Cullen backs squad to step up against Cumbrians

Captain Steve McNulty is out for four games after failing to overturn his appeal for the red card picked up against York City on Tuesday.

Influential midfielder Nathan Doyle is missing for up to six weeks too, while there are doubts over centre half Luke Wilkinson.

But ahead of the clash with Carlisle, Cullen said: “We’ve got a big squad here and the gaffer has faith in every player otherwise he wouldn’t have brought them to the club.

“They’re more than capable the lads on the sidelines and in the stands and why not make the position their own? It’s up to them to show what they can really do and up to them whether they can take it or not.”

Cullen who has now scored 11 goals this season after bagging another brace on Tuesday night, admits he has a target for the campaign, saying: “I’ve got one in my mind, but I just want to score as many as I can.

“Scoring goals is what I’m here for and when I get the chance I like to score. I haven’t played as much recently, I’ve been biding my time, so it was good to get the chance.”

Hatters go into today’s match six points off the summit, albeit with game in hand on all of the top three as Cullen added: “There’s lots of games to be played, so we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves.

“We’re disappointed we haven’t won (against York), want to win all our home games and pick up a few results away, but we can crack on again.

“Results above us were not too bad and went in our favour, so we’ve got to go again Saturday and try to get three points.”