Rapidly heading towards 100 appearances for the club, and with another fantastic season of form under his belt, 34-year-old Zigor Aranalde has firmly established himself as one of United's favourites since his arrival in the summer of 2005.

Another all action display against Swansea on Saturday typified his approach to every game, and we spoke to him afterwards to get some reaction to the result.

He told us: "I don't like to lose, we're not in this game to lose. To lose to a goal like that makes it even harder, but it's gone now, we can't do anything about it, and we have to start looking towards next season already. We have shown that we have a good team, and we need to keep building on that. I think that every manager is always looking to bring new players in, and I'm sure that we will add to what we have and go for another good season again next year."

There were some angry scenes from the lads after the late goal, which is in no way typical of how Neil McDonald and his players do things, and Ziggy explained: "I thought it was hand ball as soon as it happened. The Referee said that he hadn't seen it so, like I say, what can you do? He is the Ref, he makes the decision and ... well, we'll leave it, because I don't want to go on and on. All I will say is that he has made a mistake and we have been punished for it."

"I thought we played well in the second half," he added. "We had the chances to kill the game off, and we didn't take them. If the game is all level, or if you are only one goal ahead, you are always on edge, because something like that can always happen. We can't dwell on it now, we have to get on with it, lift our heads up and finish this season off properly next week. Then we can all start looking towards next season, and make sure that we achieve even more than we have with this one."

"The spirit is there within this club and with the players," he said. "Everyone works hard, nobody hides away, and you can't ask for more than that. If you give everything in every game then you will play better more times than you play badly. We've shown that again this season. Even in those games when you lose, if you have given everything then you can walk off with your head held high knowing that nobody can question what you have tried to do. That's what we have with this team."

"We'll be at Scunthorpe to try and win, and to finish off on a high note for our fans," he told us. "Personally, if I'm honest, I'm already looking forward to next season. If we do the Scunthorpe game right then we can all go on our break, relax, get the batteries recharged and make sure we carry it on when we kick off again later in the year. I have really enjoyed playing this season, I have enjoyed working with the lads, and when you are enjoying your football, which we all do here at Carlisle, then it is half the battle already won. Physically I feel really good, and as long as that is the case then I will keep doing my best to make sure that the manager has me out there every week. I know that I'm nearly at the end as far as playing goes, but I certainly won't be giving up yet. I feel fit, and my form has been good, so I'll keep running and doing the job as well as I can."