Ahead of the visit of Yeovil Town, we spoke to Carlisle United Head Coach Mark Hughes.
Speaking to CUTV, Hughes discussed the team’s mentality, leadership within the squad, competition for places and the focus ahead of a demanding run of fixtures.
Here is everything we learnt:
1. A perfect week’s return
“Very pleasing. Played really well in both games, maximum points, so yeah, reflection, really pleasing, exactly what we wanted. Important to get maximum points when we can.
"I just thought in terms of how we went about our business and the way we executed what we talked about before the game, I thought it was excellent in both games, so yeah, really pleasing.”
2. No complacency at the top end
“No, we don't take anything for granted. We just got to keep going, we just got to try and take care of our own business and see where that takes us.
"This season is an exceptional season in terms of the amount of points that the top eight, nine teams are accruing, so yeah, it's going to take a big effort from us.”
3. Clinical performance sending a message
“You've got to take those moments if you can. I think our performance certainly against Forest Green was really good. Certainly, winning three-nil at half time doesn't happen too often for me in my career, so yeah, that was really pleasing because we were very clinical.
I think we've had moments in games where we've had opportunities to do that in the past, but haven't been clinical enough, but on the night, we were excellent in that regard.”
4. Confidence growing in the group
“Positive results bring confidence, we know that, and yeah, we're in a good place at the moment.
"We'd like to go on a run now if we can. We've got fixtures coming up that will test us, but if we play to our potential, there's no reason why we can't get a good run of positive, maximum points from all the games that we play.”
5. Leadership from the back
“Once he's been in, he's been excellent, leads from the front, not withstanding his ability, but his leadership is great as well, so yeah, he's having a really good season.
"On the back of obviously coming back, and that's to start at the beginning of the year, from that point onwards, he's been first class.”
6. Experience for the run-in
“We'll tap into that hopefully, he's (Morgan Feeney) been in this position before and yeah, nearer and nearer the time, yeah, we'll call on the guys that have had experience of going up not necessarily with ourselves, but at other clubs and under different circumstances, so yeah, all that knowledge you can tap into.”
7. Competition driving standards
“Those two (Morgan Feeney and Bevis Mugabi) are doing well at the moment. Az (Aaron Hayden) had a great spell, just went out of the team through injury, and that can happen, and guys have to be ready to come in and play well and hopefully keep their place.
"So that competition for places is really important, not just in the back four, right through the team.”
8. Players ready to take chances
“When a door opens, and when an opportunity presents itself, you've got to be able to walk through the door and take those chances.
"They never got down on themselves and never got down on me as well in terms of their attitude to work, and that's important because if you stand whooping around the place, then that's not going to affect any decision that I make.”
9. Squad depth and recovery updates
“Josh (Williams), it looks like he's going to be out for a number of weeks, probably looking four to six weeks, I would suggest, so that's a blow. Josh has been excellent this year and had a good run in the team, but once again, that door opens for somebody else to come in.
"The likes of Georgie (Kell), Regan (Linney), as well, they're starting to train fully, so yeah, that's a good sign for everybody.”
10. Eyes firmly on the next challenge
“They're a good side, different management and different ideas which we'll have to prepare for. They've been on a decent run, so it won't be an easy game.
"We've got more away games than home games in the next few weeks so that's going to be a difficult run for us, but we're sure we can go to difficult places and get really positive results and great performances, so there's nothing ahead of us we should be afraid of, we just got to make sure we hit our levels.”