MANAGER: He got himself a nice goal

Striker Joe Garner made career appearance number 550 on Saturday, and his added time goal made it 149 overall, with 30 of those being notched up for the Blues.

Speaking about his forward after the game, manager Paul Simpson said: “It’s brilliant for him. It’s a big thing for Joe Garner to get it as well with the career he’s had.

“People were questioning me this week about whether we’d fallen out, but we hadn’t. We have a squad of players, and I decided to shuffle it a little bit in terms of who was on the bench.

“We’ve got lads who have worked really hard all pre-season who are desperate to be involved. If we don’t keep them involved they’re going to lose their heads and lose faith in it.

“I didn’t think it was right to have Joe on the bench last week, and I had that discussion with him, we didn’t fall out and there were no cross words. This weekend I felt it was right to shuffle the pack. Thankfully he came in, did the job for us and got himself a nice goal.”

“Obviously it meant that it was a two-goal win and that feels a little bit more convincing,” he added. “It will give everybody confidence. I’m delighted with the whole group, they’ve all worked extremely hard.

“The fact we hadn’t won until Saturday is not through the lack of trying, we’ve been trying to do things properly since the first day of pre-season, and this is the first real reward for it, and hopefully it’s something to build on. 

“First and foremost it’s a relief. We do all feel the tension, we do all feel the weight of expectation, the weight of not winning a game. To get it done was just an absolutely brilliant feeling.

“The way we went about it was really good and I just had a good feeling about it. I was just hoping it wasn’t me being deluded, and thankfully we got three points. 

“I’ve already said, I didn’t really know what happened with the first goal, I’ve seen it back, we had a little bit of luck there. Getting the second goal nullified the last couple of minutes of the game, and to get a clean sheet is huge.”

On the manner of the overall performance, he commented: “Shrewsbury are an established League One side and that’s what we’re trying to compete against. We’re trying to get to that level.

“The players are trying everything they possibly can. This was an opportunity in front of our own supporters to forget what’s gone on, clear our heads and play with a clear mindset, a positive mindset to try and get that result.

“A base of good defending was there with some good football and I’m just pleased we got the three points to go with it.

“I actually thought we grew into the game. At 1-0 when they were chucking every forward player on, putting more attacking wide players on, we knew we were going to have to defend for our lives.

“I just thought everybody stuck to their jobs, but we still know there’s things we need to do better. But we have to remember we’re Carlisle United, we’re not Manchester City or Real Madrid, this is where we are and what we’ve got, and we’ll keep working to try and be better as much as we possibly can. 

“We know that it’s such a step up that you get punished for any lapse, it’s as simple as that, so you have to have a really clear and focused. Hopefully we continue to improve and we give ourselves a chance of moving forward.”

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