CURLE: WATCH US BOUNCE BACK...
CARLISLE UNITED manager Keith Curle warned their League Two rivals that his side will be a “dangerous animal” after their recordbreaking unbeaten run finally came to an end at League Two basement boys Newport County.
The Cumbrians surged up to second in the table having not lost a league match since April 30 but they came crashing down to earth against Graham Westley’s rapidly improving County side.
Josh Sheehan gave the hosts a dream start as he finished off a move he started with a calm side-foot finish into the bottom corner after just two minutes.
And despite a lot of pressure from Curle’s men, particularly in the second half, Newport fully deserved their first home league win since March.
It was sealed with 18 minutes left on the clock when left wing-back Dan Butler led a breakaway and teed up Rhys Healey to slot his shot past Mark Gillespie.
“We came to a very difficult place, a difficult ground, with an early kick-off, gave them a head-start and a leg-up in the first two minutes and we struggled to get into it because of the conditions,” said Curle.
“We changed the shape in the second half and we had total domination. They had two shots and scored one of them.
“We didn’t get the bounce we were looking for and didn’t have the quality we wanted. But we’ve had a phenomenal start to the season – 16 games and undefeated in 15. Now we start again.
“We’ve worked extremely hard to get where we are in the league and nothing changes. We’ll take it on the chin and we’ll be a dangerous animal now. The players are disappointed but there’s enough character in this team to bounce back.”
Westley has transformed a Newport side who looked doomed to a season-long relegation battle under previous boss Warren Feeney. They are now five games unbeaten in all competitions and ready to climb the table.
“The players have been working so hard to become better,” said Westley. “They’ve been trying to take on board messages about everything they do in terms of their football and they looked the real deal in League Two today.
“They played very strongly in possession and out of possession, there was a good organisation about us at set-plays and the defence to attack transition was excellent.
“We’re improving and the players deserve a lot of credit because they’ve worked very hard to get where they are right now.
“It was a tough ask today. Carlisle have been going very well and they’ve not been beaten in the league before today.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew that we had to do a lot right and I believed that the lads were ready for the challenge.
“We’re getting to the stage where you feel if we play to our level we will win games.”