Carlisle United manager Mark Hughes has blasted his players performance after suffering a devastating 3-0 defeat against Doncaster Rovers yesterday afternoon.
The Cumbrians entered the game full of confidence having picked up four points from their last two games. A 2-1 win over Bromley was followed by a 2-2 draw against MK Dons, boosting their slim hopes of survival. However, with Tranmere Rovers hitting form at the right time and having beaten Cheltenham Town on Friday night, three points was imperative.
Perhaps the last place Carlisle wanted to visit was promotion chasing Doncaster, and it was the hosts who stormed to victory thanks to goals from Owen Bailey, Jordan Gibson and Harry Clifton. It’s a result which saw Hughes’ side return to the bottom of the table after Morecambe earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swindon Town.
Hughes Scathing In Assessment Of Performance
Time is fast running out for Carlisle. With just seven games remaining, they are now nine points from safety and look nailed on to suffer a second successive relegation. Following the game, Hughes was asked if survival is still a possibility:
“Not playing like we did [here], clearly, because that’s not going to get you any kind of points on the board.
“We’ve just got to move very quickly on from it and make sure on Tuesday, at Chesterfield, we have something that looks something like a battling performance.
“Because otherwise it’ll be more of the same. There’s no denying that.”
Continuing, the former Blackburn Rovers and Bradford City boss revealed his players failed to execute his game plan:
“We weren’t good enough. We were lacking in a lot of the elements that you need to do well at to be able to win football matches.
“I felt maybe a lot of the issues around us during the season came to the fore again.
“I haven’t seen that in recent weeks, so it’s difficult to take. We talked about what we were going to do and how to execute the game plan, but none of that came about.”
Writer’s View
Hughes appears to be a man accepting the worst. Although mathematically possible, Carlisle are destined to be playing in the National League next season. They have shown glimpses that they can put up a fight in recent weeks but they fact of the matter is that they’ve left it too late. Nine points is a huge gap at this stage of the season and they will have to rely on others suffering a huge lapse in form. In short, they’re down.
