Mike Williamson says the scenes in the away end as Carlisle United dramatically defeated Salford City were a “rare experience” for him.

The head coach was delighted with the Blues’ late 1-0 victory at Salford City which gave their League Two campaign a much-needed boost.

Ben Barclay’s header triggered memorable celebration in the sell-out 1,366 travelling support at the Peninsula Stadium.

And Williamson, whose second-bottom side are now just one point adrift in the relegation zone, said the vibrant Blue Army played a big part in the day.

“I thought they were huge,” he said.

“I thought they really did suck the ball in, and we had a few set-pieces building up to that [Barclay’s goal].

“It does make such a difference to the boys, because in the first half we did find it hard, but we defended well, we stuck with it, and then in the second half…that was a rare experience for me personally, to see that emotion and passion.

“I thought they [the fans] were different class.”

Carlisle’s victory was their first in eight league games and only their second under Williamson as they grew into the contest against Karl Robinson’s Ammies.

United’s boss credited his players, as well as goalkeeping coach Tom Weal, for plotting the set-piece that led to Barclay’s winner.

“You spend a week working on these set pieces, and I know Wealey spent a lot of time on Friday going through it, and the boys actually wanted to go through it again,” he said.

Williamson credited goalkeeping coach Tom Weal with the set-piece work that led to Carlisle's winnerWilliamson credited goalkeeping coach Tom Weal with the set-piece work that led to Carlisle's winner (Image: Richard Parkes)

“So that deserves a lot of credit, the detail, because it's paid off. And the moment in the game that they did it makes it all the better.”

Carlisle struggled to make much headway in the first half and relied on some resolute defending – and goalkeeping from Gabe Breeze, who kept his place ahead of Harry Lewis – to keep Salford at bay.

United then improved as an attacking threat the longer the second half went on.

“We spoke at half-time about it – it’s a fear that if you run forwards, you leave space and you're going to get punished in behind,” Williamson said.

“But we've got to understand that we want to defend from the front and we want to defend as high up the pitch as we possibly can. So we've got to have that belief in our lines all the way from front to back.

“And the second half, yes, I thought we made a concerted effort to get up the pitch, to want to play the ball forward and run forward. 

“We picked up more second balls, we entered their box more. So, yes, we had a good amount of chances for that.

“It’s a real hard situation to play [United’s position], and to especially play like that in stressful periods of the game, when we're not getting out or we're not seeing things as we want to see them.

“We also spoke at half-time about bringing that desire and passion of wanting to defend into wanting to run forward.

“I think when you're in a situation where you're scrapping for everything, every point is such a big point. The tendency of just accepting a game of defending becomes too easy, and we've got to understand that – obviously we want to defend and keep a clean sheet, but we've got to attack and we've got to affect their goal.”

Williamson admitted the timing of their winning goal made the victory all the more enjoyable.

“That’s definitely the best way to win a game, I think,” he said, “with the exhilaration and the emotion, and at the away end, where the size of the crowd and the noise and the atmosphere was phenomenal.

“That was a real, real enjoyable experience, and I thought the boys deserved it in the end.”

Williamson urged his players to enjoy the winning feeling even as he accepted the Blues have plenty more work ahead of them to improve their position in League Two.

“We want to use everything we possibly can to keep building the momentum, the understanding, the detail and the confidence,” he said.

“We had a positive performance last week [against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup] and we've built on it here.

“We want to harness that as much as we possibly can. And just at this moment, we have to enjoy that.

“I wanted the boys to go over there [to the fans] and enjoy soaking it all in, because it's been a real tough, tough period for them.

“And they roll their sleeves up every week and they leave everything out there. It hasn't always gone our way, but this time it has.”