It’s been a consistent message from the manager and his team, but it’s one that has helped to keep feet on the ground – focus on us, do our jobs, let the rest take care of itself.
“You can only do your job, you can’t think about anything else,” Paul Simpson reiterated. “I say that to the players all the time.
“We need to focus on us, do our jobs, and if we do that we know we’ll stay second in the table. That’s all we can do at this stage of the season.
“This weekend we have a really good opportunity against Stevenage, who are third, and we’ve also got Northampton and Orient to play.
“It’s in our hands and if we are going to achieve anything, and I’ll be really honest with you, we’re doing much more than I was expecting, but if we can stay up in these top places that will be a brilliant achievement for us.”
“The win on Saturday helps because it gives everybody a lift, something to build on, and that’s the biggest thing,” he continued. “We know it’s going to be tough next week with the lead-up and the game at the weekend.
“Carlisle United have got a little bit of history with Stevenage so it’s a great game. All I can ask is that the fans come and support us, don’t get involved in any stupid stuff, don’t worry about what’s going on in the technical area, let’s really focus on us and keep the place together.
“As we speak we’re second, we know we’re being hunted, we know everybody is after us, we’ve just got to keep grinding it out. There’s a real determination about the group that they want to do things properly.
“We’ve got everybody running down the touchline to join in with the celebrations and I hope that people don’t think that’s disrespectful, it was just the emotion of it all and the excitement.
“I couldn’t actually move because somebody had jumped on my back, and I don’t know who that was, but it’s a brilliant result for us.
“So we’re involved in a top of the table clash and we didn’t expect to be, that’s me being really honest. We’ve got to embrace it. I keep saying we’ve got to enjoy the feeling.
“You saw the way the players were at the end on Saturday, the way the supporters were – let’s get that feeling at home as well, let’s keep that run going.
“It’s the first of 11 really big games and we can do ourselves a massive favour, if we prepare right this week, everybody, even the lads who are on the bench, the boys who weren’t involved in the game but travelled like Jayden Harris.
“We’ve got Ben Barclay back home, Dev, they’ll get a week of training and some minutes in the game. Everybody’s got to stick together and we’ll all enjoy it, if we go and do it right and get a result.
“I’m certainly enjoying it at the moment. What we have to do is make sure we prepare properly again and let’s see what that does for us.”
