part of this group and this club. Tuesday night was a good result (1-0 win over Cheltenham in the Leasing.com Trophy) and important financially for the club to get through, but it was also important for the value that we got out of the minutes. It was a difficult evening; we weren’t at our best by any means, but the players will be better for it. I said it after Coventry when we got hammered 4-1, and even now we’ve won the game 1-0, the players will be better for Tuesday night.”