Keith Curle says Carlisle United's superb victory against Doncaster has shown the rest of League Two that the Blues are still a "dangerous animal".

Curle was delighted with the way his side responded against the leaders three days after Saturday's dismal defeat to Blackpool.

And the United boss says Tuesday's 2-1 win will have answered some questions posed by those who felt Carlisle were set to slip out of the automatic promotion running.

Curle said: "I can assure you there will be a lot of teams who'd have looked at the result on Saturday and felt that we've had key players missing, and were hoping that four or five new players coming into the club wouldn't have gelled.

"A result like this says when we've been slapped in the face, we're a dangerous animal. Now there's renewed belief in the changing room. We know what's required to win games."

Curle said he made four changes to his team on Tuesday, and also changed tactics, in order to make United a tougher customer against Darren Ferguson's side.

He recalled Jamie Proctor, Shaun Brisley, Mike Jones and Reggie Lambe to his starting line-up.

The results were impressive for a Blues team who head to play-off chasing Wycombe this weekend.

Curle added: "We had to change our tactics. Predominantly we've been playing two up front and with different variations at the back.

"I had to make a decision, and I needed to go and stop [Doncaster] from playing. I had to make it an aggressive encounter whereby if someone's coming into our turf, we're gonna knock them about.

"The players bought into it. We needed to be an aggressive, wounded animal.

"Against teams playing with confidence, and with good players, you need to get close to them, get them out of their stride and let them know they've come to a place where they're going to be fighting tooth and nail for everything.

"From the first minute we were competitive, looking for the challenges, looking for the next encounter, the next confrontation. That was pleasing.

"Training this week hasn't been about us being progressive, passing and playing. It's been about nullifying, and players getting that extra inch out of themselves physically and mentally. It was the unity we're trying to build that shone through."

Curle, meanwhile, has postponed his plan to assess a trialist in training tomorrow.

The unnamed player will instead be invited back to Carlisle next week, with "two or three" free agents also set to be involved in another reserve friendly.