Mike Williamson describes the events in the away end during Carlisle United’s thrilling victory over Salford City as a “rare experience.”
The Blues’ late 1-0 victory against Salford City, which provided their League Two campaign with much-needed momentum, thrilled the head coach.
At Peninsula Stadium, a sell-out crowd of 1,366 people watched as Ben Barclay’s header set off an unforgettable celebration.
The lively Blue Army was a major factor in the day, according to Williamson, whose second-bottom team is currently only one point from the relegation zone.
I thought they were huge,” he said.
“I thought they really did suck the ball in, and we had a few set-pieces building up to that [Barclay’s goal].
“It does make such a difference to the boys, because in the first half we did find it hard, but we defended well, we stuck with it, and then in the second half…that was a rare experience for me personally, to see that emotion and passion.
“I thought they [the fans] were different class.”
As they developed into the match against Karl Robinson’s Ammies, Carlisle won for the first time in eight league games and only for the second time under Williamson.
The United manager gave his players and goalkeeping coach Tom Weal credit for arranging the set-piece that resulted in Barclay’s game-winning goal.
“You work on these set pieces for a week, and I know Wealey spent a lot of time going over it on Friday. The boys really wanted to go over it again,” he said.
“So that deserves a lot of credit, the detail, because it’s paid off. And the moment in the game that they did it makes it all the better.”
Carlisle struggled to make much headway in the first half and relied on some resolute defending – and goalkeeping from Gabe Breeze, who kept his place ahead of Harry Lewis – to keep Salford at bay.
United then improved as an attacking threat the longer the second half went on.
“We spoke at half-time about it – it’s a fear that if you run forwards, you leave space and you’re going to get punished in behind,” Williamson said.
“But we’ve got to understand that we want to defend from the front and we want to defend as high up the pitch as we possibly can. So we’ve got to have that belief in our lines all the way from front to back.
“And the second half, yes, I thought we made a concerted effort to get up the pitch, to want to play the ball forward and run forward.
“We picked up more second balls, we entered their box more. So, yes, we had a good amount of chances for that.
“It’s a real hard situation to play [United’s position], and to especially play like that in stressful periods of the game, when we’re not getting out or we’re not seeing things as we want to see them.
“We also spoke at half-time about bringing that desire and passion of wanting to defend into wanting to run forward.
“I think when you’re in a situation where you’re scrapping for everything, every point is such a big point. The tendency of just accepting a game of defending becomes too easy, and we’ve got to understand that – obviously we want to defend and keep a clean sheet, but we’ve got to attack and we’ve got to affect their goal.”
Williamson admitted the timing of their winning goal made the victory all the more enjoyable.
“That’s definitely the best way to win a game, I think,” he said, “with the exhilaration and the emotion, and at the away end, where the size of the crowd and the noise and the atmosphere was phenomenal.
“That was a real, real enjoyable experience, and I thought the boys deserved it in the end.”
Williamson urged his players to enjoy the winning feeling even as he accepted the Blues have plenty more work ahead of them to improve their position in League Two.
To continue gaining momentum, comprehension, detail, and confidence, we want to do everything in our power,” he stated.
“We’ve improved upon our strong showing against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup last week.
“We want to use that to our fullest potential. And we must relish that for the time being.
It’s been a really difficult time for the guys, so I wanted them to walk over there [to the fans] and enjoy taking it all in.
Every week they put their everything on the line and roll up their sleeves. This time, things has gone our way, but it hasn’t always.
