Joe Riley on his superb Carlisle United goal at Swindon Town and tonight's trip to Port Vale

Midfielder Riley opened his account for the campaign with a fine opening goal in the Blues' 2-1 win.

It earned the Cumbrians their first victory of the season - on which they will try to build at Port Vale tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

Riley fired home from outside the box at the County Ground after head coach Beech told his players to get their shots away early when in sight of goal.

The former Manchester United and Bradford City man said: "It seems like I don’t really get the easy chances. Jon Mellish gets them...

“It’s good, all goals count, but I was fortunate enough to hit it nice and sweet and it managed to go in the bottom corner.

“I’ve learned a lot from the gaffer on things like that. He doesn’t want players turning and jinking on the edge of the box to try and get the shot off. He wants us to get on with it.

“Once the chance arrived I thought, 'You know what, I’m just going to hit this and see how it goes'.

"Fortunately it found the bottom corner and it was good to help the team get in the lead.”

The strike came in Riley's 50th appearance for the club and was folllowed by a Tristan Abrahams winner as Carlisle chalked up a 2-1 victory.

Riley, left, silences the Swindon fans after Tristan Abrahams, second left, hit United's winner (photo: Gareth Williams/AHPIX)

The 24-year-old said the result was more important than the personal satisfaction of scoring.

And he hopes it can set United off on a better run of away form than they produced in 2020/21.

“Getting the win after playing well is massive,” he said. “It gets us off the mark and relieves a little bit of pressure.

"Our away record last season wasn’t the best so it’s nice for the lads to come away with three points.

“We can take that into our sights and crack on for the remaining part of the season.

"I think we managed the game really well, definitely better than we would have last season, towards the end part.

“The lads dug in and managed to get the win, and that’s without having too much stress in our minds.

"We were aware that the away record needed to be better, but you don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves because we know what we’re capable of doing.

“We managed to get the two goals and then we managed the game to what we knew we could do, and that meant we could leave with the points and feeling happy as we get ready for [Port Vale].”

Riley said United were delighted to win in front of their travelling fans, who are back in away grounds this season after last term's Covid lockout.

The midfield man has also bounced back from the disappointment of being left out of United's opening-day XI against Colchester.

Riley was named among the subs - but was then promoted to the side when Zach Clough pulled out with injury following the warm-up.

Summer signing Clough is close to returning with boss Beech saying the ex-Bolton man would be assessed ahead of any potential involvement tonight.

Riley, speaking on the club channels after the Swindon win, said of the opening day: “There are always setbacks in football but we have a good squad and it’s good that we have people competing for every position.

“When I did find out from the gaffer that I wasn’t starting there was disappointment, of course there was.

“Everyone wants to play, but it’s about taking it in your stride and preparing properly, whether you’re playing or not.

"When you do get a chance, and I was fortunate enough to end up playing that game, you have to make sure you’ve prepared correctly.

“Hopefully I can do enough to stay in the team now and do as well as I did last season. We have players who can bring competition right through the squad and that’s what you need to create a winning environment.

“We’ve set the standards and we didn’t get the win or the goals from the first two games, but we’ve shown that we’ve set our bar high.

“We’ll compete with every team and it’s important we move on to [Port Vale] and continue what we’re doing now.”