Paul Simpson says he’s sticking to his plan to give Carlisle United’s players a breather despite their thrashing at Reading.

The manager says he isn’t ripping up his plans in light of Tuesday’s heavy defeat.

Simpson wants to “freshen up” his injury-hit squad over a spell when the Blues do not have a game.

He wants them ready for a crucial run of December games when the Cumbrians return to action at Blackpool on December 9.

Asked about his response to Tuesday’s 5-1 loss, with United out of action today, Simpson said: “We have to just lift them, get them going again. We’ve got to get back on the training ground.

“The plan was to give them a bit of a freshen up over this period because they haven’t got a game, and that’s still the case.

“I don’t change plans just because we’ve had a bad defeat. I still believe the players need freshening up.

“But we also need to make sure we get back to training and start doing the basics really well, being better professionals than we were [on Tuesday].”

News and Star: Paul SimpsonPaul Simpson (Image: Richard Parkes)

Carlisle’s defeat at the Select Car Leasing Stadium to one of their rivals in the bottom four was a major blow.

It only served to underline the need for reinforcements in the transfer market.

Simpson, meanwhile, says he won’t use United’s lengthy list of injury absentees as an excuse for their midweek showing.

He described the game as a “proper eye-opener”.

The Blues boss added: “The truth is I felt we needed five or six new players in January to strengthen the group, because it’s not strong enough.

“I know we’ve got some injuries, we’re missing some players but I’m not going to make that as an excuse.

“I still felt as though we had enough in our team to be able to do certainly a lot better than we did.

“I can’t guarantee they’re going to win but I didn’t expect that level of performance, that level of poor decision-making. There are just so many things we can talk about that weren’t good enough, and the scoreline reflects that.”