Feeney vows Carlisle will 'go to the end' to go up

Carlisle United captain Morgan Feeney says his team will go "right to the very end" in their quest for promotion back to the English Football League at the first time of asking.

But that increasingly looks like it will have to be through the play-offs after a costly defeat at Hartlepool United on Wednesday.

The result left Carlisle in third with only 12 games remaining, 12 points adrift of leaders York City, with the sole automatic promotion spot set to be between them and second-placed Rochdale.

However, the Blues have a four-point cushion over Boreham Wood in fourth place, although having played one game more, as they look to guarantee a home semi-final in the play-offs.

"It's a tough league, but we'll go right to the very end," Feeney told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"We'll accumulate as many points as we can and score as many goals as we can and as a group, we'll do everything we can to be ready."

Mark Hughes's side are averaging two points per game but they have not been able to match the consistency of either York or Rochdale, while they have lost all four league meetings with those two.

Those results have effectively knocked them out of contention to win the league.

Feeney was part of the Carlisle team that won promotion out of League Two in 2023, after finishing fifth and coming past Bradford City and Stockport County in the play-offs, so he knows what is possible.

"The season we went up, there were a lot of bumps in the road," he said. "There were games we didn't deserve to win and won and games we deserved to win and didn't.

"That's how seasons go and we ended up getting promoted at Wembley and having a great season.

"We've got a great group - as good a group as when we went up that time. We'll go right to the very end and we're all pulling together."