McAllister put Beckford through a private training routine at Thorp Arch on Tuesday to test his condition, and a successful session with United's squad on Thursday has put the striker in line to start tomorrow night's play-off semi-final first leg against Carlisle.

The striker was McAllister's major concern ahead of the pivotal Elland Road clash after missing four successive games, and concerns over Beckford's fitness prevented United's manager from giving him a run out against Gillingham last weekend.

But the 20-goal forward, pictured right, has recovered at the perfect time, giving him the chance to feature in both legs of a semi-final which will conclude with the second leg at Brunton Park on Thursday.

McAllister said: "He trained and he looked fine. It's fingers crossed on that one.

"He's scored 20 league goals and when you get your top goalscorer back it's an obvious boost. He gives us something a bit different and his biggest asset is one you need to play at the highest level – by that I mean raw pace.

"It affects the opposition when they have to play against someone who's got such power."

Beckford's recall tomorrow would come at the expense of Anthony Elding, despite Elding's run of three league starts from which Leeds have claimed a maximum nine points.

Beckford and Dougie Freedman have been McAllister's first-choice strikeforce ever since the latter joined Leeds on loan from Crystal Palace in March, and Elding – a January signing from Stockport County – will accept his fate if United's manager consigns him to the bench for the first leg.

The 26-year-old said: "When I was at Stockport there were times when I'd miss a few games through injury and then walk straight back into the team so I can't moan if that happens with Jermaine.

"He's been fantastic this season and you can't leave out a 20-goal striker if he's available. I know that, and if he knocks me out of the side then I'll hold my hands up. It's only fair.
"But I've started the last three games and I'm happy with the way I've been playing.
"Obviously I'm desperate to be involved in the play-offs and I'd love to get the chance to start. But it's a squad thing and you can't be selfish. I want us to go up."

Meanwhile, United have invited advanced applications for the League One play-off final in an attempt to prevent the bottleneck of requests which swamped their ticket office two years ago.

United's involvement in the final is yet to be confirmed with the two-legged semi-final against Carlisle awaiting the club, but Leeds began accepting ticket applications yesterday after receiving confirmation that they would be handed an allocation of 36,000 for the Wembley showpiece.

Season ticket holders and affiliates of the official members club have until Thursday – the date of the semi-final second leg at Brunton Park – to lodge official application forms with the club, who are currently accepting advanced requests made online, by fax or by post.

Ticket sales from Elland Road's ticket office will begin for season ticket holders on Saturday, May 17 and for members on Monday, May 19. All postal applications must be received by Tuesday, May 20.

Tickets are restricted to one per supporter and will not be put on general sale until Thursday, May 22.

Leeds hope the early planning will avert the problems seen two years ago when 100,000 applications for the 50,000 tickets allocated to United for the 2006 Championship play-off final led to chaos at Elland Road.

A spokesman said: "A lot of preparation has gone into this in order for things to run as smoothly as possible.

"We're not jumping the gun. We want to avoid the problems of two years ago and this will make sure we do that."