John Sheridan demands greater consistency from his Carlisle side

Posted Sunday, September 30, 2018 by PA

Carlisle manager John Sheridan called on his players to show greater consistency after they slipped to a second successive home defeat against Stevenage who claimed all three points with a Ben Kennedy goal in the second half.

Sheridan said: “Every game in this division is hard and you can’t predict results. We get a good result one week then we go and do this to ourselves.

“Things would not go our way today. The work ethic was there but we should have scored two or three in the first half.”

Sheridan added: “The boys kept going and there was plenty of endeavour, but our decision-making let us down.”

The Carlisle boss admitted:”There are one or two players knocking on the door who think they should be playing and I might have a look at a few different players in midweek.”

He said: “We created lots of chances, but we didn’t convert them. One or two didn’t perform at their best and we have got to learn to be consistent.”

Stevenage scored the only goal of the game in the 56th minute when Kennedy cut in on his left foot and unleashed a fine shot from the edge of the box which gave goalkeeper Adam Collin no chance of saving. “It was a great goal, but we should have dealt with it,” complained Sheridan.

Stevenage manager Dino Maamria dedicated his side’s win to the missing fans who were held up in road works and an accident en route and were unable to get to Brunton Park. A coach-load of supporters were turned round after hold ups on the A66.

“We were very good, especially in possession where we were magnificent,” he purred. “Some of our football was brilliant today and I think we should have scored more.”

Maamria said: They put us under pressure in the last ten minutes, but we controlled a large part of the game. Our defence was too open in the first half, but we had the best chances and their keeper did great on both.

“The message at half time was let’s control the ball better. We started the second half by putting them under a lot of pressure and Ben Kennedy’s finish was brilliant.

“We’ve done a lot of work on possession of the ball and it’s good to see it happening on the pitch. We prepared really well and the three points are for the fans who got stuck and didn’t make it to the game, it’s for them.”

The victory moved Stevenage up to fourth in the table and Maamria commented: “What pleases me most is that work on the training ground is paying off on match days.”

Richie Bennett twice missed gilt edged chances for Carlisle in the first period, although Adam Collin’s saves from Danny Newton and Alex Revell arguably kept Carlisle on level terms at the break.

The Cumbrians piled on the pressure after Kennedy had put Stevenage in front, but for all their huffing and puffing the closest they came was an Adam Campbell header which struck the post.