Carlisle United Football Club

“There’s been a lot of work done this week on areas where we want to continue to improve,” he said. “We keep talking about boxes to be ticked but we also need to make sure we keep doing the good things as well.

“We’ve worked on set pieces again and it would be nice to score a few from that. As I say, we’re ticking boxes and that’s one that will come.”

“The lads are all working extremely hard because they are demanding more from each other every day,” he told us. “They all know the team will get picked on the merits of how we think we’re going to win each game. We analyse the opposition and the options they’ve got and we look at how we think they’re going to play.

“It’s good for everyone that we’re scoring goals. People do talk about the fact we’re conceding but the answer is that we’re scoring. Ideally we’d like to have kept seven clean sheets but we’re picking up points and that matters. 

“Somebody said to me the other day it was the Kevin Keegan school of attack minded coaching where he said you had to score one more than the opposition. I’m game for that.”

“We’ve had three wins in a row and that gets you a bit of belief that what you’re doing is right,” he agreed. “I think I started off with three wins when I first came into the club so you can’t get carried away by it. 

“The squad and the team aren’t the finished article yet and we’re in for a long and exciting season. We’re facing challenges and we’re dealing with things as they’re being thrown at us. The players are being tested and challenged on a daily basis and the way they’re handling it is credit to them. We’re asking them to solve problems by not being scared about anything.

“We’ve got to enjoy the way things feel at the moment. There’s a buzz about the place and we need to embrace it. It’s having this kind of feeling that really spurs you on. It’s easy to keep feet on the ground in the dressing room because they’re men. That comes down to the characters we’ve brought into the club. 

“There’s a desire within the group to be successful. We’ve also made sure the contracts are incentivised so the higher up the league we are the more rewards they get. Everything is built on us making sure we get the most out of every situation we face.”

“The search to add to the squad is ongoing,” he said. “The two lads coming in from Newcastle at the start of the week has added to the options we have in the group. That’s what we’re doing with every step of the recruitment process. 

“We do have targets and we’re constantly following up and finding out about players we want to bring in. As and when we get to a stage where we think we can make things happen, and it suits all parties, that’s what we’ll do.”