Carlisle United's Paul Huntington suffers calf injury

Blues manager Paul Simpson confirmed the extent of the veteran defender’s injury after the victory at Bolton Wanderers.

Huntington was at the game with United but was not involved in the squad.

Simpson then confirmed the 36-year-old would be out for three or four weeks.

“He complained of a sore calf after the game on Tuesday [the 1-1 draw with Peterborough United],” said Simpson of a game when Huntington was an unused substitute.

“I didn’t see it at the time but possibly it was that sprint down the line to celebrate that equaliser [that caused it]…

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“It was so sore that we got it scanned and he’s got a small strain that’s probably going to be three or four weeks maybe.

“And unfortunately at this stage of his career, that’s what happens.

“We’ve just got to get him right. It’s about the players we’ve got available to go and do the job and make sure we’re in a good position come next weekend.”

Captain Sam Lavelle was outstanding at Bolton (Image: Richard Parkes)

In Huntington’s absence, Sam Lavelle captained the side for the second time at Bolton.

And the ex-Trotters player produced an outstanding defensive performance alongside his team-mates as United claimed a memorable win.

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“He’s a leader, an absolute leader,” said Simpson of Lavelle.

“I said that when I spoke to him in the summer – ‘I expect you to be a leader,’ and he’s now stepping up to that.

“I thought Jon Mellish was outstanding too, he has been and is showing a real maturity with his last two performances.

“Everybody performed. I can’t really pick out a lot of things that went wrong.

“This is what you have to do, you have to have that level of consistency right through the whole team to be able to earn a result like we have.”