Head coach Chris Beech spoke to us about what will be another tough game tomorrow afternoon as Grimsby come to town.
“It’s my first home league game and I’m looking forward to everything,” he said. “I really appreciate the support the other day, it was horrendous weather, and to get so many people out I thought was commendable.
“I’m really pleased the lads put great commitment into the performance to show the Carlisle supporters what it meant to us and them. I think we shared that experience on Tuesday, and I’d like to share more of that.
“I keep talking about the three-point feeling; it transcends into everybody at the club, whether you’re the chairman, myself, players, supporters, people who come and work here, it feels so much better when you can relate and talk about and feel that win.”
When asked of adding a league win to the current good run would give everybody another lift, he said: “Maybe, but there’s no guarantee. I’m not suggesting that we’ve got that in the bag, we haven’t.
“We probably have to be more concentrated and step up another level. I would like us to pass the ball better, keep possession more, penetrate in possession more. We had loads of opportunities to do that on Tuesday and chose wrong options, which I would class as unforced errors.
“If we refine them, continue with this spirit, work, commitment, then maybe, but if they don’t I’ll have to keep addressing it to affect it. That’s what we’re all aiming for.”
And he also warned that Grimsby will be no pushover as they head to Brunton Park looking to get back to winning ways.
“There are no guarantees,” he told us. “Managerless is probably the wrong word because he’s been there, stepped in and they’ve supported him, and I think he’s guaranteed to take the game against us.
“Absolutely no guarantees, 100 per cent we have to be right on it to make sure we can set our standards, compete against a team that at some stage it will turn for them. We’ve got to make sure it’s not us, and we’ve got to make sure we keep committing to the standards we’re trying to raise.
“What we have to remember is that they’ve got some great players. They really have. They’ve got a couple of lads on loan as well who are very good. I’m not too sure why they’re not getting what they want but that’s not my challenge – my challenge is to make sure the lads keep moving forward, keep improving, and making sure we’re very, very difficult to beat here at Carlisle.”
With the fans having stayed behind to clap the players off the pitch on Tuesday night, he said: “Anybody can have the best masterplan in the world, it’s got to be fulfilled, followed, bought into.
“It isn’t mine, it’s ours, it’s all of ours, all of us. That includes the supporters. We’ve got to make sure we keep working, I suppose creating that culture and making sure it keeps us healthy by winning football matches.
“It was a committed game on Tuesday and Forest Green were desperate to equalise. They went back-to-front, against their philosophy, and we held strong, defended resiliently, and if we’d cut down our unforced errors we possibly could have scored more goals.
“But it was a hard-fought, hard-condition FA Cup replay. The fans appreciated that. Those that came to watch, who could witness it, would have enjoyed that.”
Speaking more about what he expects to see from Saturday’s visitors, he said: “Probably an unexpectancy. They’re going to respond because they were beaten 3-0. Morecambe responded, because they lost 5-0.
“Sometimes you’re better meeting that team before they’ve had that result. People think, because they’ve had that result, playing you next is easier, it’s often not. I understand that football gods work in mysterious ways.
“We’ve got to be right on point to make sure we become a winning team against them. They have got some fantastic, experienced football players, at the moment they are going to bounce back somewhere, and we’ve got to make sure it’s not against us.
“People like to put things in boxes, by saying it’s a six-pointer and things like that, but I would suggest not, because there’s so many league games left. It’s one of plentiful - we’ve got to make sure we surpass 10 wins as fast as possible.
“If this is Grimsby, that’s one of them wins. If it’s not, I understand there’s reactions to things, but really, if you can pull back a little bit, no, it’s not. But it is vital we represent our standards and community, because it looks after our habits and hopefully our outcomes.”
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