Tranmere Rovers caretaker boss Ian Dawes was fuming about their “unacceptable” display against Carlisle United.

While the Blues were delighted with a return to winning ways, it was a different matter for the Wirral side.

And Dawes felt the 2-0 defeat was a poor representation of what he feels Tranmere should be – the stand-in boss particularly scathing about the way they started the game at Brunton Park.

“I’ll be honest with you – it’s unacceptable for a Tranmere performance,” he told the BBC.

“In the first half, the amount of times we made the same mistake and not learning from it…

“At the back, we shouldn’t be that type of team. It gives goals away. It was poor decision-making, especially the first 25 minutes, and it set the tone of the game.

“It’s disappointing we’ve worked this hard, prepped for the game, we knew the type of game we were coming into and we didn’t stand up mentally.

“You could see players not wanting to get on the ball. That’s not a Tranmere player.

“Some of these are young players. They’ve got to learn that quickly.”

Tranmere saw an early mistake pounced upon by United as Kristian Dennis fired them in front on three minutes.

The 20-goal striker netted again before half-time, and Dawes felt his 14th-placed side did not cope with Carlisle’s style.

News and Star: Kristian Dennis scores the opener against TranmereKristian Dennis scores the opener against Tranmere (Image: Ben Holmes)

“That’s not a Tranmere performance,” added the man who is at the temporary helm after the recent sacking of Micky Mellon. “I feel sorry for the fans who travelled and the fans who watched at home, because that doesn’t represent what we are as staff and as a group.

“There’s players in there who do perform like Tranmere players, but not enough. So many times this season it’s been the same story, about when we’ve come up against these teams who are physical, direct, we haven’t been able to match it.

“It hurts. In the past Tranmere teams have been the ones setting that tone of being aggressive, running, competing.

“It’s a mental thing. Your mentality to go and play football and compete, and it’s let us down all season. It’s something the club will look at between now and the end of the season, how that gets fixed.

“We spoke about the first ten minutes coming here, making sure your shape’s good, you’re not taking any risks, because they [Carlisle] will try and get after you – and they do that.”