MANAGER: I'll pick a team to win us games

“Jabo has been working hard but both he and Shaun [Brisley] are short of game time,” he said. “Jabo was on the bench on Saturday, which is a step forward, and Shaun is keen to show the Carlisle public what he’s about. He knows he’s got competition to get a starting place because we have some very good defenders here, but he’s looking forward to staking a claim.

“With Jabo, he knows he’s admired at this club as a player, a role model and as a person. He’s a nice lad to be around ... and my daughter calls him Tinie Tempah. I think he quite likes that as well. It was good to see him back and that will done him the world of good.”

On the ongoing work to add more new faces to the squad ahead of the closure of the August transfer window, he said: “Money has been made available for the right players. We actually missed out on one player last week because he decided to go somewhere else, in a higher division. 

“We move on and we’ll continue to try to add the right signings to the good mix we already have here. What we want are good options all over the pitch and, if that doesn’t happen this month, rest assured we’ll be looking at what we can do in the next transfer window, and the one after that, because our aim is to continue to improve this squad.”

Speaking more about his selection on Saturday, he said: “Some people will say I tinkered too much last season, but I will always pick a team I think will get us three points. 

“I’m prepared to make changes and decisions that will improve us as a team because I’m paid to win football matches. We got it right at the weekend because we got our goal and we stopped the opposition from scoring.

“Good teams can win 1-0. The players get rewarded for clean sheets because if they do that they have more of a chance of winning games. Scoring first is probably something which is foreign to us and we had to come from behind on a number of occasions last season.

“That meant we were a team who showed resilience if we went a goal down. Add holding on to a result to that, if we do score first, and it will make us a very good team. We’re seeing signs that we’re getting there with that. Look at the block Danny Grainger made late in the game.

“That is an example of willingness without a second thought to get across knowing the shot has to be blocked. It’s the same with midfielders knowing they have to get on the ball, or break play up, and strikers knowing they have to make an impact with their movement. It all comes together to make it harder for the opposition to play.”