Carlisle coach Greg Abbott admits spirits in the camp are sky-high after they kept up their promotion bid with a 2-0 win over Northampton.Four years after playing in the Conference, Carlisle's fairytale rise towards the Championship continued with a 14th straight victory at home courtesy of goals from Danny Livesey and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.

Abbott, who conducted the post-match press conference as manager John Ward is suffering from a bout of laryngitis, said: "We tried to play things down after our [3-0] win at [Leyton] Orient on Saturday but that's six points out of six over Easter and the teams around us have dropped points.

"The dressing room is absolutely flying. We have given ourselves a fantastic chance of ending up at the top of the table. Character is never in question with these players."

Defender Peter Murphy, who was with the Cumbrians when they lost their Football League status, said: "It's incredible, but we've done nothing yet. It's great to see how the club has progressed and to achieve promotion at the end of the season would be an amazing feat.

"All the players are buzzing. Football is about mental strength. Now we are in this position we don't want to give it up."

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