Paul Simpson says the instant impact of John-Kymani Gordon at Carlisle United is testament to the club’s meticulous recruitment work.

And Simpson says that, after Carlisle carefully targeted 19-year-old Gordon, they will do their utmost to send him back to parent club Crystal Palace as a better player come the summer.

The striker scored on his debut against Newport County a day after joining the Blues.

Gordon is now preparing for his first away game with the Blues when United go to play-off rivals Bradford City on Saturday.

On his early impact, Simpson said: “I think it’s credit for the work that goes on behind the scenes.

“We’ve not made rash decisions and we’re not plucking names out of computers just to look.

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“We’ve all been out and looked at JK, we’ve all seen what he’s about.

“Then it’s all the work that goes in to persuade his agent and the lad that it’s the right thing.

“And Crystal Palace – we can all thank them for trusting us to look after him. Because they think highly of him.

“He’s been involved on their first team bench in Premier League and FA Cup games of late.

“He’s obviously a player they think highly of and they’re trusting us to look after him.

“We’ve got to do everything we can to develop him, like we did with [Nottingham Forest’s] Fin Back, and make sure the club’s happy with it, make sure they’re producing performances, and make sure he goes back to Crystal Palace a much better player than he came.”