Paul Simpson's reaction to Carlisle United's 'gritty' win at Rochdale

John-Kymani Gordon’s early goal was enough for the Blues to come through a battling game with a 1-0 win.

It was a third consecutive victory which kept United’s promotion challenge firmly on course.

And while the game did not see Carlisle at their flowing best, manager Simpson was delighted with their fighting spirit.

“I don’t care which way we do it, it’s just finding that way – and we found a way,” he said.

“We were gritty, determined, professional, disciplined, particularly in the second half.

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“We kept our composure and our heads. We talked about it before the game, and I made another point of saying at half time – we have to keep 11 players on the pitch to win this game, and thankfully we did.

“They showed a real good attitude to the defensive side in keeping calm. It would have been very easy for anybody to lose their head with some of the things that were going on.”

Crystal Palace loan striker Gordon’s second goal in three games was the difference.

United were unable to add to that goal, but kept Jim Bentley’s strugglers at bay, with Rochdale having a late Ian Henderson goal ruled out for offside.

It meant another day on the road to savour for Carlisle and their brilliant travelling support which saw 1,634 United fans at the Crown Oil Arena – 40 per cent of the overall attendance.

Simpson said conditions at Rochdale meant a certain kind of approach to the game was necessary.

“The looked better when I’ve seen videos of the games before. When I got here and saw it I thought it wasn’t really the right sort of surface for football,” he said.

United celebrate JK Gordon's goal (Image: Richard Parkes)

“When the players came in from the warm-up they said [the same]. We all emphasised it was a no-risk game, it was a case of turning them round, and when I say no risk it wasn’t about playing with any fear, more about not messing about with the ball, not trying intricate little passes.

“I didn’t think we should give them any lift at all. When you’re down at the bottom, you just need something to go your way because you get a lift and find enthusiasm, and we didn’t want that to happen.

“Thankfully we didn’t make any silly mistakes and got ourselves through it.”

Simpson was delighted with Gordon’s clinical counter-attacking goal and said of the 19-year-old: “What a great calm finish from JK.

“I’m really pleased with him because he’s a little bit uncomfortable with being slightly out of position.

“He finished his chance really well, he showed good composure and pace as well.”

United’s boss, meanwhile, felt the officials were right to rule out sub Henderson’s late reply for Dale.

Simpson said: “I was thinking, ‘He’s got to be offside’ but I can’t obviously see it [clearly].

“Then it’s a case of hands in pockets with every finger crossed hoping he [the referee] makes the call for us.

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“Apparently the liner on the far side was absolutely adamant he was offside but wanted to check who’d flicked it on.

“My thought was it was their player who flicked it on. They came to the right decision, and it helped.

“Hunts [Paul Huntington] is adamant that he was offside and they were all appealing.

“I’d much rather we didn’t get ourselves into that position in the first place and I wasn’t happy with the way we gave the free kick away, and then the way we didn’t make first contact harder.

“We could have cleaned everything out when the ball was in the air for Tomas [Holy] to contest, and he was caught in no man’s land, but the officials got the right call in the end.”

Carlisle are now six points clear of fifth place and remain a point outside the automatic promotion places after third-placed Northampton Town won at Barrow – who visit Brunton Park on Tuesday.

It also saw them win a third league game in a row for the first time this season – a stat Simpson had urged his players to deal with before the game.

“It’s a monkey off our back in terms of getting three wins. Now we have to go and make it four, and let’s try to get a real winning run together,” he added.

“I was really jealous when I heard the other day about Man United winning ten on the trot, and I know that’s pie in the sky dreamworld stuff, but let’s go and try and get four on the trot in what is a good game to look forward to on Tuesday.”

Simpson, meanwhile, reserved warm words for United’s huge backing at the Crown Oil Arena.

“They’re just brilliant to play in front of, to be part of,” he said.

“When we grind out results like that they enjoy that. We had a good night here in 2006, when we virtually won the championship.

“Another good day now, and hopefully we keep pushing on.”