Paul Simpson ‘really disappointed’ by Carlisle display in defeat at Harrogate

Paul Simpson said his Carlisle players let themselves down during Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup first-round defeat at Harrogate.

Sam Folarin scored the only goal of the game from long range in the 23rd minute to leave the Sky Bet League One Cumbrians winless in eighth attempts against Simon Weaver’s Sulphurites.

And Simpson, who made no fewer than four substitutions at half-time, was far from impressed by what he witnessed in North Yorkshire.

“I’m really disappointed in what we have done tonight,” he said.

“I wanted to win this game, I wanted to be in the second round of the cup.

“In the first half, we lacked energy, which is why I decided to make changes at half-time, just to see if I could inject a bit of life into it.

“I thought that second half, the two centre-backs showed some enthusiasm to want to play, but unfortunately there were too many who were off it in the final third and that is where we have really let ourselves down.”

After Jack Armer, Luke Plange and Jon Mellish all squandered first-half chances to find the net for Carlisle, while Ryan Edmondson wasted an even better opportunity after 76 minutes when he failed to convert from the penalty spot.

Speaking about the miss, Simpson added: “I don’t like to criticise anyone for missing a penalty, but I thought that penalty summed up our lack of quality in the final third on the night.

“It was really, really poor from players who have better ability than they showed.”

By contrast, Harrogate boss Weaver was more than satisfied by his own team’s attacking play and is now hoping to draw one of the big boys in round two.

“We achieved everything that we wanted to get out of tonight, so I’m really pleased,” he reflected.

“The first half, we were on the front foot and there was some free-flowing football at times. It was fast-paced and we had that goal-threat as well, which is great to see.

“This is an exciting competition to be involved in and so I’m delighted to be in round two.

“Our first year in the Football League we drew Premier League West Brom and it was shown live on Sky Sports, so that was in the back of my mind before tonight’s game.

“It was such a special occasion and I’m hoping we can pull a big club out of the hat again.”