Manager Paul Simpson is looking to a brighter second half of the season with a 2-1 win over Port Vale hopefully kick-starting Carlisle’s campaign.
The New Year’s Day win was the perfect start to 2024 as it hoisted Carlisle off the bottom of League One and three points nearer safety.
Afterwards Simpson said: “It’s a fantastic start to get the three points we so desperately wanted and so desperately needed, let’s be honest.
“I’m so pleased for everybody who’s turned up to see it. I think they could see, even in the first half, that there was a real desire to go and get a result out of it and we just lacked that little finish at the end of it.
“We had some good opportunities and then when you go a goal down I just had that feeling it was going to be one of those again.
“But they stuck to it, showed real character and some good quality to get the goals.
“I’m absolutely delighted for everyone involved. I believe it’s the first win since the Piatak’s took over, certainly the first league win, and I’m so pleased for them.
“They’ve come in like a breath of fresh air with so much enthusiasm and so many things they want to make better.
“Everybody’s talking and we know that the squad needs to be improved and January gives us that chance, but all of the other little things – today, getting that victory is a reward for them before they go back in the next few days.”
He went on: “We’ve played some good football and I’ve just said to the players there that over the run of results we’ve had, I don’t think we deserved a 5-1 at Reading.
“I’m not saying we deserved to win it, but the performance in the two halves wasn’t a 5-1 defeat. I think Cheltenham we deserved to lose, we didn’t do enough. Northampton, I think we deserved more out of that game. I thought we deserved more out of the Fleetwood game. Wigan, second half, I thought we deserved something out of it.
“But it’s been the story of us that we’ve not been able to go and take those chances. We needed to take a chance when it was 0-0 in the first half, we needed one of those to just drop for us and they didn’t.
“But I’m so pleased with the character of everybody, the way they’ve stuck at it and the way they’ve continued to play their football – backed by a really loud home support again. We’ve had the reward with a really valuable three points.”
