Carlisle United suffer EFL Trophy defeat to Accrington Stanley

An 86th minute Corey Whelan own goal was enough to separate the sides. Credit: PA

Carlisle United suffered defeat in their first EFL Trophy match of the season away to Accrington Stanley.

The Blues lost 1-0 with an 86th minute Corey Whelan own goal separating the sides.

Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson made nine changes to the side that started in their first win of the season against Shrewsbury Town.

Speaking to the Carlisle United website Simpson spoke of his disappointment of the players that came into start the match.

United suffered defeat in their first EFL Trophy match. Credit: PA

He said: "Unfortunately we haven’t done enough in the game for players to really be banging on my door and saying they deserve to be in the team.

“When I say they haven’t done enough, it wasn’t enough over the 90 minutes. We had 45 minutes of good stuff and then in the second half we haven’t kept that going.

“Whether that’s because they’re not used to playing games at that tempo, and they weren’t robust enough to keep doing things properly is a real concern, and it’s a challenge for them and us to get fitter.

“Maybe have to work them harder if they’re not used to the pace of this sort of game. Maybe we need to increase our work levels to get them fitter, because they didn’t look like they were fit enough to keep it going in the second half.

Simpson made nine changes to his starting XI. Credit: PA

“That’s something where they have to look at themselves as well. We can’t do it all, they have to push themselves.

“The errors in the second half possibly come from a tiredness of mind or of body and unfortunately that costs you a game, because you have to be able to push yourself for 90 plus minutes in every game.”

Simpson revealed that he did not want to make as many as the nine changes he did make ahead of the match.

He said: "Yes, it was nine, and to be honest I didn’t want to make that many. Tomas Holy was always going to be playing and I thought he did some good things, with a couple of good saves.

“Jack Armer has a bit of a back problem, a spasm, and that made him unavailable. We have to hope that settles down.

“Ben Barclay has got a calf strain that will put him out for four to six weeks. He picked it up when he was doing the work on the pitch at the end of the game on Saturday which, being honest with you, I’m really annoyed about.

Carlisle United play their next two matches away from home. Credit: PA

“We had it scanned today and, like I say, it’s a four to six-week job. It’s such an innocuous thing as well. It didn’t look much but then he’s had the scan and it’s shown up that I think they said it’s a 10cm tear in his muscle so it’s going to set him back a few weeks."

The match seen a new striking partnership take to the field for the Blues for the first time.

Terry Ablade and JJ Kayode started the match against Accrington with Simpson keen to try the pair together.

He said: "I wanted to see JJ Kayode and Terry Ablade up front, and that’s why I had the two strikers out there.

“The plan was always for JJ just to get 60 minutes. I want to introduce him slowly so that we can consider him for the weekend without pushing him too far.

“They’ve all done a session on Tuesday back at the ground, but it was probably more changes than I really wanted."

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