Following Carlisle United's 3–1 victory over promotion rivals Forest Green Rovers, we spoke to Head Coach Mark Hughes.
Speaking to CUTV, Hughes discussed the quality of the performance, beating rivals in the promotion race, standout individual contributions and the importance of consistency moving forward.
Here is everything we learnt:
1. A dominant first-half performance
“We were excellent all evening, our first half exceptional in terms of what we created and basically what we executed because we talked about how we felt we could affect Forest Green, who are a good team.
"Certainly we saw in the second half that they've got good quality, but first half, we just took the game away from them. We were able to really hurt them in key areas of the field and as a consequence, three to the good at half-time, they were never going to come back from that.”
2. Proving ourselves against promotion rivals
“The perception from some is that we are not able to or not capable of going up against the teams in and around us. That’s not the case.
"Clearly, we've done Scunthorpe home and away, Forest Green home and away, which probably a lot of people didn't think we were capable of doing. We’re in the mix very much so, the league table at the moment looks really good, so we've just got to maintain that form and be consistent.”
3. Clinical when it mattered
“It was just a reward, really, for how we approached that first half and the problems we were causing. It’s important that when you're in the ascendancy, you're able to capitalise on good moments, and we were very clinical tonight.
"We’ve had games where we haven't been able to convert good moments, and that's cost us, but not tonight.”
4. Recognition for his players
“Like David Ajiboye, they have kept their heads down, disappointed when they don't play or don't play a part, but always trained correctly. Always ready and able to come on to good effect or start games.
"That’s credit to their professionalism and their need and want to be part of what we want to do here.”
5. Trust in the game plan
“We can give them game plans and instructions and tell them what areas that we feel that Forest Green were vulnerable.
"At the end of the day, they've got to execute it, they've got to do it, they've got to believe in what we've told them and to a man, that's what they did today.”
6. Captain’s influence
“Morgan (Feeney) was in the right areas in the opposition box, and more often than not in the second half, he was in the right areas in our box, so I thought he was outstanding once again.
"I think his form at the moment is exceptional and rightly so. David will get the plaudits because of the goal, but you shouldn't underestimate the performance of Morgan tonight.”
7. David Ajiboye’s solo brilliance
“We know he's got that capability and he's been on those type of runs before, but he hasn't quite had that unbelievable finish that he ended up with.
'At one point, I thought he needed to probably pass it to the right, but he kept on going and yeah, great finish, very calm in the end, showed his quality. He's played at a higher level than the National League, and that was a moment where that really illustrated that.”
8. Executing the away-day strategy
“It’s not an easy place to come against a good team, a team that will ask questions of you, but you've got to have a game plan. You’ve got to understand what areas of the pitch you can exploit.
"We always felt we could, on the counter-attack, really hurt them, and that's how it panned out.”
9. Defensive resilience
“They huffed and puffed a little bit through good quality balls that we had to deal with, but everyone was there ready to do their job and make sure we got a good result today.”
10. Momentum building again
“A good return after the disappointment of the Rochdale game. We restricted a very good team to very few opportunities there, but were on the wrong side of the result.
'The last two games have been excellent, and everybody will have a really good trip back home, always better when you win.”
