Carlisle United have to overcome the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion, but Gary Mc.Allister has warned his players not to underestimate the task they face.

If you’re wondering why the two legs of this tie are being played on Monday and Thursday, it’s because the Police insisted that Leeds couldn’t play either home or away on a Friday night.

Leeds should be able to include Jermaine Beckford who returned to training on Thursday as he continues his recovery from his ankle injury. The only definite absentee is Alan Sheehan, who is suspended from both legs of the semi final after his sending off at Yeovil, so Bradley Johnston might get another game at left back.

Otherwise Gary McAllister is sticking with the same group of players who finished the season with seven games in nine days, and has resisted the temptation to add Ian Westlake or Matt Heath to his squad, even though both players have completed their loan spells elsewhere. He told the Yorkshire Post "I've got a shape and a system in my mind and it won't break much from what we've been doing before. I've got a starting line-up. We're fixed with the guys who are here. We're using the same 18 or 19 players”.

Carlisle were of course the first team to beat Leeds in the league this season, and they would gain an aggregate victory if the results of the two games between the clubs were to be repeated. But Leeds can take heart from the fact that Carlisle come into the game in the worst form of any of the four clubs involved in the play-offs, as a run of only two points from their last five games cost them a chance of automatic promotion.

McAllister has warned his players that we will need to give the Cumbrians plenty of respect, though he will have one advantage in that first-team coach Neil McDonald was Carlisle's manager until he was unexpectedly sacked in August. McDonald has been able to brief his boss on the Carlisle squad. McAllister said: "They've been fantastic over the last three or four years and a lot's been achieved there. We'll be wary. They've stumbled a little bit in recent games and we're on a good run, but strange things happen in the play-offs. Form sometimes goes out of the window. It's going to be close and it's going to be tight. We've got to remain positive and go for it”.

And Carlisle boss John Ward is determined that his side will forget their recent troubles and will come out to attack Leeds at Elland Road. "It would be folly of me or Leeds to say 'let's be careful' when the players are thinking 'we can go and win this'. I think they will be very open games and you've got to focus on your own attacking prowess. We can't go to Leeds for 90 minutes and hope they don't score. We'll push forward and see if we can find a goal."

The game looks certain to attract another sell out crowd, but Ward doesn’t think his side will be overwhelmed by the Elland Road atmosphere. "Elland Road was practically full when we went there last month and scored two goals against them, so we know we're capable of doing that." Carlisle will be missing David Raven, who will be serving the final game of his three-match suspension, but his fellow defender Danny Livesey has completed his own one-match ban. Midfield player Jeff Smith is unlikely to recover from his ankle injury in time to play, but the player Carlisle have really missed in the last few months is striker Joe Garner, who suffered a serious knee injury in February.

Leeds could probably do with at least a two or three goal lead to take to Carlisle later in the week, and I think we’ll get it. I’m going for Leeds to win 3-0, with a Beckford hat-trick.

Photo: Action Images

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