Carlisle United keeper Harry Lewis on form and confidence

“But it's not necessarily the easiest when shots come through bodies and there's movement on the ball and little deflections, which there was [on Saturday].”

The difficult level indeed looked high when Colchester were peppering Lewis’s Carlisle United goal with shots in Saturday’s second half. The keeper met the challenge superbly and could then reflect with satisfaction on a clean sheet – and another marker in form which is clearly his best for the Blues so far.

“I just try my best. I work really hard Monday to Friday with a good goalie coach and a good group of goalies. Jude [Smith] and Gabe [Breeze] are two fantastic guys. I really enjoy working with them.

“It's nice to have a day like [Saturday], where I see the goalkeeping unit as a team – and I think that's one for the lads that have stuck in there and worked really hard.”

Lewis was most observers’ man of the match in Essex. Mike Williamson described his performance as faultless while Colchester’s Danny Cowley also acknowledged the keeper’s impressive showing.

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The 26-year-old, it’s fair to say, has not always enjoyed the warmest of reviews from supporters during his nine months in Cumbria but his displays of late have seen his approval rating climb.

“I actually think a lot of people are rooting for me,” Lewis says. “A lot of people want me to do really well. And I'm more disappointed than anybody else when the team concedes goals or I'm not at my best.

“It’s never through a lack of trying. As I say, I work really, really hard. Some days you just have days where it doesn't quite go for you – and I felt like I had a day [at Colchester] where we could have played three games back-to-back and no-one was scoring.

“It's about trying to have more days like that, as many as possible. A clean sheet is really satisfying. It's something that's going to give me a bit of confidence and a bit of belief in myself, which has possibly been lacking during my time here.”

Successive clean sheets in away games have offered signs of security under Williamson even though, at Brunton Park, Carlisle have remained leaky. The legacy of last season is also one of conceding in bulk and the need to put down firmer foundations is an ongoing matter now.

Lewis has kept successive away clean sheets, at Swindon (pictured) and Colchester (Image: Richard Parkes)

“It’s horrible as a defensive unit [when you concede as we have]. You want to keep the ball out of the net. You want to keep clean sheets,” Lewis says. “Myself as a goalkeeper, I take real pride in keeping clean sheets. Since I've been here, I've not kept as many as I would have liked, certainly.

“There's still plenty to pick out of a game like [Saturday]. There's still plenty to work on and we need to turn those good 45 minutes into good 90 minutes. But it was a nice feeling coming away, because some games you're not going to win and it's really important to not lose.”

Indeed, it was Carlisle’s first draw of the season after collective seven defeats and two wins. A return of seven points from ten games is paltry and the aim is to grow during the next phase of the campaign under Williamson.

For Lewis, there is the double task of adjusting to the new head coach and also a third goalkeeping coach in a matter of months. After ending last season with Dave Timmins, and starting this one with Glen Johnson, Lewis and his fellow keepers now work under Tom Weal, who has followed Williamson from MK Dons.

“I think that is really, really important,” Lewis says of the coach-keeper rapport. “Having the right relationship, the right person, managing a group.

“But I'm certainly enjoying the early stages of working with Wealy. I enjoyed working with Glen and Timmo as well. With Wealy, it seems like his detail is really good. The gaffer really believes in him to bring him in and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's got to offer.

“The early signs are really, really good and it's always nice to play for the gaffer, but I always feel like I owe the goalkeeper coach good performances because he really believes, and he really works hard, and I can tell he's very meticulous in the way he goes about his stuff.

“So, yes, I'm really looking forward to this relationship that we're going to build.”

What about the switch to Williamson, following the departure of the manager who signed him, Paul Simpson?

“There's a lot of information to take on, that's for sure. And I think it's going to be a process that's going to take a little bit of time to adjust to, which isn't a bad thing,” says Lewis.

“But I just think we need to be patient, and not beat ourselves up when it's not perfect. As I say, we've had a few games now under the new gaffer and we've probably put together a good 45 minutes, a good 60 minutes here and there. But it's about turning it into 90 minutes and that's going to involve us getting fitter, getting smarter.

Lewis and his fellow keepers, including Gabe Breeze, are now working under a third goalkeeping coach in a matter of months (Image: Ben Holmes)

“It actually feels really nice to come into work and learn new things and tactical things. The game's changed in so many ways now and I think we've got to adapt to that if we want to be a successful side.

“I'm fully behind and fully bought into what the gaffer wants to bring to the club and I actually think it suits my style of play. I really enjoy being involved in it.”

A more footballing style does seem to Lewis’s liking and perhaps a greater comfort in United’s method is helping bring out the best of him now. Carlisle’s three clean sheets so far in League Two has already matched their league total for the entirety of last season, and if that says more about the woes of 2023/24 than anything else, the more regular shut-out feeling is still one Lewis can embrace.

Reflecting further on the Colchester draw, he says: “We've got two clean sheets and two away from home now, which is really satisfying. Obviously, our home form is something that we are going to have to address. But I think that good teams can get results when they're not necessarily playing great.

“And I think we played great for 45 minutes, but when you're [then] under the cosh, it's really important to not lose. And I think a good team gets a result when they're under pressure and they see things out.

“To see that out [on Saturday] gives us a little bit of a platform to build off, I think, and gives us something to say there's a bit of grit about this group of lads, and we can turn things around – because we’ve conceded a lot of easy goals. I'm sure everybody agrees we've been a little bit easy to beat on occasions. But [Saturday] was certainly a day where we were really hard to break down.

“The frustrating thing is that we didn't score when we were on top in the first half. You've got to capitalise when you're in the ascendancy. But we dug in and we kept that clean sheet. As a defensive player, that's really nice to be part of.”