Carlisle United boss's faith in Blues' ability amid scramble

The Blues’ task to stay in League One got harder on Tuesday night as their gap to the safety line grew to ten points.

United’s need for wins is increasingly urgent as they prepare for a home clash with promotion-chasing Bolton Wanderers this weekend.

Manager Simpson has faith in his players’ quality even if he accepts Carlisle have not been consistent enough and have found the third tier challenging so far.

“We have to accept we’re scrambling a bit, we’re probably finding the level a challenge,” said Simpson.

“But I still think there’s enough ability in this group – and I still hope to add other additions to make it stronger.

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“I still believe there’s enough to be able to get ourselves out of trouble.”

Carlisle have 18 games to stage what would be a dramatic recovery.

The Blues have not often enough been able to emulate the standard of performance they showed when they last faced this weekend’s opponents.

The 3-1 win at Bolton in October was a high point in a campaign of struggle, while United have also performed valiantly in defeats against other high-fliers such as Barnsley and Portsmouth.

United performed well at Barnsley last time out but suffered defeat (Image: Richard Parkes)

“It probably is a reflection of where we are as a group that we’ve been able to raise it for those games but we haven’t raised it regularly enough,” said Simpson.

“That’s not good enough. It’s not acceptable as a professional footballer – you have to have a level of consistency.

“It’s disappointing that at Barnsley and Portsmouth we had that level of performance but got nothing out of it. We had that level of performance at Bolton where we managed to get a victory.”

This weekend’s clash with Ian Evatt’s Bolton is set to attract one of Brunton Park’s bigger crowds of the season, with nearly 3,000 away supporters making the trip.

Carlisle have had consistently strong support all season despite their position in the relegation battle.

The long-term aspirations of the club appear bright under the Piatak ownership and Simpson is desperate for results to improve along the way.

“I’m a big believer that this football club is in a really good place with a lot of positivity around it,” he added.

“One thing that’s missing is the positivity of winning games of football. That’s our job, to try and change that as quickly as we possibly can.”