Carlisle boss Mark Hughes was pleased with his team’s determination as they weathered a Port Vale fightback to win 3-2 and boost their League Two survival hopes.
The Cumbrians raced into a 3-0 lead, with Georgie Kelly, Matty Dennis and Aaron Hayden getting the goals, but league leaders Vale bounced back through Jayden Stockley and Sam Hart to put the hosts under the pump.
The visitors had a massive chance to level late on but Gabe Breeze saved well to his left to keep out Lorent Tolaj’s penalty and secure the points.
Hughes was full of praise for his team after the match, saying: “I was delighted for the lads, I felt like we picked up from where we left off last week.
“We fully deserved the win in my view, the performance in the first half was excellent. I’m really pleased with the level that we showed in that first half, going up against the top team in the division.
“Second half they had to change their shape from the first half as they couldn’t get a foothold in the game.
“We knew they’d come back, but you just hope that things don’t drop for them in the box. They always ask questions.
“We got the third goal and ideally we’d have seen the game out comfortably but it’s nowhere like that at League Two level.
“We had to dig in at the end and we’re grateful for Gabe (Breeze), he made a great save at the end. We won the game and that was the right result at the end.”
It’s now three wins on the spin for the Cumbrians and the gap to safety is now down to four points and Kelly has been instrumental in that, scoring four goals in that run.
Hughes is pleased with the form of his number nine. He said: “Georgie, once again, is playing out of his skin.
“He hasn’t played anywhere near enough football recently for a player of his talent. I think he’s just enjoying being out there. He plays with freedom, plays with intelligence as well.”
Meanwhile, Port Vale boss Darren Moore felt that his side got “caught up with the atmosphere” as his side fell to just their second defeat in eight games.
The Valiants are still top, but are only one point ahead of second-placed Doncaster and just three ahead of fourth-placed Walsall, meaning that the promotion race is set to go down to the wire.
Moore said: “When I look back at the first-half showing, I just thought we probably got caught up with the atmosphere here today, as opposed to playing the game.
“I just thought when you look at their three goals, and one was a mistake by us, the first one, then goals two and three I’ll probably put that down to static defending.
“We spoke about just getting one goal and that it would turn the atmosphere in the place. It did, which you can understand and then for large parts of the second half it was all Vale. We thought we’d come out of the game with something, but it wasn’t to be.”
