New Carlisle boss Mark Hughes bemoaned what he felt were two key referring errors during their 2-1 defeat at Grimsby but took some encouragement from his side’s performance.
Hughes replaced Mike Williamson in charge of League Two’s bottom club earlier this week and enjoyed almost the perfect start as captain Sam Lavelle put them ahead after just five minutes at Blundell Park.
However, Grimsby hit back in the second half to claim victory through Justin Obikwu’s equaliser and Danny Rose’s 83rd-minute penalty, leaving Carlisle five points adrift of safety at the foot of the table.
Even though they ended up empty-handed, there was something in his new side’s performance for Hughes to grab onto heading into a midweek trip to Newport.
The former Wales boss said: “We had to stand up to the challenge Grimsby provided us, and I thought we did despite the result.
“I’m disappointed with the referee because he’s got two big decisions wrong.
“We should’ve had a penalty in the first half for a challenge on Joe [Hugill] but the referee books him [for simulation] and the same thing for the penalty he gave [to Grimsby]; it was a clear dive, but he gives it their way.
“We’ve only been in the building a couple of days, so we were conscious about giving them too much information and overloading them.
“I could see they were trying to make things happen, and there were encouraging things, but there were also aspects where we would have to be markedly better.
“In terms of effort and energy, I think it was an improvement from the games I’ve watched since arriving.”
Grimsby’s win leaves them ninth in League Two, three points behind Salford in seventh, and was fully deserved according to boss David Artell, whose only criticism of his team was that it was not a more comprehensive scoreline.
He said: “I thought the best team won; we were dominant for the most part, and I thought the result reflected the performance.
“We took a bit of a blow early on, and it was a poor goal to concede from our point of view, but I thought the lads showed unbelievable belief to come back.
“We’ve come from behind and done the double over a team for the second week running; we had 26 shots today and recorded another home win, so there are plenty of positives to take.
“We didn’t deserve to be behind at the break, but the team came out and ensured they won. We should’ve done so by more, but the fact is that we got over the line.”
“If we keep churning out these kinds of results, then we’ll see where we get to come at the end of April – we know we’ve got a good squad and the belief to keep getting these results.”
