By Jon Colman

Last updated 14:35, Wednesday, 01 October 2008

Peter Murphy has been ruled out of Carlisle United’s crunch clash with Tranmere this weekend in another blow to manager John Ward.

Peter Murphy

The Blues’ chief had hoped to have the Irish centre-half back in contention after a knee ligament injury which forced him to miss the last two games.

But the injury is not healing as quickly as United had hoped. Murphy saw a specialist yesterday and while Carlisle await his verdict, Ward is already preparing for Tranmere without the long-serving Dubliner.

“It looks like Peter will be missing on Saturday, which is a pity,” said the Blues boss, who is bidding to halt a three-match losing run against the Wirral outfit.

“It hasn’t moved as quickly as we would like. We want to know for certain what we are dealing with and that we are handling it correctly.”

Murphy’s absence is likely to hand a reprieve to United’s under-performing defenders who shipped two goals for the third straight game at Walsall last Saturday.

Richard Keogh and Danny Livesey will get another chance to show their central defensive pairing can work, but both men know Murphy will be breathing down their necks as soon as he is back on the training ground.

Summer signing Josh Gowling is also pushing hard for a call-up after another solid display for the reserves on Monday night.

Ward has no other injury worries for Saturday’s Brunton Park clash with loan winger Jennison Myrie-Williams having shrugged off a minor knee injury he suffered at Walsall.

The 20-year-old is a strong contender to make his first United start against Tranmere, where he spent five months on loan last season.

Ward admitted he had plenty to think about regarding his team selection and insisted he wouldn’t shy away from dropping any member of his stumbling side.

“I’m not going to keep people in the team on compassionate grounds,” he said. “It will always be on form and on what’s right.

“Most weeks this season it has been relatively easy for me to come to those decisions, but this isn’t an easy week.

“I’m looking very carefully at all the boys and if they haven’t got that glint in their eye, if there is any fear, they will have to wait.

“But the response in training so far has been absolutely first-class and that has cheered me up already. Now we have to take it through to Saturday.”