Carlisle United’s performance in a vital relegation battle at Stevenage was the most pleasing factor for manager Keith Millen.
The 2-0 win at the week-end gave everyone at the club a much-needed lift – but the performance has to be maintained and improved.
Millen said: “I still want us to be better on the ball, but this game was about competing, and we did that.”
The victory inched Carlisle ahead of Stevenage on goal difference and three points clear of the current bottom two Oldham and Scunthorpe.
Oldham, who drew 5-5 with leaders Forest Green at the week-end, are in danger of becoming the first team to have played in the Premier League to go all the way down to the National League.
Millen, however, is only concerned with what’s happening at Brunton Park and without having to rely on what others do.
He said: “To keep it going we just have to keep doing what we’re doing. We didn’t change our tactics or shape, we’ve got an identity to what we’re doing, so we’ve just got to keep doing that. I’ve said that from day one.
“But even with that belief, football is football. You still have to work to the end. Even with a two-goal advantage I didn’t feel comfortable, certainly until he blew the whistle, but I didn’t see them really opening us up.
“We defended really well. We were really disciplined, we minimised the mistakes, we were in the right areas at the right time and felt it needed to be something a little bit special for them to score. They had a couple of half chances, headers near the end, but generally I felt pretty confident.
“They had their moments, to be fair to them, but Mark [Howard] didn’t have loads of saves to make. They got into some good areas, aerially they were a threat, and that’s certainly the biggest team I’ve put out in terms of physicality to try to counter that.
“I’m not saying that’s us, but we have to be able to do both sides of the game. I still want us to be better on the ball, but this game was about competing, and we did that.”
Millen hopes his team can follow up on Saturday when they entertain Bradford City at Brunton Park.
They are hovering around mid-table, seven points better-off than United and are the League’s draw specialists with 11 of their 21 games finishing all square.
