Carlisle United boss demands higher work ethic at Portsmouth

Simpson says he wants the Blues’ running stats to be higher this afternoon – which will give them the best chance of an away day to remember.

Carlisle are hoping to be the first League One side to beat John Mousinho’s table-toppers (Fratton Park, 3pm) on the Cumbrians’ longest trip of the season.

But the manager says they have to get back to the work ethic they showed in their best win of the season – and which he felt dipped last time out.

“If I go back to metrics that we can actually measure, working is the basic for us – we have to have a great work ethic,” said Simpson.

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“We had nine or ten players against Bolton who ran over 10km, and against Orient we had four.

“You can take football out of it, but football is a running game and if you don’t do it you’re going to give yourself problems.

“They know that, the players have been shown and told it.

“We can’t have such a gulf between the level at Bolton then the level we got against [Nottingham] Forest [U21s in the EFL Trophy] and [Leyton] Orient.

Simpson felt United as a team didn't cover enough ground against Orient last time out (Image: Ben Holmes)

“It has to be closer and we’ve got to have more consistency. On top of that, we’ve got to be much better with the football, particularly in both 18-yard boxes.”

Portsmouth are unbeaten in 23 league games – 12 this season and 11 last term – and United will be backed by nearly 700 fans on the 702-mile round trip.

Simpson says he greatly appreciates such remarkable support and hopes his players can rise to the challenge in front of them.

“It’s incredible, absolutely superb,” he said of the backing.

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“We can’t thank them enough. I know the only way we can thank them is by putting on a performance. That’s all I want.

“I want to be able to put on a performance, I want to be in a position where we can go over at the end and thank them and celebrate with them.

“That’s all we can do. It’s brilliant they’re making that sort of journey down, absolutely superb, and hopefully it carries on.”

United start the day in 20th and, while the bookies make Pompey heavy odds-on favourites to win today, Simpson says his players must relish the opportunity.

“I’ve told the players that last season they earned the right to be involved in these games, so we have to relish these sorts of games,” he said.

“We’re going to a really good stadium against a good team who haven’t lost. They’re sitting at the top of the table because that’s where they deserve to be, and we’re where we are because we deserve to be there.

“The league table isn’t pleasant for us at the moment but Portsmouth will be sitting [feeling] everything is rosy in the garden.

“They’ve not lost, they’re sitting top of the table, they’ve had an international break where they can rest and recover, and their manager got manager of the month.

“We’ve got to go down there and make sure we spoil that, that’s all we can do. We need to make sure we have a level of performance that deserves to get something out of the game.”