Goalkeeper Harry Lewis made his debut on Saturday after signing for the Blues from Bradford City last week.
We caught up with him on Monday morning to get his thoughts on his move to Brunton Park.
“I’m delighted to be here and delighted to get it done,” he said. “It all seemed to happen very quickly but I’m really happy to be here and I’m certainly embracing the challenge. It feels right to be here.
“It was nice to make my debut on Saturday. I met the lads on Friday the day before the game so I didn’t have much time to adjust, but that’s what I wanted, I just wanted to get straight into it.
“There’s a big challenge at hand here and it’s one I plan to rise to along with the rest of the lads. I wouldn’t be coming here if I didn’t think we could do it.
“I think there’s more than enough quality in that dressing room to get out of trouble and hopefully I can be an important part of that process. That’s why I’m here.
“I already feel comfortable here. People have been really friendly and the lads have been great in helping me settling in. My girlfriend is up here, she’s pregnant and we had our 20 week scan yesterday, so we’re looking at properties up here.
“That’s what it’s all about. I don’t do things by halfs, if I’m here I want to move here and get to know people here. My mum was at the game on Saturday and she was in the Beehive before the game probably causing trouble!
“For me it’s all about getting involved and stuck right in. There’s a big challenge ahead of us between now and the end of the season but there’s 19 opportunities left to get out of trouble and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could do it.
“I want to move up here and do everything properly so I can give Carlisle my all while I’m here. The club have been fantastic with me and have helped me settle in so I hope to repay the favour on the pitch by hopefully keeping the ball out of the net.”
At the age of 26, Lewis has already played over 100 first team games, so brings good experience to the group: “I was chatting with Gabe the other day, he’s 21 but he’s already made his EFL debut which is fantastic. I didn’t make my EFL debut until I was 24 so for him to have played at such a young age is incredible and a fantastic achievement and not one to be taken lightly.
“I spent a long period of my career being third choice goalkeeper and not playing at Southampton which I found tough. When I made the decision to leave there it was purely to play football. Coming here, I know there are no guarantees and I need to play well, but I’ve come here to play games at a higher level. Hopefully that’s going to be for the rest of this season and the next two seasons.
“I’m excited to work with the group of goalkeepers we’ve got here. I know Tomas from playing against him last season, he was always such a lovely lad.
“I don’t know Jokull too well yet and I’ve trained with Gabe for a couple of sessions now and can see what a fantastic young goalkeeper he is. He’s a local boy as well which is always really special, I’m from Shrewsbury and my dream growing up was always to play for my hometown club. For Gabe to have done that at his age and have performed like he has is great for him.
“It sounds like he’s done a fantastic job so he’s probably slightly unfortunate that I’ve come in and got the start on Saturday. That’s goalkeeping and it comes with the territory, but he’s been fantastic and he took the news really well.
“It seems a really good group with high energy. Timmo is in charge and he was my coach when I was about 12 years old at Shrewsbury, I was so scared of him then but I’m a little bit less scared of him now! I’m really happy to be a part of the group and looking forward to working with them all.”
“The fans are amazing here,” he said. “They really welcomed me on Saturday and that’s important. It really does help as a player, it makes a big difference when people are welcoming and singing your name.
“Even just saying hello, if I’m out on the street or in Tesco please say hello. I’m a friendly guy and I like a bit of conversation. That’s what I love about football, you’re a role model and you have the opportunity to be a role model in the local community.
“I’m big on stuff like that, community projects are really important. Those kinds of things are part of my job as the club’s first team goalkeeper. My main job is obviously to keep the ball out of the net on a Saturday, but a big part of it is for me to represent Carlisle as a city and a football club.”
United travel to Barnsley on Tuesday night looking for a positive result: “It’s another tough game, they’ll be similar to Oxford in the sense that they’ll play a lot of football but we can’t be scared of that.
“Everyone is playing for something at this point, Barnsley are up in the play-off places at the moment so they’ll be needing a result in front of their fans as well. It’s up to us to go there and ruin their day and show that we want it more than they do.
“I think we’re taking close to 1,000 away fans which is. I always enjoy playing in front of away fans for whatever club I’m playing for. I’m sure they’ll travel in their numbers and hopefully we’ll give them something to sing about too.”