Carlisle United may not have made it in the end - but there's plenty of drama in store this week as the League Two play-offs get under way.

Morecambe, Newport County, Tranmere Rovers and Forest Green Rovers are the four sides fighting to join Cheltenham, Cambridge and Bolton in the third tier.

There will be fans back in stadiums for the two-legged semi-finals.

Morecambe, who have a number of ex-Carlisle players and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, are the joint favourites with bookies to go up.

They are 12/5 with Sky Bet, along with fifth-placed Newport. Tranmere, who finished sixth, are 13/5 for promotion while seventh-placed Forest Green are 3/1

The first semi-final first leg is at Rodney Parade tonight when Newport take on Forest Green, with Tranmere hosting Morecambe on Thursday.

The second legs are both on Sunday.

Newport assistant boss Wayne Hatswell hopes the backing of fans will boost the south Welsh club this evening.

Speaking on the club website, he said: “The players are going to soak it up and hopefully that gives them a little bit extra to make a run which could just be the difference.

“I want to hear them getting behind us because I’ve had that feeling throughout my footballing life. 

“The players feed off that and I want every one of them to sing high heaven and get behind the lads."

Forest Green's Jimmy Ball, who stepped up after the sacking of Mark Cooper, is hoping to steer the New Lawn side into League One for the first time.

He said that, despite the shoot-out nature of the play-offs, he will stick with the principles his team have held onto in recent weeks.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said. "The lads are fit and fresh. It's two games of football against a very good side, but we've shown we can cope with teams like that."

Two days later, Morecambe will bid to prevent Tranmere making an immediate return to the third tier - and get there themselves for the first time.

Former Carlisle striker Cole Stockton, who has been linked with League One moves recently, will be a key man for the Shrimps, having scored 15 goals this season.

He could be joined in the side by fellow ex-Blues man Nathaniel Knight-Percival. A third former United player, John O'Sullivan, is injured.

Skipper Sam Lavelle said recently: "We're confident going into any game. I think we owe [Tranmere] one from the game here [a 1-0 home defeat in January]. I'm looking forward to it."

Managerial uncertainty is a theme of this particular semi-final, with Morecambe's Derek Adams having been linked with Bradford - and Tranmere having last week sacked boss Keith Hill.

Ian Dawes will take charge for the play-off games, assisted by Andy Parkinson.

“Despite success achieved on the pitch in the form of securing a place in the play-offs and reaching the Papa John’s Trophy final, in the play-offs an entire season gets distilled into two or three games," said chairman Mark Palios when explainig Hill's dismissal.

“I have to do what I think gives us the best chance of achieving promotion in those games.”