Sixteen-year-old Grimsby Town youth team keeper Seb Auten was forced into his senior debut after only 12 minutes at Carlisle – and although beaten once was never seriously tested.
The game ended in a 3-2 defeat for the Blues and the lack of activity for Auten was picked-up on by Carlisle head coach Mike Williamson.
“We didn’t test him and that was disappointing. We got into good positions in the second half and then it just broke down before we were able to enter the 18-yard box.
“We lacked a bit of concentration. We turned it over too easily. We got pulled about and we lost our shape. But these are things that we can watch it back and we can improve.”
The first-half performance was also a lot different to the second-half – a good display followed by a poor one.
Williamson said: “Obviously fatigue sets in. We’re asking the boys to do certain things and under that duress and stress, it makes that more difficult. But we know this is a process and we know the boys come in every single day and they really want to understand it and they want to work their socks off. And that’s what we need.
“The levels dropped off and we were disappointed and the boys are disappointed with it.”
United are back at home on Tuesday night against Notts County, who snatched a late point at Morecambe on Saturday but remain just outside the automatic play-off places.
