Carlisle United's Jack Robinson injures ankle v Blackpool

Robinson had to be substituted in the first half of the 1-0 defeat.

The 22-year-old, who had started the game in midfield, looked in a lot of discomfort as he was helped from the pitch by physios Chris Brunskill and James Counsell.

Manager Paul Simpson said the extent of the injury is not yet known but the early signs were not promising.

“It was right on the goalline – I don’t know whether he got a push or he just went over on it, but he just felt his ankle twist, and he said he heard a pop,” said Simpson of the 17th-minute incident that hurt Robinson.

“I don’t really know what that means but he’s left on crutches.

“We’ll get it assessed, probably scanned next week.

“Jack Robinson has got a fantastic attitude and he will run through brick walls – there was no way he could carry on, and that probably shows how bad it was that he wasn’t even prepared to give it a try.”

Former Middlesbrough man Robinson becomes the latest in a series of late-season injuries for United, who lost Dan Butterworth and Sean Maguire to injuries the previous weekend, further depleting an already injury-hit squad.

The Cumbrians were also without Fin Back who suffered a calf injury on his return to the side in the win at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

Fin Back was ruled out with a calf injury (Image: Richard Parkes)

“He wasn’t fit to train yesterday,” said Simpson. “He’s still got swelling on the calf from the kick [he received], and couldn’t do any sort of calf raises on it.

“I saw him before the game, and there’s still no improvement. We had to rule him out.

• Carlisle United 0-1 Blackpool - as it happened

“I had no hesitation in putting Jack Ellis back in – it just wasn’t a game for us where it worked.

“We had Harrison Neal who got a dead leg in the first half, Jon Mellish had a bit of a dead leg too – they were both really struggling and both couldn’t sit down at half time, they just had to keep on the move to keep it moving.

“I was in two minds about whether to take them off but because we are a little bit low in numbers I couldn’t do that.

“It shows the attitude of them that they were prepared to battle through it.”

Simpson also said substitute Joshua Kayode lost two teeth in a challenge after he came off the bench for only his second appearance since returning from long-term injury.

United’s boss said he was “blatantly blocked and gets two teeth knocked out, and they [the officials] don’t see it.”

Carlisle’s manager was also annoyed by what he felt was an arm-led challenge on Jack Armer which went unpunished.

“The referee and fourth official are stood five yards away and don’t see it.

“But they [the officials] didn’t cost us the game – we cost ourselves by conceding [in the first minute] and because in the rest of the game we didn’t have the quality to be able to get a goal.”