As the focus for the Blues turns to the weekend trip to Scunthorpe, manager Chris Beech spoke about the need to find consistency in performance levels following last weekend’s home win over Southend.
“We’ve got to carry it on, providing we have an opportunity to continue in this great sport that we work in,” he said. “I hope that is the case. Last time we had our home win we went into lockdown immediately after, and there’s been talk about that possibly happening again.
“I hope we can go to Scunthorpe, we’ll be in good spirits and we’ll look forward to it. We were so organised at the weekend, the shape was excellent and it suited the players.
“Behind that we had subs who really wanted to make an impact. I was really pleased with the professionalism of Lewi Alessandra when he came on. What you’ve got to be mindful of is that he isn’t quite getting what he wants.
“He didn’t start, but he came on and tried to make a significant difference. He professionally tracked and tackled, and that’s exactly what you want.”
“Carlisle is a massive club, the facilities are unbelievable and the supporters are fantastic,” he continued. “Even though we have League Two players, sometimes as well as accolades they get criticism.
“You’ve got to be able to deal with that, and that’s what all of our players are doing. I have to deal with it, and I can, but the players have to do it.
“I’m really pleased from that psychological point of doing the right things in the right way that the way players have started to get what they wanted to get from supporting that. But it’s vital that it continues, and that only comes from working hard.”
With Toure creating havoc and Kayode and Patrick weighing in with goals, United plugged away through a sluggish opening period to take the game by the scruff of its neck last Saturday.
“We started really slowly and if anything I thought the front three were too calm for the first 30 minutes,” the gaffer told us. “Gime was the one who was edging that, but after I had a good, stern conversation with Omari and JJ they started sprinting for us, and that makes such a huge difference.
“Before that I was really pleased with the midfield. Dean Furman, Jon Mellish and Callum Guy worked their socks off, and I thought Callum probably had his best game for us.
“In terms of wanting a game managed he was at the front of that by doing the right things at the right time. He made one mistake, which was in the 92nd minute, after Ethan Walker was keeping the ball and he turned into him. He’s Callum, so he should do what Callum does, leave the other stuff to others.”
“As for Dean, he had a solid and effective 90 minutes,” he continued. “Without being disrespectful to players who have left this building that were heavily supported, and very well paid to represent us, Dean is like a domestique in cycling.
“He sacrifices himself for the benefit of others. He will do that verbally and physically and, when I get the stats, I know that him and Jon Mellish, and even though Jon came off, those two will have ran further than most other people who played 93 minutes.
“Dean is fit, he’s calm and he makes good football decisions. He’s been there and done it and he’s the kind of player I really wanted. You can see how hard it can be because somebody as experienced as Alan McCormack, he’s been promoted the last three years, but today was tough for him. That was because of our midfield three.
“I have to say, I thought Jon Mellish was excellent. He wasn’t protected that much by the referee, he was getting in front, a lot of second balls. He was getting clipped but that’s football, it’s part of it.
“Jon needs to take that in his stride and not let it get under his skin. If he keeps doing his work it’s the other players that gets annoyed, and he’ll benefit even more. Alan [McCormack] couldn’t get there, he was pushing him, fouling him, but we’re not getting those fouls yet.
“I’ve spoken to the boys and I’ve told them that we’re too honest. We need to make a little bit more of a meal of some things because then the refs can see it.”
“I like the way our strikers played together,” he concluded. “They looked a good unit, especially in the second half.
“When the ball was turned over we got it back straight away, and what we need after that is a little bit more end product. That’ll come, and isn’t it good that were critiquing a comfortable home win. It’s much better than going over a 3-0 away loss and not understanding how it’s happened.
“We’ll always look at how things went because you’re searching for perfection, so you always want more. Even if you win you should still want to get better.
“Obviously Gime got man of the match and he takes the ball, takes responsibility and he’s a threat. I’m trying to teach him to be more threatening in the attacking half, and teach him to make runs off the ball as well.
“He’s 25, not 30, so he’s at a great age to learn.”
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