Scunthorpe recorded their first win of the season and for new manager Neil Cox, back at his hometown club following a 29-year gap, it was a particularly good feeling.

Jordan Hallam’s first-half rocket settled the game, with Cox also reserving praise for goalkeeper Rory Watson.

“I’m really proud of the boys,” Cox said. “It wasn’t our best performance but today we saw bravery and a very workmanlike performance.

“Our keeper Rory Watson made a great save in the first half and that seemed to inspire us. We kicked on from there and the way we took the goal was fantastic. Jordan doesn’t get many but that should give him confidence.

“From there it’s about defending what you’ve got and making sure you work hard for each other.

“I said to the lads during the break that the opportunities would be there for us to hit them on the counter, and credit to Rory because he’s made a few more outstanding saves to keep us in front.”

Cox spent one season as a Scunthorpe player before leaving for a successful career with Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Bolton and Watford.

“On a personal level this is massive for me because it’s my first three points,” he said. “That’s us with four points now and it feels better for everybody.

“I’ve come here to help the club be successful and it’s by developing good winning habits that we’ll do that.

“We’ve handled ourselves in a really professional way to get the win and we can go away from this feeling pleased with what we’ve done.”

Having thrown everything at the Iron, Carlisle boss Chris Beech was in a much more reflective mood.

“I really don’t know how we haven’t got something,” he said. “I can’t accuse the lads of not having tried or worked, because they have.

“One vital moment in midfield and they’re ahead in a game where we’ve created three or four unbelievable chances.

“How Watson saved the header from Jon Mellish I don’t know, but this is football. In League Two mistakes happen and you’re punished, you miss opportunities and you lose.

“I’ve talked about us giving gifts away when we lost previously, but I won’t have that said today. We’ve done everything to win, we’ve lost, and that’s it in a nutshell.”

But having bossed another game which has been allowed to slip away, he admitted that his team need to find a ruthless streak.

“We can’t keep talking about playing well and not getting anything,” he agreed.

“We have to win games. I’ve just said that to the players. If we can win the games where we’re on top, like this one, we won’t be going too far wrong.

“The players are very frustrated, of course they are, but we can’t allow negativity to creep in. That won’t do us any good.”