Bristol Rovers caretaker boss Andy Mangan felt his strategy went to plan in their 1-0 victory at Carlisle United.

The visiting stand-in manager said he wanted to target the Blues in wide areas.

And that route led to the decisive goal in the first half.

"We changed shape. We thought that we could hurt them in wide areas,” said Mangan, speaking via Bristol Live.

“In the first 20 minutes, I think you saw some really decent chances for us on the counter when we hit them on the break. Jack Hunt was getting crosses in, Harvey Vale was then landing on them.

"The change of shape actually helped us.

“I thought we were a little more dangerous on the counter attack and also because they're a little more direct, we can catch their long balls and then pick up a few more balls in the middle of the park with the three in the middle.

“It went to plan, thankfully, in the end but the lads deserve all the credit."

Jack Hunt’s delivery from the right was deflected into his own net by United defender Sam Lavelle.

News and Star: Bristol Rovers' players celebrate their goalBristol Rovers' players celebrate their goal (Image: Ben Holmes)

It saw Mangan go four games unbeaten at the temporary helm since stepping up after the sacking of Joey Barton.

The stand-in boss felt his team’s defensive efforts which nullified United were also crucial to the result.

“I’m over the moon. It was thoroughly deserved, to be honest – a fantastic performance,” added Mangan to his club’s official channels.

“The clean sheet is enormous, that’s a really big building block.

“The lads deserve so much credit, I’m so proud of them.

“We changed shape and only had a day to work on it – to perform like that after changing shape yesterday is amazing.”

Mangan also praised returning right-back Hunt for his impact.

“Jack is a top professional – he’s only trained three or four days so the fact he can give that output is incredible. What a man,” said the caretaker.

“He’s a credit to his craft.

“To a man the players were amazing.”

Mangan also felt his side adjusted well after Tristan Crama was sent off for fouling Terry Ablade.

“Unfortunately Tristan had to make that decision but we stuck in there with our shape after the man’s been sent off, we’ve gone 4-3-2 so we had a little bit more on the counter,” he added.

“Sometimes people go a little bit negative, but we stayed aggressive and nearly scored the second goal.”