Carlisle United boss 'raging' at Blues' Port Vale defeat

Manager Simpson slammed the defender as “unprofessional” for putting debutant keeper Jokull Andresson under pressure in the incident that led to the hosts’ penalty.

A Mellish throw-in was miscontrolled by Andresson – called into the side in place of Tomas Holy – who then fouled Vale midfielder Ethan Chislett.

James Wilson scored from the spot and it was enough to send the Cumbrians to a 1-0 defeat.

Simpson was furious in his post-match interviews and said: “When the dust settles, maybe I’ll be more balanced about the level of performance, but as I stand here I’m still absolutely fuming that we’ve allowed that situation to happen.

• Match report: Port Vale 1-0 Carlisle United
• Port Vale v Carlisle United - as it happened

“I’m absolutely raging with how we can concede a goal like that. And I feel for Jokull.

Jokull Andresson trips Ethan Chislett for Port Vale's penalty (Image: Richard Parkes)

“People will look at that and feel he’s to blame, but there is no way he should have been put in that position.

“That is unprofessional to do what we did there, four minutes into the second half, in a game that’s always going to be tough.

“If we carry on doing things like that we are not going to win a game.

“The thing that annoys me is when we win games, I think the players deserve the credit. When we lose games I feel as though I should take responsibility.

“I’m not taking responsibility for that goal that ultimately has cost us the game. That’s not in our game plan. We’ve never discussed that or done it in any game this season as far as I can remember, and if we did somebody probably got a rollicking, because that is inviting trouble – there’s no reason to do it.

“I am fuming because we should have been coming away with at least a point from a 0-0 draw.”

Simpson went on to call the Vale goal “disgusting” and “an absolute joke of a goal” to concede and said the manner of it let down United’s 705 travelling fans.

“That throw-in should have gone down the line, no two ways about it. There’s not even a debate about it,” he added.

“We’ve gifted them that moment and that is a massive, massive disappointment.

“For me, and I’ll have to take responsibility for it, but for the players, and for the supporters who have made that journey down, we’ve let them down with the way we’ve given that away today.”

The penalty incident soured Reading loanee Andresson’s debut and saw United fall to a third defeat in five League One games.

It was also a fourth game in six in all competitions without scoring as the Blues’ wait for a win went on.