United defender Peter Murphy received the results from the scan on his knee this morning - and it was relatively good news as it was revealed that there was no damage either to the cartilage or to the other ligaments in the area.

Murphy, who pulled the knee during a training session last week, missed out on the visit of Leeds United last Saturday as worries over the state of the injury grew.

Manager John Ward told us this morning: "The results have shown us that he has a slight medial ligament strain. There could have been alot of other things wrong in there, so that's a relief for us all.

"It's now just a case of going through a bit of rehab, and building him up, and that has started already. We don't think he'll be right for this weekend, but we'll start to push him on once we get in to next week and we'll see how he is after that. There are no tears, or anything else of that nature to deal with so, as I say, that is extremely good news."

"The good thing is that we have players who can cover the position when things like this happen," he added. "That's why we brought these lads in at the start of the season, because this kind of thing can crop up. Richard came in at short notice on Saturday and he dealt with it and covered that area very well. The competition for that place will now intensify as we don't expect Peter to be out for too long at all. That can only be good news for us as the season picks up pace."

Meanwhile 20-year-old trialist Stephen Maher will not be staying with Carlisle United.

The United gaffer said: "I've had a word with him, and it has been a quick decision, but sometimes you find that you are in a position where you have to do that. We have decided to continue to work with the boys that we already have here on this occasion."