Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson has acknowledged the brilliant turnout for Tuesday’s derby clash with Barrow at Brunton Park.
On what was a dismal wet and windy night the big county clash was watched by over 9,000.
That’s a far cry from the 18,000 who watched the derby clashes with Workington in the 1960s but times have changed, and this was as much a nod to Carlisle’s current form as it was to two Cumbrian sides in opposition.
Simpson observed: “Getting those numbers says that everything is on the up. It’s a brilliant turnout and you’ve got to give the Barrow fans credit as well.
“They came in numbers and they all made it a good atmosphere. Obviously they were a bit quieter in the second half thankfully but, for us, that was brilliant support.
“They keep turning out and doing this. It’s absolutely fantastic but we have to keep winning games of football to keep them coming back.
“We have to keep doing things properly and credit to the players for doing that at the moment. They were ruthless, apart from that 20 seconds where we allowed them to score, and I didn’t want that.
“All in all I’m absolutely delighted with the performance from the players and the performance from the supporters.
“I think the following is a reflection of how the two teams have been doing. Thankfully we sent them packing and we’re the ones who had a good night. I’m sure for the return game they’ll want to get their own back on us.
“I have to say, when I walked down the tunnel and I heard the noise from behind me and I saw the Warwick Road End, and saw how full that was, it just puts the hairs on the back of your neck standing up.
“And then I turned around and saw how full the paddock was. The east stand are there in the numbers. Absolutely brilliant. And the big thing is we’ve put on a performance, got a result that hopefully encourages them to come back.”
The manager went on: “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Barrow are a good side and they play good football.
“They’ve got good forwards and they tried to set a little bit of a trap and allow us to keep the ball at the back, and they then tried to press us in midfield.
“I thought we showed really good composure and we scored at a great time just before half time.
“It was hard, it was difficult to break them down, and it was a horrible night to play football with the conditions. I’m sure it was a horrible night for watching football, but when we go back to what we did in the second half I just thought it was hard to deal with.
“We got the basics right, and we’d spoken to the lads about that during the break. We felt that if we got that right we had more than enough to win the game.”
