Carlisle United have never been enamoured with the EFL Trophy so there would be no tears shed over last night’s 2-0 home defeat to a Notts Forest Under-21s side.
But perhaps what was disappointing was the rather lacklustre performance from the Blues side chosen by manager Paul Simpson which gave plenty of opportunities to players currently out of the starting line-up.
Simpson, in fact, made 10 changes from the side which had won so well at Bolton on Saturday and this formation never moved with the same precision.
Owen Moxon came on for the second-half and he was closest with a well-struck free kick which Forest keeper George Shelvey did well to turn onto the post.
Forest won the game with two second-half goals from Josh Powell (69) and Ben Perry (78) and no-one could deny that they thoroughly deserved their win.
Meanwhile Carlisle’s goalkeeping coach Dave Timmins has been hit with a £750 fine and a two-match touchline ban following comments he made to officials after the recent Peterborough game.
Timmins had been shown the red card after the final whistle and the FA said a regulatory hearing has imposed the fine and touchline ban with the written reasons to be published later.
