Mike Jones admits he faces fierce competition for a place at Carlisle United after returning from injury frustration.

The midfielder’s start at Oldham was his first for nearly two months because of a hamstring problem.

Experienced Jones admits he is glad to be back after a nightmare start to the campaign. But he accepts he can’t take his position for granted given the competition in midfield.

“The gaffer put faith in me [on Saturday] and I was buzzing with that, especially at Oldham where I used to play,” Jones said. “But I’ve got to keep performing now. There are some great midfielders at the football club at the minute - it’s probably the most competitive position.”

Jones played 80 minutes at Boundary Park, his first start since limping off against Northampton in the second game of the season. “It was such a frustrating start - being injured so early is strange, and especially a muscle injury, something I’ve never had before,” the 31-year-old said.

“You put the graft in during pre-season, get your body in as good a physical condition as you can, and then get a setback so quickly.

“But that’s football. I’m used to it, you get injuries, and there’s no point crying about it - you just get in the gym, let it settle and work hard to get back.

“I’ve done that, I felt good on Saturday and can hopefully kick on now.” Jones played his part in United’s third straight away win in League Two as the Blues climbed back to 10th.

He admitted an improvement in fortunes at Brunton Park is now needed but insisted John Sheridan’s team will address their home form. “Sometimes you can’t look into it too much and it’s just the way things work out,” said Jones about Carlisle’s contrasting fortunes.

“As the gaffer has touched on, if you look at the Tranmere home game, we missed a penalty at 0-0, and against Stevenage Benno [Richie Bennett] had two glorious opportunities.

“If those go in it’s another story, so there isn’t much in it. I’m sure it will turn and we’ll start to win those home games, and if we keep nicking points on the road we can be right up there.”

On Carlisle’s victory at Oldham, the midfielder said: “We were pretty comfortable. When they got their goal you start to think, ‘here we go’, and if it gets to 3-2 then you really start to worry a bit.

“But it was a good performance on the road, because they’re not a bad team - and we scored some great goals.”

Jones also said he is enjoying working under his former Latics boss Sheridan at Carlisle. He said: “He tells it how it is and you can’t complain with that kind of honesty.”

He added: “If you do something wrong, he tells you, and if you do something right, he praises you.

“You know where you stand and everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.”

United face Sunderland in the Checkatrade Trophy at the Stadium of Light tonight. Jones said: “It will be nice going there, a stadium not many have played at, so we’ll go there to enjoy it and see what we can do.”