Carlisle United Football Club will not participate in the Reserve league next season and have opted to play a series of friendly fixtures instead.

The Cumbrians finished second in the Totesport.com West Reserve Division with 9 victories from 16 games, but manager Greg Abbott has taken the decision to pull out after a series of discussions with his management team.

He said: "We've found that the standard of game that we have played this season, for the most part, has not been at the level that we want.

"We feel that by arranging games at regular intervals against teams like Celtic, Rangers, Hibernian, Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, and others of that type, then it will be of much more benefit.

"The standard of player that we will be up against will be extremely high, the facilities that we will use will be terrific and, in a recruitment sense, it also gives us a chance to look at some of the players that they have and who maybe aren't in their immediate first team plans.

"By doing it this way we can build up strong relationships with some of the bigger clubs that are relatively close by, and that should stand us in good stead.

"Taking all of that into consideration, we feel that we can get much more benefit by doing things this way than we will from playing Reserve team football."