Keith Millen said it is “no fluke” that Carlisle United have enjoyed much-needed back-to-back wins.

The Blues followed up Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Horsham with a Papa John’s Trophy win at Morecambe last night.

Their display at the Mazuma Stadium in their latest 2-0 win offered encouragement.

And new boss Millen said he is pleased with how players have been carrying out his plans.

“It’s not a fluke that we’ve won the last two – it’s because we’ve got a structure to what we’re doing, and hopefully a bit more of an understanding,” he said.

“When we’re out of possession we look hard to break down. That’s pleasing. And there’s more confidence.

“The more clean sheets you have, the more confidence builds in the players and you can see that when we do get on the ball.”

Jordan Gibson and Kelvin Mellor were on target in the northern group A game.

Their efforts ensured United enjoyed successive wins for the first time since April, and topped their group, guaranteeing a home tie in Saturday's second round Trophy draw.

While there remains a major task ahead to turn around Carlisle’s league form, their efforts in their last two games have encouraged Millen.

On last night’s victory against League One hosts, he said: “We knew it would be a tough game. Morecambe put a strong side out, they had their reasons for that, so we had to respect that and knew it would be a tough opposition.

“So that makes it even more pleasing – you can’t always rely on the result but the performance really pleased me from many aspects.

“I thought we competed really well, when there were 50-50 tackles we came out on top, and as the game went on we had a bit of composure about us and moved the ball.

“The icing on the cake was the free-kick [from Gibson], which was a great bit of quality, and the second goal killed the game, really.”

Millen said he was “proud” of the efforts of players who had not figured much in the first-team recently.

“Some of the lads who I haven’t seen play have done themselves a lot of good,” he added.

“I’m pleased with their attitude towards the game.”

United’s boss was delighted both goals came from set-pieces – whilst Carlisle kept Stephen Robinson’s third-tier team at bay at the other end.

“It doesn’t matter what level you come in at, set-pieces can win you the game or lose you the game,” he said.

“It was a fantastic free-kick from Jordan, a little bit of quality – that’s what you want to see.

“Kelvin got his goal from the second ball [from a corner] and that’s because we work at it.

“We go through it in our meetings and on the training pitch, and none of this is off the cuff. There’s a reason why it works and it’s because you work hard at it.”

United’s manager was also pleased with some of the grittier sides of their game – and said becoming an effective team remains a work in progress.

“I said at half-time that we could rest in possession, and what I mean by that is that when we have the ball, we can look after it and take some rest.

“You can’t keep running and turning teams. No team can do that for 90 minutes. There has to be periods in the game where hopefully you have the ball, and that means the other team can’t score.

“But I want to be careful that I don’t say it to them and we end up passing for the sake of passing.

“What we’ve done well is that we’ve turned teams, we’ve moved teams and we’ve got an understanding of what we want to do.

“It’s getting that balance of when to turn teams and sometimes there might be times when we can keep the ball for a few passes and then turn them again.

“That’s an aspect where we need to get the balance right. The thing that pleased me most at half-time was that there were two or three 50-50 tackles, like proper, old-fashioned tackles, and we won them.

“That shows me a team that’s fighting and wants to win.”

Millen says the approach of his players has also pleased him given the team’s recent poor form.

“Rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, as we did at Northampton, which I understand – and I’m not thinking we’ve cracked it by any means, just because of two good performances and two good results – there are good signs there,” he added.

“I asked the lads after the game why we have just won two games, and they came up with a lot of reasons, but the main one was that there’s a structure to what we’re doing.

“If we defend strong as a team, as we saw here, then even a good team can’t score against you.”