Whelan lauds top two but Carlisle 'ready' for play-offs
Calum Whelan has appeared in 21 National League games for Carlisle this season
- Published
Carlisle United midfielder Callum Whelan says "relentless" Rochdale and York City deserve praise for how they have a shone a light on the National League, but the Blues are peaking nicely for the play-offs.
A 3-0 home win over relegated Brackley Town saw Carlisle end the regular season in third with a club-record 95 points.
That was still 13 points behind champions York and 11 shy of Rochdale, who played out an incredible title-decider at the Crown Oil Arena.
Dale drop down into the six-team play-offs for the second promotion spot into League Two. They will host one of the semi-finals next Sunday, while Carlisle will stage the other with the winners of those games meeting at Wembley on 10 May.
"We had a difficult game here against Rochdale, but we showed some fight at their place," Whelan told BBC Radio Cumbria.
"But we've come on from that, we've got stronger as a team and we're full of confidence, so if we were to get Rochdale in the final, we're ready."
Their day, until it wasn't - the title decider that had it all
- Published2 days ago
Mark Hughes' team will welcome the winners of Boreham Wood or Forest Green Rovers to Brunton Park on Sunday (12:30 BST). They meet in Hertfordshire on Wednesday.
Carlisle's hopes of a top-two finish were effectively ended in February when they lost 1-0 at Rochdale, having also been beaten by them at home in September.
But from that position, the Blues won 11 of their last 16 games and were unbeaten in the final eight, leaving them in good spirits for what is ahead, according to Whelan.
"We're excited for the play-offs," he said. "It's been an amazing season. We've had two real tough ones, so to finish on 95 points is a credit to the lads.
"And now the exciting stuff starts. We'll see who we get and we'll look forward to it.
"Credit to the top two, they've been relentless and won a lot of games but we've just focused on ourselves and had a really strong season - 95 points is an incredible tally and sets up us nicely for a home semi."
