Carlisle must make Brunton Park a fortress – Tommy Wright

Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2018 by PA

Carlisle assistant manager Tommy Wright urged his side to make Brunton Park a fortress after seeing them scrap hard for a 2-1 win over a Port Vale side without an away victory since last December.

The Cumbrians led at half-time through Danny Grainger’s penalty after Connell Rawlinson was adjudged to have fouled in the box.

Vale came back strongly after the break and had chances to level before Tom Parkes came up from defence in the 85th minute to make it 2-0 with a header from Jamie Devitt’s corner.

There was still time for Luke Hannant to blast home a 25-yard free-kick, but for Vale it was too late to prevent another away reverse, making it 13 games without a win on the road since their 2-1 success at Carlisle on December 16.

Wright said: “We were excellent in the first half, passed the ball well and put them under pressure, but we lost our way a bit in the second half.

“If we keep our heads and pass from the back we look all right, but when we launch long balls they just come back to us and that’s not our style. We are not a long ball side.

“When pressure comes on we need to believe we can still win the game. We have some good technical players and they just need to believe in themselves.

“Home wins are vital if you are to be a success in this league and we want to make Brunton Park a fortress.”

Wright praised influential midfielder Kelvin Etuhu, adding: “He ran the match and was fantastic. He does the dirty work for lots of other people.”

Port Vale manager Neil Aspin was not too downhearted, despite another away defeat.

He said: “We played well in the second half and looked a good team as we pushed them back.

“We did everything you need to do in an away game and got robbed by a poor decision by the ref over the penalty. Another decision has gone against us, which is really disappointing, and we should have been going in 0-0 at half-time.”

Aspin added: “Hopefully the ref will look at it, but once it’s given it’s given. We have six points from four games, which is about what we deserve, but I feel there is more to come.

“There is no reason why we can’t pick up points. We have made improvements, but we need to get better.”