15 December 2020

Chris Beech wants his Carlisle players to keep their foot down

15 December 2020

Chris Beech said he will keep his players’ feet firmly on the ground after Carlisle’s 1-0 win against battling Mansfield.

Omari Patrick’s first-half goal means the high-flying Cumbrians have won four matches in a row and been successful in eight of their nine Sky Bet League Two games at Brunton Park.

“There’s still a long way to go and we know we can’t take anything for granted,” admitted Beech.  “But we 100 per cent should be enjoying it – and we will.

“Our players know what it means to represent this community and it’s great that we have fans to share it with us.

“These players are giving us everything for 90 minutes every time they cross the white line at the moment and they’re getting their rewards.

“That’s four consecutive wins and three clean sheets in a row, and these are the kind of statistics we work all week for.

“We got on top and it’s important to score during those spells.

“They pushed us back at times but I’m really pleased they didn’t allow that to take too much away from the way we wanted to play our game.

“It was a different kind of game because Mansfield came here and they worked ever so hard.”

Patrick made the decisive breakthrough in the 39th minute, chesting down Jack Armer’s cross before squeezing his strike under goalkeeper Marek Stech.

It meant new Mansfield boss Nigel Clough suffered his second defeat since taking over the struggling Stags at the start of November.

Their three-match unbeaten run, their longest in the league this season, came to an end.

He said: “We battled all evening, we fought and scrapped and I couldn’t ask for anything else from the lads.

“We wasted numerous positive situations, especially in the first half when we got in good positions.

“They’re obviously on a big, big high at the moment. We talked about them being the form team and one of the most confident in the league.

“We dealt with the vast majority that they threw at us and we’ve been beaten by a brilliant goal.

“It was pretty even before the goal, I thought we did all right.  It was just that one bit of quality that divided the two sides.

“The first 15 or 20 minutes we looked good but then they turned the tables and penned us in.

“You hang on in there at 1-0 and you wait for a chance for a late free-kick or something but we didn’t have that quality tonight.”

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