CARLISLE United claimed their first February victory with a 1-0 win against Colchester United last weekend.

Alfie McCalmont's first goal for the Blues was the difference at Brunton Park as Paul Simpson's side held onto their automatic promotion place after a string of recent defeats.

Using WhoScored.com, we took a look at how Carlisle got back to winning ways.

Four days after their 4-0 thrashing by Mansfield at Brunton Park, Simmo's side were back in action and worked hard to earn three points - and this is reflected in the match stats.

On the day it was the Blues that carried the majority of the goal threat, recording 12 shots to Colchester's eight.

In addition, Carlisle tested Kieran O'Hara with three shots on target whilst Tomas Holy was untroubled by the visitors, who did not manage an effort on goal.

Despite the lack of threat from the visiting U's, the main feature of this match was a gritty defensive performance from the Blues. 

In a game where Carlisle only had 43 per cent of the ball, their defence stepped up with the Blues winning 39 aerial duels to Colchester's 23 and 20 tackles to their opponents 16.

Individually, Carlisle players also dominated the defensive stats with Paul Huntington and Morgan Feeney winning 16 aerial duels between them.

Owen Moxon also recorded the joint most successful tackles alongside Colchester's Arthur Read.

After a string of disappointing results, this performance - in which the Blues showed an abundance of grit and determination - may be exactly what was needed to get the promotion push back on track.