Keith Curle says next season will be a “big year” for young Cumbrian Patrick Brough after ending his five-month exile from the Carlisle United side.

The left-sided player from Silloth was recalled against Oxford for his first outing since November.

It saw the 20-year-old make a belated contribution to United’s first-team in 2015/16 after a campaign spent mostly on the fringes.

And manager Curle says that, despite it having been a frustrating season for the home-grown player, he still has time on his side to become an influential player for the Blues.

Curle, who drafted Brough into the side after Macaulay Gillesphey failed a late fitness test on Saturday morning, said: “Patrick is very similar to a lot of players in that he’s got a level of improvement he needs to maintain.

“He needs to be working at his game.

“Sometimes not having that nervousness about knowing that you’re playing can help you.

“On Saturday I didn’t think our passing was good enough, and we didn’t use Patrick enough in the first half, which made it very difficult for him to shine.

“Patrick’s a work in progress. We gave him the length of contract we did because it was geared towards making sure he has the development period his position and profession needs, and because of his tender age as well.”

Curle added: “It will be a big year for Patrick next season. He started this season very well, then wasn’t able to force his way into the team.

“He has been on the fringes, and been sub a couple of times, has travelled but not made the squad a couple of times, but against Oxford he was able to come into the team.”

It was an 11th United appearance of the season for a player who also spent a month on loan with National League outfit Lincoln.

The former youth team star is one of the Blues players who is under contract for next term.

He will be hoping for a further opportunity in this weekend’s final game of the campaign at Notts County.

But that may depend on Newcastle loanee Gillesphey’s fitness.

Curle said: “Macaulay took a knock in training doing set-plays. He had a collision, which caused a dead leg that didn’t settle enough. 

"He came down and did a fitness test at 9.30am, wasn’t able to move properly, and we’ve got to make sure we know he’s a Newcastle United player as well, and we have to look after him.”