Keith Curle says he is going all-out to end Carlisle United’s long-standing defensive woes in the new League Two season.

After the Blues boss saw his side beat Oldham 3-1 in their penultimate friendly, Curle said he has all but finalised his likely side for the big kick-off at Mansfield.

And with United’s formation for the opener also seemingly established, the job of fine-tuning the side is almost complete - with an emphasis on being hard to break down.

Asked how close he was to deciding on his line-up, Curle said: “Pretty near. I’d probably say I’ve got nine players that I’m happy with [for the opening game].

“But within that, there are probably 15 players now competing for the starting 10.

“And in that changing room, with the team mentality we have, there are 23 players who, in their minds, are in contention for playing.”

Curle unveiled his likely defensive line-up against Oldham, with Mark Gillespie in goal and three centre-halves of David Atkinson, Michael Raynes and Danny Grainger.

Tom Miller and Patrick Brough featured as wing-backs, and Curle wants his side to be much tougher to beat in 2015/16.

He added: “When you’ve conceded in excess of 70 goals in the last two seasons, something needs to be done differently.

“One of those campaigns ended in relegation and the other in a relegation fight. We do need to have a Plan B.

“Our Plan B at the minute is let’s start games and the campaign with three centre-backs. There’s a bit of solidity there. Our distances were better on Saturday from centre-back areas, and our wing-backs were a threat but still able to give some protection in wide areas.”

Summer signing Angelo Balanta’s first United goal, followed by strikes from Derek Asamoah and Steven Rigg, saw Curle’s side beat Darren Kelly’s Latics in front of just 1,495 fans.

Captain Grainger missed an early penalty but Curle was satisfied with his side’s display, especially their counter-attacking play.

The manager added: “Getting victories helps build momentum and makes it easier for people to buy in, but results in pre-season are secondary.

“We’re trying to get the players into a style of play that we’re comfortable with, but also with direction in our play.

“There were pleasing things and things we can improve on. There will be times when passes go astray and we take the wrong option, but I’m going to carry on encouraging the players.

“We’ve been working on not turning down the simple pass, respecting the simple pass. If you take football back a long way, with people saying pass and move, that hasn’t changed. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.

“We’ve also tried to work on the ability to get from box to box, to turn a defensive shape into an attacking formation. Our second goal was a fantastic example of that.”