Paul Simpson says Carlisle United have given themselves a “hell of a chance” of glory after their ruthless thrashing of Crawley Town.

The Blues destroyed the strugglers 5-2 on their own turf to go second in League Two.

Manager Simpson was delighted with the first half spell when Crawley had no answer to his rampant team.

And he wants them to keep their foot on the floor in an increasingly exciting promotion push.

“In the first half, it was ruthless,” Simpson said.

“In the second half we got a bit sloppy and allowed them back with a couple of goals, which is disappointing.

“But it’s a big, emphatic performance.

“Crawley have had five of their six wins at home against the top teams in the league, and we said we couldn’t afford to allow them the sixth one.

“One of my big messages was about mentality – make sure we’re right, and if there’s any surprise results today in our league, make sure it doesn’t involve us.

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“We’ve maybe surprised people by scoring five away from home but I’ll take that surprise…”

It was United’s first five-goal haul on the road in the league since September 2017 when they won 5-0 at Crewe Alexandra.

They also hit four in the first half in an away game for the first time since November 2011’s 4-0 FA Cup win at Alfreton Town.

Carlisle shared the goals around with Joel Senior getting his first goal for the club and Omari Patrick, Owen Moxon, Morgan Feeney and Jon Mellish joining in the scoring.

It took them a point ahead of Stevenage, and three above the play-off places.

Simpson said key to their first-half dominance was “just being front foot with the way we went about it.

“We talked about stepping on, and competing properly. I thought we did it really well, with Alfie [McCalmont] and Mox in there, Callum Guy looking after Dom Telford. The three centre backs dealt with whatever threat they had.

“I just don’t think we gave them a sniff, we didn’t allow them to settle. We got about them. Really, if we’d been a little bit more clinical in the second half we could have got even more than we did.

“We were emphatic about the way we went about the first half. The level of performance and intensity they showed was outstanding.”

United’s position in the promotion race was boosted with defeats for others in the chasing pack, including Mansfield Town and Stockport County.

Northampton Town kept up the pressure on the top three with a victory, but Carlisle made a strong statement in Sussex against a Crawley side who remain second bottom.

“You can’t feel sorry for them,” added Simpson. “We heard a lot of talk about Carlisle United not liking the journey, because it’s a long way, but things like that are just an excuse.

“I talk about this all the time – the journey is fine, we just get on with it.”

READ MORE: Crawley Town 2-5 Carlisle United - as it happened

The win emphasised United’s transformation as it came a year to the weekend of Simpson’s first game back in charge – a time Carlisle were second bottom in League Two.

“It’s been a brilliant year,” added the manager. “Again, I keep saying it, the players have done really well.

“I’m enjoying every single minute of it. I want it to be a really good summer, and it’s only going to be a good summer if we finish it right.

"We know it’s going to be a real challenge to finish these last 13 games properly, but we’ve given ourselves one hell of a chance."