Keith Millen admits ‘it’s not the start we wanted’ as Carlisle slump to defeat

Posted Sunday, October 31, 2021 by PA

Keith Millen admitted it was far from the ideal start after his first game in charge of Carlisle ended in a 3-0 defeat at Northampton.

The Cumbrians, on an eight-game winless run, failed to make the most of a decent start at Sixfields before falling behind to a Paul Lewis goal late in the first half.

There was only one winner from then on as Lewis completed his hat-trick in the second half to send Carlisle into the relegation places.

“Obviously it’s not the start we wanted,” admitted Millen. “The goals we conceded are poor goals and those are the sort of goals you tend to concede when you’re on a bad run.

“But take the goals out of it and I thought we were OK in the first half, we were solid and you could see what we were trying to do.

“We created some half-chances and with a bit of luck we might have scored the first goal and I think that would have been huge for this group of players.

“We were then on the attack but they go up the other end and score with their first chance and then in the second half, you could see the belief and confidence drained out of the players.

“The second goal is a mistake from us and the third isn’t a penalty. I thought it had to be a clear handball but there’s no way that is – none of their players or fans appealed for it.

“That was harsh on us but we now have to find a way of being better and more effective with what we’ve got.”

Northampton have won their last four in a row, keeping a clean sheet in all of them.

Manager Jon Brady said: “It’s good to get the points on the board and to have four wins in a row is really positive considering where we were at after Hartlepool.

“It wasn’t brilliant from us today but we got the job done.

“We came out at the start of the game and we weren’t making good decisions and we didn’t do the simple things right consistently.

“We had a word at half-time and I felt we were better in the second half but we still weren’t at our best.

“It’s not a bad thing because you’re not always going to be at your best but we were still very organised and very strong and to grind out wins like that, and make it look comfortable, is very pleasing.

“We probably needed a bit more freshness in there because we’ve played the same players for the last four of five games, but we found a way to get the job done.”