Gavin Skelton said Carlisle United will discuss Dean Furman’s future after an encouraging first Blues outing for the South Africa midfielder.

Furman played the full 90 minutes as Carlisle enjoyed a 2-1 pre-season win at Wigan.

Assistant boss Skelton said Furman gave a tidy performance as new signing Gime Toure and Lewis Alessandra shot United to victory.

Skelton said: “He [Furman] is composed, an experienced player and a good talker, and he adapted well.

“He’s trained well, has got experience, and he performed at a good level.

“It’s open-ended [with him]. He did well, so we’ll talk about it over the weekend and take it from there.”

Former Oldham and Doncaster player Furman, 32, has been training with Chris Beech’s squad as he pursues a return to the English game after five years in his home country.

Skelton was pleased with Carlisle’s display at Wigan and encouraged by the sight of ex-Hartlepool man Toure finding the net in his first outing.

The latest United signing came off the bench for Omari Patrick after just 16 minutes, the latter going off as a precaution due to feeling tightness in his leg during his first pre-season game.

“It was a really good finish,” Skelton said of Toure’s 40th-minute opener.

“He came on earlier than anticipated and he hasn’t done loads of training before he joined us, so to get on and score a goal will help him settle in.

“He’s a good character. Scoring can only help him integrate and feel part of the group. He’s got real ability and we saw some really nice flashes of quality from him.”

On Patrick’s early withdrawal from action, Beech’s No2 said: “Omari’s returned from injury and has had a really good week in training, and has got a lot in his legs. He just felt it tighten up, so as a precaution we took him off.

“We’ll assess it over the weekend and hopefully it’ll be nothing more than a bit of tightness.”

Keeper Paul Farman made his first appearance since his move from Stevenage and Skelton said: “He made a couple of excellent saves and his distribution’s strong. He kicks it a long way which can turn defence into attack quickly.”

Alessandra’s winner was his second pre-season goal and Skelton said the competition for places in attack could bring the best out of the experienced frontman.

The coach said: “It was a really good finish.

“He’ll probably be thinking he could have had two or three. With his experience, he doesn’t panic. In the first half he should have scored but in the second half kept his composure and slots it away. He’ll gain from that and has got a lot of minutes in his legs too.

“Hopefully with people coming knocking on the door, it should push players on that bit more. He [Alessandra] was one of the ones I felt performed better here.

“He’s been around the block a bit and he will gain all the time. Some players come in strong and try to maintain it all the way through, but Lewi will get stronger and stronger and surpass levels that he came in with.”

Summer signing Joe Riley, who did not feature in United’s previous game at Gateshead, came on as substitute and Skelton said: “Joe got the last half-an-hour at right-back and he’ll be better for those minutes. It’s been a bit stop-start for him so it’s pleasing to see him back on the pitch.”

On the overall display at Wigan’s training ground, the assistant boss added: “It was a step up again – our third game and you could tell there was a competitive edge to it with a few tackles.

“There were lots of chances both ends, we were pleased to create lots of opportunities, and we’ll look at why they creates opportunities, but they’ve got some really good players.

“But the way we played, especially the first 60-70 minutes, was really pleasing.

“Winning any game gives you confidence which leads you to play better. Possession was good, which is important, but it’s what you do with it.

“We worked the keeper better than we did on Tuesday, and hit the back of the net. The goals came from good composure and good finishes. The second one was good composure from JJ [Kayode], taking that extra touch rather than rushing it, which led to Lewi’s excellent finish.”

United have another friendly on Tuesday at Sunderland.

Skelton added: “Each game feels it’s getting closer to the season, you feel that excitement, and it did feel a step up [at Wigan]. Tuesday will hopefully be a step up again.

“We stepped it up a bit more here, some of them got longer than 45-50 mins, and we might look at that again on Tuesday. It’s a balance between wanting those minutes in their legs and not wanting to go and get someone injured.

“It’s about managing that, because they’re gonna have to be ready for 90 minutes, but you don’t want them not to be available for the 90 minutes because they’ve pulled up.”

Skelton added that trialist Junior Mondal remains with the club and has had treatment on a hamstring injury. “He’s not fit at the moment so we’ll see how he is on Monday,” he added.