People have said Carlisle United’s 4-0 victory at Swindon was a shock win. I’m not sure it was a shock win but it was certainly a shock scoreline.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate 19-year-old Sheffield United loan midfielder Regan Slater on his first two Football League goals.

At the moment, the more games he gets, the better he seems to be getting.

Confidence-wise, his performance on Saturday will have done him the world of good.

His first was not an ordinary goal either, it really was a super strike.

Jamie Devitt, and Ashley Nadesan, were both also on the scoresheet for John Sheridan’s side at the County Ground.

Playmaker Devitt is improving beyond all recognition, really. Hopefully, with young Slater bouncing around him, they can really get the engine room in midfield working.

It was good not to have a midweek game this week.

Carlisle only have a small squad and it allows the likes of captain Danny Grainger, who was left out of the squad at the weekend as a precaution, extra time to recover, although it sounds like he won't have recovered for this weekend's game.

Despite the recent spell of poor home form, where the Cumbrians struggled to score at Brunton Park, with the style of play they are playing, it’s not a surprise when they score four goals. The style of football is positive.

It’s also nice to see United’s goal difference move into positive numbers, as well.

Leaders MK Dons and Lincoln have pulled away a little bit at the top of League Two. I expect they will probably keep going and be in contention for automatic promotion for the rest of the season.

Carlisle’s opponents tomorrow, Forest Green, were beaten 1-0 at home to Morecambe in the league last Saturday.

Although you don’t want to see other teams struggle, hopefully Mark Cooper’s men will go on a bit of a bad run now and Sheridan’s side will catch them on another bad day this weekend.

Hopefully, with United having won three of their last four matches in all competitions, a few hundred more bodies will go through the gate at Brunton Park this weekend to support the Blues. Getting back into the play-offs isn’t beyond Carlisle in my opinion.

It’s nice to have won the last couple of matches, although you need to turn that into a six-game or seven-game unbeaten run to really get back into promotion contention.

It’s nice that Slater’s loan with Carlisle is a season-long deal, that is a bit of a coup.

Hopefully, Sheridan will be able to keep hold of striker Nadesan for the rest of the 2018/19 campaign, as well as the other players whose loans and short-term deals are up at the turn of the year.

Sheffield United must be pleased with what they are seeing of Slater. He seems to be getting a good grounding.

The loan system is an important part of lower-league football nowadays.

If you have a good record of looking after players, like Sheridan does, that’s half the battle of getting decent players in. The parent clubs know their players will be looked after and given a chance.

Away from Carlisle news, it’s sad to see Workington Reds are struggling at the minute.

Not that long ago, the Borough Park outfit looked like they might get promoted out of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, but now, they look like they might be going the other way and will have a real battle on to beat the drop this term.