Keith Curle said Carlisle United's win against Grimsby was a victory for unity between the club and its supporters.

The Blues' fourth straight win came after a major community effort to clear snow from the stadium and pitch.

The volunteers and staff who spent hours removing the aftermath of the Beast from the East from Brunton Park were rewarded with United's 2-0 triumph.

Curle said it showed what is possible when people work in the same direction.

"It was about a football club pulling together," he said.

"Firstly with Dave Mitchell and the groundstaff, there was a decision-making process with the bad weather coming in.

"He took on board lots of information but did what he knows to be right, even to the extent of the referee coming in and passing the pitch - it's probably one of the first times a referee's deemed a pitch playable without basically being able to see it.

"He was able to see patches underneath the snow and covers and deemed it playable.

"The people who came in, clearing the snow - excellent. It's good to see, even to the extent of having Kris Twardek's parents in clearing the snow.

"When you get players' parents involved, you think - yeah, there's people buying into what we're trying to achieve."

Hallam Hope's 11th of the season and Mark Ellis' second-half header saw the Blues cut the gap to the play-offs to three points.

Hope had a late penalty saved but Carlisle took full advantage of being involved in one of just two League Two games to beat the arctic weather on Saturday.

"The result merited the hard work and unity shown over the last few days," Curle added.

"There's been no talk of contracts, players in, players out, players not starting, should the manager be here, who's the manager gonna be, who's sitting in the stand…it was about a football club focused on what's going on on the pitch."

On United's victory, in front of 4,151 fans, the manager added: "We got a great start, the impetus and momentum was there but then we stopped what was giving us success by putting the ball into good areas and turning them, and utilising the pace, agility and movement we had.

"The game could have been out of sight, but we nullified their chances down to a minimum. I've got to say, Jack Bonham's save in the second half when they had a bit of impetus was Championship class."

United's winning run has kept their play-off hopes alive with 10 games to go, ahead of next weekend's clash with sixth-placed Exeter at St James' Park.

Curle believes his team's form will not be going unnoticed by other teams in the race.

"I think other clubs will be looking and thinking, 'it was gonna happen, [and now] it's happening.

"Teams wont like coming against us home or away, because we've got good dynamics, momentum and good players."