By Mark Mitchener

We would be more than happy for Greg Abbott to get the manager's job Carlisle United defender Zigor Aranalde

Defender Zigor Aranalde says Carlisle United's players would like to see caretaker boss Greg Abbott given the manager's job on a permanent basis.

Since Neil McDonald's shock sacking, the Cumbrians have moved up to fourth place in League One under Abbott.

"Greg Abbott has been fantastic, and we would be more than happy for him to get the job," Aranalde told BBC Sport.

"We're very happy with him - if you see the team fighting hard for each other, that's the reason behind it."

McDonald's departure - which has never been fully explained by either party - shocked the world of football when it came after the first game of the season, a 1-1 draw at Walsall.

He had taken over when Paul Simpson left for Preston in June 2006, and helped the Cumbrians finish in eighth place last season.

606: DEBATE Discuss Carlisle's start to the season on 606

"As you can imagine, it was shocking to hear the news," Aranalde admitted.

"Everything was in place, nobody knew anything was wrong, but all of a sudden, on the Monday after the Walsall game they came and told us he had been sacked. Nobody could believe it.

"But we can't be thinking about what happened. He (McDonald) will know and the owner will know why it happened, but we have to keep battling for the team.

"The sooner they make the decision, the better it will be for everybody."

Carlisle's latest success came from their longest away trip of the season - when after travelling the 390 miles to Bournemouth, they ran out 3-1 winners to send the Cherries to the bottom of the table.

ZIGOR ARANALDE FACTFILE 2000-2005: Walsall (224 appearances, 6 goals) 2005: Sheffield Wednesday (2 appearances) 2005: Carlisle United (103 appearances, 6 goals) * Statistics up to & including 29 September 2007

The 34-year-old nearly got on the scoresheet himself with a free-kick from 45 yards out - although he conceded that it was not a deliberate shot at goal.

"I told Joe Garner I would hit the ball towards the near post, but I overkicked it, the keeper made a mistake and Joe was there to put it in," Aranalde said.

"Bournemouth was a long way for us to come, but when you win 3-1 like that you can go home happy.

"We had five good chances in the first half, and probably should have scored more than two.

"We let them back into the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but after we scored the third that was it."

The battling spirit Carlisle have shown under Abbott has meant that the confusion of the first week of the season is a distant memory - and despite the summer departure of star striker Karl Hawley, they have every right to hope for another tilt at the top six.

"The spirit is fantastic - I think we're showing that game in, game out, and this was no exception," left-back Aranalde said.

Carlisle is one of the most beautiful places in the country Zigor Aranalde

"I said at the beginning of the season we had to establish ourselves in the top 10, and if we keep going like this, it will be up to us whether we take the opportunity to make the play-offs.

"If we keep performing like this, we can go as far as we want. We've got to keep working day in, day out and try to win every game as we've proved we've got the spirit.

"But we've got another game at Hartlepool on Tuesday and we have to keep going."

Aranalde, who hails from the Basque region of Spain, is also pleased to be beginning his third season at Carlisle, having previously played for Walsall and Sheffield Wednesday.

Asked how Carlisle compared to his other English clubs, he joked: "It's further away than any of them!

"But I've enjoyed it here since the first day I came.