Atmosphere is buzzing, says Ward

League One play-off semi-final - First-Leg
Leeds United v Carlisle United
Venue: Elland Road Date: Monday, 12 May Kick-off: 1945 BST
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Cumbria

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Ward says the city is flying ahead of the play-offs

Carlisle United boss John Ward believes disappointment has been replaced by excitement ahead of their play-off semi-final with Leeds United on Monday.

"The players have seen the queues for the tickets, we know where we stand, it's Leeds, it's live television, it's massive," he told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"It's a really big game for us against a really big club and we go in as the David against Goliath I think.

"In some ways that's not a bad situation to be in ahead of the game."

Having agonisingly missed out on the automatic promotion race, Ward now believes all the pressure is on the Yorkshire giants to join Swansea and Nottingham Forest in the Championship next season.

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"Leeds have got to get up basically, and that's the feeling that will come from their chairman and their manager to their players and they have to deal with that," he said.

"We want to get up, there's no doubt, and in a sense we've got it all to gain by trying to get through to this final.

"We've got to be strong in both legs, we've got to find our form and it's knockout stuff so we need to perform in both games."