New boy Tom Parkes says there was no way he was going to allow an ankle injury to interrupt his bright start to life with Carlisle United.

The centre-half, who scored the winner against Cambridge on Saturday, quickly returned to action after limping off on his debut against Swindon.

The summer signing said he was determined not to miss any games despite having to be substituted with the problem in United's opener.

Parkes has since turned in strong displays against Fleetwood and Cambridge and said: "I hurt my ankle but I spoke with the physio and said, listen, I don’t want to just sit out and miss games.

"So we had a chat, worked it out and I just keep getting it strapped up to make sure it's secure - and it's been fine since."

Manager Keith Curle has praised Parkes' determination to continue playing, also hailing physio Neil Dalton as a "miracle-worker".

The 25-year-old is now looking to build on United's excellent win at Cambridge, where he grabbed his first goal for the club.

The 39th-minute strike proved decisive as Carlisle got points on the board at the second attempt in the new League Two campaign.

Parkes said: "I'm normally a one-goal-a-season man but hopefully it's going to be something new for me this year.

"I said when I signed that I wanted to score more goals so hopefully I can build on Saturday.

"It's something we worked on in training, getting into the right places in the six-yard box, and lucky enough it landed to me and I made sure I hit it hard and low.

"It was a massive three points for us. We were disappointed to concede earlier but we worked hard as a team, battled and it paid off.

"Cambridge had some big lads in their team and we knew it was going to be a battle, but sometimes you're going to come up against challenges like that.

"It is great that we overcame it. A lot of teams know we want to play football, play and pass, but sometimes you've got to play the ugly side of it."

Parkes, who has impressed alongside back-in-favour Mark Ellis in United's last two games, says he is relishing life with the Blues following his summer move from Leyton Orient.

The centre-half said: "I've enjoyed playing with both centre-backs so far - Mark is brilliant in the air, a fighter who really wants to defend, while Gary [Liddle] is also very good on the ball and technically very good.

"The good thing is, whatever happens, we've got a good partnership between all three of us and that’s the main thing.

"I feel comfortable and happy here. I was told there was a great bunch of lads as well as coaching staff and manager, and they've all welcomed me in.

"We've got a week without a midweek game now and that's enough time to rest up after having a lot of minutes over the last week.

"But we've also got to make sure we stay on top of things and keep focused."