As soon as we saw midfielder Callum Guy on Monday afternoon it was grins all round, with us not even having the need to mention the fact that he’d netted his first Carlisle goal on Saturday in his 97th appearance for the club.
It was an absolute stunner, and you could say that it’s been coming (possibly a long time coming) with some of the close calls he’s had since he joined the club during the January 2020 transfer window.
“I don’t really know what to say,” he beamed. “I think everyone’s just as surprised as me that I’ve finally scored a goal.
“To be fair, as soon as it left my foot I knew I’d struck it well. I looked up and I could see the keeper was struggling to get there, and I can’t really remember much after that to be honest with you.
“When I got the pass from Gibbo I saw it as being a bit too far as I was breaking through, so I decided to try to set Fin off down the wing.
“I think my pass was actually a bit short for him to do that, so he gave it straight back to me. I thought about crossing it but I was getting closed down, so I then thought I’d cut inside and swing the left foot at it. Thankfully it paid off.
“I felt like we were on top in the first half, and I think we’d have been disappointed if we didn’t go into the break leading. Obviously scoring when we did changed the team talk so it was really important for us to have done that. And it’s even better that it meant something in the end as well.”
And with his partner Abbie and their two children amongst the crowd, there was only one place the celebration was headed.
“It was massive for them to be there and for me to score at that end as well, it meant I could run straight over to them,” he told us. “It’s one of the proudest moments I’ve had so far.
“They’re at every game possible that they can come to. I felt like it was only right to share that moment with them. Seeing Abbie’s face in the crowd, and she was tearing up, it was nice.
“When it went in, it’s hard to put into words, but I was obviously delighted. I just ran to them because I wanted to share it with them. That was such a great moment for me. To finally score a league goal for Carlisle was amazing.
“I obviously got loads of texts after the game. I think everybody was just as shocked as I was. Not many could actually believe it had happened, so I had to show some of them the goal to get them to actually believe it. It was nice to be able to talk to some of my mates about it.
“Again being honest, I didn’t think I would ever score. It was important to not put the pressure on myself, to start losing my way in games just focusing on goals. It was important to do other jobs in the game. But I saw my opportunity on Saturday to get forward and thankfully it paid off.”
Although clear in every interview he’s ever done that goals would be nice, he’s also maintained an awareness that his role brings so much more to the team.
“I’ve beaten myself up a little bit about not scoring, it’s something I’ve been wanting to add to my game, but I don’t focus on it too much,” he explained. “As long as I’m putting in a decent performance then I know there are plenty of guys in the team who are able to score goals.
“I just try to keep my position in the middle of the field to allow the players like Gibbo, Omari, Mox to have the freedom to go and attack. They all have the ability to create and score goals.
“The important thing on Saturday was that the goal was good for me, but it was even nicer that it meant something. The one we conceded was pretty poor from our point of view but we showed real grit and determination to get back into the game and go on to win it.
“Plenty of teams in this league are fighting for whatever reason, at the top or bottom, and I think most of the games will end up being a bit of a scrap like that, so it’s important that we can show both sides of it as well.
“The first goal we scored we put a few passes together, and played our football, and even the second one was a nice team move. Jack Armer got himself up and into the box to flick it on, and there was Denno, with Marzi having crossed it, so it shows that players want to score and get on the end of things.”
Sat in a strong mid-table position, it’s still only one league defeat suffered as the team continues to improve and build on what was an encouraging end to the last campaign.
“In games where we haven’t created as many chances as we have in others, we’ve been strong as a defensive unit, and that starts from the front,” he said. “Everyone is buying into what we’re trying to do and to only lose one league game so far shows that we’re putting in some good performances
“I think there’s been a few games where we’ve conceded and we’ve managed to get back to get a point. In the past couple of seasons we haven’t done that side of it too well. It’s good that we’re doing it now.
“We’re good in the shape and even within games we’re changing that if we feel we need to, like on Saturday when it went from 5-2-3 to 5-3-2 then 4-4-2, and you need to be able to understand that part of it.
“We’re seeing that players can do different jobs and play in different positions, and with the freedom we play with it’s important that other people cover if you do get onwards or push forward.
“In the middle we feed off each other really well. Gibbo, we try and get him on the ball, Moxy can drive with it and I’ll sit a little bit deeper to allow that.
“I think we can show different roles, and it’s important to have that. We’re not really similar players but we all play with each other really well.
“To be successful you need goals to come from all over the pitch, whether that’s set pieces, midfielders getting forward, or Denno getting a goal every game.
“It’s important you don’t just rely on one player, which we have done sometimes. Everyone else chipping in now, Mells has got two, Hunts has scored from a set piece, it shows we’ve got goal scorers everywhere else in the team.”
With eight games played he also expressed the importance of making sure that the good start is turned into a consistent run.
“We’re happy with our start but it’s only the start, it’s important we keep improving, getting better and getting to a point where we’re not saying we should have had three points and have only got one, when we’re coming in after games,” he insisted.
“The games are coming thick and fast, but we love that, and we know it’s even better if you’re pickig up points.
“All you really want to do is play games of football and we know there are two tough away trips coming up in the league. They’re two challenges we’re really looking forward to.
“No matter who we play we’ll go into every game believing we can beat anybody. We’ve got Fleetwood tonight, a League One side, but we know we can compete with them as we showed when we played Shrewsbury earlier in the season.
“Newport is a tough place to go, they haven’t had the best of starts, but anything can happen at 3pm on a Saturday, we’ll make sure we’re prepared and ready.
“Personally I’m just enjoying it - I’ve really enjoyed my time here and I’m nearly at the 100 appearance point. Hopefully I get to that soon. It’s been great for me here ... and one in 97 isn’t too bad, I don’t think ... and I think the floodgates are open now!”
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