Peter Murphy on Annan Athletic 1-2 Carlisle United

The former Blues favourite saw his Scottish League One new boys go down to a 2-1 defeat to Paul Simpson’s side.

But Annan were on top in the first half and led from the ninth minute to the 84th thanks to Josh Galloway’s strike.

United fought back in the second half but Murphy was encouraged by what he saw.

“It was excellent. It’s a good challenge because Carlisle United are a few leagues above [in level] but my players acquitted themselves really well," he said.

“I’m delighted with the performance, and delighted everybody got through it without any injuries.

“It was always going to be tough – Carlisle United had two XIs, and very good XIs. We made a few changes ourselves and I’m delighted we managed to bring on a few of the young Annan Athletic graduates.

“Although we ended up losing the game, for young 17 and 18 -year-old to play against Carlisle United is good experience and hopefully improves us going forward.”

Annan made a quick start to the game and hit United on the break to score the opening goal through former Blues youth product Galloway.

“Maybe Carlisle United got a bit of a surprise, coming here for their first game and not expecting us to play football the way we did,” added the Galabank boss.

Peter Murphy, right, watches the action (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“It’s been a really beneficial exercise, I’m delighted all the fans came up, Carlisle United brought a lot of fans and a lot of our Annan fans were there as well.

“I’m raging about the result because I don’t like to lose any game but it was a very worthy exercise for both of us.”

Murphy’s side are now just a week away from competitive action when they take on Kilmarnock in the League Cup.

That competition’s group fixtures come ahead of their first ever taste of League One action, with promoted Annan starting third-tier life against Falkirk on August 5.

On his side’s pre-season progress, Murphy added: “On Tuesday we played against Morton, and in the first half we had about eight corners and eight long throw-ins to defend. Set-piece wise I was very happy that our players are paying attention to those details.

“[Against Carlisle] it posed a bit of a different problem. We didn’t have so many set pieces to defend, and it was the 3-5-2 [we had to contend with] – the way we coached our players to defend against the 3-5-2, it looked like they grasped it.

“Next week is probably just about getting them through to Saturday, because we then play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, which for a small squad like we have at this moment in time, will be tough.”

Murphy, who fielded former United midfielder Josh Dixon in midfield, confirmed he was still on the hunt for a number of further signings before the league campaign.

“We are looking to bring in probably four or five more players, whether that be loans or signings,” he said.

“In Scotland there is such a small pool of players, and when you’re trying to find players a lot will be on trial at full-time clubs at this moment in time.

“After this weekend and next week, those full-time clubs will be making their choices, and if some of those players are available, we’ll be ready to move.

“There are loan signings that we’ve got a bit of time with – English clubs are early in their pre-seasons, and later on they’ll know where their squads are.

“It’s just a case of trying to work all different angles and see if we can bring players in that will improve our squad, not just be part of the squad.”