Hughes pleased to secure Carlisle home play-off

Carlisle United head coach Mark Hughes says he can start thinking ahead to the play-offs after his side guaranteed third place in the National League. The narrow win from the long trip to Truro City , secured by Regan Linney's 23rd goal of the season, ensured Carlisle could not be caught by fourth-placed Boreham Wood. It means the Blues go directly into a home semi-final at Brunton Park on 3 May and avoid the eliminator round.

"We didn't want to go into the last game with something still riding on that actual fixture," Hughes told BBC Radio Cumbria. "We can look at leading into the play-off things and look at a number of things, not in terms of changing things wholesale, but things we think can help us in the key game. " Carlisle round off the regular season at home to already relegated Brackley Town on Saturday (12:30 BST) and will then face the winners of the match between Boreham Wood and the seventh-placed finishers to try to book their place at Wembley on 10 May.

They have been unable to keep pace with centurion pair Rochdale and York City above them but have clocked up an impressive 92 points. The Cumbrian side are unbeaten in seven games, and Hughes wants to maintain that positive feeling for what is to come. "We still want to keep that momentum; it's really important," he said.

"I said a few weeks back I wanted to finish the season unbeaten, and we're only one game away from that. "We've just got to make sure we keep progressing. We've got one game to get to Wembley, which gives us a chance to get out of this league.