Carlisle United boss on John-Kymani Gordon and Newport County victory

A goal from the new Crystal Palace loan signing capped a 2-0 victory which kept the Blues’ promotion push on track.

Gordon struck after Kristian Dennis had hit his 15th of the season against the Exiles.

His stylish strike came the day after he joined the Blues – and Simpson was delighted with the 19-year-old’s impact.

“In the first half I felt he just kept drifting inside a little bit too much, so at half-time we asked him to hold his width a bit more, to see if we could get him a little bit into better positions where he could face their players up.

“[For the goal] you could just feel his eyes lighting up as soon as he got that ball. He knows in that situation he’s a handful.

READ MORE: Big match verdict on Carlisle United 2-0 Newport County

“That’s difficult to defend against. No defender, particularly outside centre-backs, likes somebody coming one-v-one and not knowing whether he can come inside or if he’s going to go outside.

Love it, JK 👏😍#CPFC https://t.co/DnxvOdkfMe

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) January 14, 2023

“It’s a great ability to have and thankfully he got a great strike and finish as well.

“I was a little bit concerned that I was asking a bit too much of him by putting him in today, but to get that goal was brilliant.

“It’ll make him feel on top of the world and hopefully it’s the first of many from him.”

Dennis’ latest clinical strike – his third in as many games – sent United on their way at the end of a tough first half.

Simpson said of his top scorer: “Denno’s just a goalscorer. He gets himself into good areas. But I thought he worked really hard as well, on his own up front for long periods.

“That’s a great reward, and it’s an incredible return to be on 15 goals at this stage of the season.

“He’s got to push himself to get 20, then 25, and see if we can get others close to him as well.”

United closed the gap to the automatic promotion places to four points with a game in hand.

Kymani-Gordon, second right, clinched victory with a debut goal (Image: PA)

And Simpson was pleased with the character of their display on their return to action after two weeks without a game.

“I’ve got to say I was a little bit concerned [before the game], for a few reasons,” he said.

“I was concerned because we haven’t played for a few weeks and we never know whether you’ve got everything right.

“This week hasn’t been exactly how we would have planned, because of weather – we can’t do anything about it, [but] we haven’t been on grass all week. It’s a big change to go from working on 4G to then coming onto grass.

“If we’d lost I wouldn’t have mentioned it, because it could have sounded like an excuse.

“I was concerned because I think Newport are a real tough side to play against. The four draws they’ve had [before this game] show that they’ll keep fighting to the end.

“They’ve shown they’ve got proper resilience about them, and a style of play that’s really difficult to play against.

“I just thought we dug in, hung in there, we got a great finish just on the stroke of half-time when I’m thinking, ‘Let’s get in at 0-0 and see that half through’.

“Then in the second half we showed much more control in the way we played.

“There were a lot of good things in what was a horrible, grim day, but thankfully we came out with three points.”

A positive first home game of 2023 also saw Omari Patrick impress on his return from injury as a second-half sub, while another new signing, Alfie McCalmont made a debut from the bench.

Simpson also praised his players’ “adaptability” to his tactical changes, after he brought Jon Mellish from defence into midfield in the first half in a bid to gain a foothold.

“Newport surprised us a bit going with a front three, possibly because they looked at what Doncaster did a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

“I thought players showed good versatility to be able to change and come through that spell – then we got the goal, and second half we had much more control because of the shape we had, and then we changed it back to a three when they went with two strikers.

“Being able to keep shifting that is important, so credit to the players.”