Mark Hughes felt “every aspect” of Carlisle United’s display at Morecambe was on the money as the Blues kept survival hope alive.
A 2-0 win at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium cut the safety gap to six points with four games left.
Georgie Kelly and Terell Thomas scored to end a two-year wait for back-to-back league wins.
And Hughes said the way United handled the high-stakes game against their bottom-two rivals was excellent.
“It was very encouraging, I have to say,” the head coach told the News & Star.
“I just thought every aspect of our play was spot-on.
“I thought attacking-wise we asked good questions, got into good areas, put quality balls in for the strikers who were able to convert.
“And we stood up to the physical challenge and the amount of balls we had to deal with from deeper areas coming into our box.
“Everything that we talked about that we need to do to get a positive result, we did.”
Kelly made it three goals in two games when he headed home midway through the first half, then captain Thomas drilled home his first goal for the club on the hour mark.
Georgie Kelly turns to celebrate after opening the scoring (Image: Richard Parkes)
Defensively, United’s goal came under little threat other than a miss from Morecambe’s ex-Blues forward Hallam Hope late in the first half.
The battling contest took time to settle but Carlisle eventually showed their superiority as they climbed off the bottom of the table.
“There was never a point [early on] where I felt we were under any concerted pressure or momentum was against us,” added Hughes.
“I always felt we had the upper hand in that first half. I thought when we got the ball and played it out into our wider men and got our full-backs high up the pitch, we could cause them a real problem.
“It was a great ball in [by Jack Ellis] for Georgie for the first goal, and that's what we talked about. Our strikers need the service. We're going with two up top, and if they're not getting the service, then they're not going to be effective for us. So we're recognising that as a team.”
Hughes was impressed with the quality of Kelly’s finish, adding: “You see that in training from him. He's got good awareness in the box, and he's got real belief in his ability when he has chances to convert.
“So I think that shows the quality of the player.”
United secured their first clean sheet in nine games to safeguard the points. “Their [Morecambe’s] game plan is to get shots on goal and get balls in the box and cause a bit of chaos,” said Hughes.
“But I have to say, I felt quite comfortable for the vast majority of the game, and that's a credit to the lads.”
United will now bid to further their last-gasp survival push when they host League Two leaders Port Vale on Good Friday.
They will head into that game having finally ended a 99-game wait for consecutive league wins, a run stretching back to March 2023.
“The timing for us is good, clearly, because I wasn't comfortable with it [that statistic],” added Hughes.
“I was astonished when I first heard about it.
“It's taken a little while to get it out of the way, a little bit like last weekend [against Newport County] when we came back to win from two goals down which was the first time for about ten years.
“We're trying to do things and having to do things that haven't been done for a long time.
“Belief around the place is really good at the moment, so we've just got to keep going.”
FLASH SALE: Get unlimited access to every Carlisle United article by subscribing to the News & Star for £3 for 3 months or a full year with 40% off - click HERE
