Carlisle boss Mike Williamson had mixed feelings after his side moved out of the League Two relegation zone with a 1-1 draw against promotion-chasing Crewe at Brunton Park.
United’s unbeaten run extended to five games in all competitions, but they led for the majority of the game after Dominic Sadi opened the scoring in the second minute before Crewe secured a point with Jack Lankester converting a late penalty.
Williamson said: “Taking everything into context, they’re a very good team and they’re in the top three for a reason, but after scoring so early and having led for so long it’s disappointing as we defended so well and resolutely.
“With the penalty, it was down to there being such a willingness to win the game and doing everything we possibly can so it was coming from a good place.
“We’ve just got to focus on being calm in both boxes, being clinical when we have chances but again it was a monumental effort from the boys.”
In recent weeks, Carlisle have become more tight defensively, conceding just two goals in their last four league games, and Williamson is happy with that progress.
“We dealt with them well, they’ve got so many dangerous players and good rotations so I’m pleased with that,” he said.
“They had a lot of the ball and in the first half we were slow in transitions which allowed them to have possession and they did to us what we want to do to teams.”
Crewe boss Lee Bell was disappointed with his side’s performance as they failed to make up ground on leaders Port Vale.
“It’s probably the worst we’ve performed since Newport (a 2-1 defeat). We’ve been on a good run since then and today was an underperformance for the levels we’ve set in recent weeks,” he said.
“We were maybe just getting a bit too greedy, I wanted us to win, but when you can’t have three, you’ll definitely take one.
“We’re in a great position, third in the league after 17 games, but we’ve still got plenty to work on so that’s a good sign.”
One thing that concerned Bell was the timing of the Carlisle goal, as it came with just 80 seconds on the clock.
“We need to work on stopping early goals going in. It gave a team who are fighting for their lives, a good team by the way, something to hold on to and they were able to keep their shape a little bit more,” he added.
“The goal itself came from a deflection and it’s something we look at, how close players are closing down and their body position when that’s happening, but I won’t go overboard with the players about that, they stuck at it for the whole 90 and worked hard to get the point.”
