Saturday’s results left United sat on top of the pile in League Two as a raft of draws kept things tight in the upper reaches of the division.
With two more games still to go before the Blues reconvene for competitive action, manager Chris Beech spoke this weekend about the first 21 games.
“It’s gone well, very well,” he said. “It isn’t just from a manager’s perspective because everybody has to buy in to what you’re doing.
“I’m really pleased that we’ve created an environment that the players are loving. I want us to play fast, attacking football and everybody is coming on board with that.
“I enjoyed playing in it, I like watching it and I like coaching it. I like my players to take players on and get at the opponents.
“It’s a method of playing that’s good to watch and when you see teams like Liverpool doing it so consistently, you can only ever try to learn from the best.
“If they’re doing it, why can’t we try to do it, even if it’s in a slightly different way. The boys are trying their best and, like I say, the most important thing is that they’re enjoying it.”
The gaffer’s next competitive fixture will be game number 50 in charge of the Cumrbians, having taken over with the club hovering just above the relegation places in November 2019.
“A lot of people ask if I thought this would have gone as well, with it being new to me, but I actually finished playing when I was 29,” he explained. “That’s when I started coaching within the youth systems with Bury and Rochdale.
“When Keith [Hill] came back from Barnsley I started to assist him in the first team, so I suppose it’s been the longest apprenticeship in the world as I waited to get an opportunity.
“When you get one, you’ve got to try and take it, and as I’ve said before I’m just very thankful of getting the opportunity. I have to thank Carlisle and the chairman for taking a punt on me and at the same time I have to thank everybody else’s effort.
“Without that you’re only as strong as your weakest link. You need that support and every player we’ve got has given everything, every staff member has bought into what we’re trying to achieve, and it’s going quite well because of the work we’re doing together.”
“We are in a good position, but I think you have to try to individualise it this season,” he added. “Everybody is getting excited when we win a game, and I think we’ve won more games than anyone else in our division so far. We’re pleased about that.
“It’s that quarter to five feeling in the changing room that you’re looking for. We want that after each game rather than start to suggest we should try to do something that financially we definitely shouldn’t be, but it is what it is.
“We’ve got great supporters, the club is very good in trying to support the players and us in what we’re trying to do, and we’ve just got to keep it going.”
But as an unprecedented 2020 rolls into an equally unpredictable 2021, a three-game Covid-19 lockdown has been thrown into the mix just to test the Brunton Park resolve a little bit further.
“It’s been difficult, it’s posed some unbelievable anomalies, even for the team as you try to get ready for training,” he said. “We received the news about the Covid tests on Thursday, we took guidance off the EFL, and due to the outbreak it was paramount that we shut down.
“It is frustrating, but the lads have got home programmes to work through. The positive cases obviously stay indoors and the other lads can train, following government guidelines, but of course we won’t see each other for 10 days now.
“I’m sure some of them will enjoy that!”
