Gary McAllister is expecting an improved performance from his players, but Carlisle boss John Ward thinks they are resilient enough to cope with the pressure.

McAllister  told the official site "I didn't think we did anything well, we can be so much better. The work rate is there -it wasn't for the lack of effort -but we made some poor decisions and our ball retention was poor.  All the things I think have improved over the past few months we let ourselves down with. There's so much at stake, but good players learn fast, and they'll take everything on board and look to improve. There was tension in the air, but that comes with Play-Offs and what's at stake. We got a deserved goal in the end.”

With Alan Sheehan serving the final game of his three-match ban, Bradley Johnson will continue at left-back , even though the boss has the option of using Rui in that position. "He's the best suited at the moment. Darren Kenton has an injury, and he gives us a balance because he is naturally left-footed”.  Beckford is still struggling to overcome his ankle injury, but hopes to be fit in time to play, and Macca has confirmed that Alan Thompson will be included in his squad.

Macca also thinks that our excellent away form will stand us in good stead, as we have lost just once on the road - at Huddersfield - since he took over in late January. "My players have produced some high pressure results on the road. We are more than capable. We got results at Doncaster, Millwall, and Yeovil so these players know how to play on the road. We need someone to get a hold of things. It'll be electric, it'll be exciting and we're going to go for it."

But Carlisle have also enjoyed a good home record, having lost only three times at Brunton Park this season, winning 17 out of 23, though two of the defeats came in their last five home games.  John Ward tol d the Daily Mail that he believes his team have what it takes to hang on to their aggregate lead.

"We are now expected by our supporters to win and that's another challenge for my team to accept and see how they deal with it. I've got a group of players who have been through play-offs and promotions over the past few years and they've coped pretty well so far. There is a certain amount of resilience among this group of people.  Hopefully my experience and their experience can help, but they are on their own and they've got to make their own decisions."

Ward is unlikely to change a winning team, though he now has defender David Raven is available for selection for after he completed a three-match ban.  Midfielder Simon Hackney should recover from a knock he sustained in the first leg, but Cleveland Taylor will be included if he doesn’t make it.

Since my predictions have been known to be fairly rubbish, I’ll go for Carlisle to go through and condemn Leeds to another season in League One.

Photo: Action Images

Leeds United Polls