Carlisle Utd's Gary Liddle: Playing for the badge is all that matters

The Blues have won three games in a row including a stunning 6-0 Boxing Day victory over Oldham.

Minutes after that heavy triumph, boss John Sheridan threatened to quit if too many people did not like his “demanding” nature.

That followed some vocal arguments between the boss and senior players including skipper Danny Grainger during the Latics game, Sheridan later saying he was “sick” of “a couple” of players for the way they were responding to him.

Ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Macclesfield, Liddle said: “Every manager’s different.

“You get some managers, like Keith [Curle] for example…he was very quiet on the sideline.

“John’s the opposite - he’s quite verbal in what he wants to get across.

“Players tend to take it different ways. Ultimately I think if you’re playing, you play for the badge, you work as hard as you can, if you can do that - like the lads are showing at the moment - you’ll get the performances and results.”

Liddle remains one of United’s most important players having returned to right-back during this run of positive form.

The versatile defender also marked his 100th Blues appearance on Boxing Day with only his second Carlisle goal, and his first at Brunton Park.

That close-range effort capped United’s biggest home league win since 2005.

It has again put the ninth-placed Cumbrians in sight of a play-off challenge but Liddle says further consistency is key.

“I know the manager has said it himself - he doesn’t want to be one of these teams who can win two then end up losing three, drawing one, might win another couple in a row and then lose again,” the defender said.

“That’s no good for anyone. We want to have a real go this year, and these last three results have put us in a good place to be looking up again.

“The league’s wide open, any team can beat anyone. It’s finding the consistency to reel off these victories, whether it’s playing ‘ole’ football or the nitty-gritty football that we did in the game previous [at Crawley].

“Three points is three points at the end of the day.”

Liddle chested home Hallam Hope’s injury-time cross for his first goal in nearly two years, having scored on his fourth United appearance against Leyton Orient in February 2017.

His strike against the Latics ended a 96-game wait.

“I couldn’t really miss,” he admitted. “The cross and the chest on the line, basically...I’ll certainly take a few more of them, that’s for sure.

“I’m not sure I would have done that if we’d been 1-0 up, but the time of the game and the scoreline enabled me to do what I pleased, and I found myself with a tap-in from about 10 centimetres.

“Normally I’d [get forward like] that and have people on the sidelines shouting me back. But on this occasion Tommy [Wright, assistant manager] was shouting, ‘go on then, go for it’.

“Thankfully Hal, who had a few assists on the day, picked me out. I’ve scored for all my football clubs so can tick this one off the list as well. I don’t score many but over my career I can look back and know I’ve scored a goal for every club I’ve been at.

“I was just happy that we won. The clean sheet means just as much. We’re trying to build a solid foundation and the manager has picked more or less the same team for the last few games which has helped us find the winning formula.”

On his 100-game feat for the Cumbrians, Liddle – who joined in January 2017 under Curle – said: “I’m happy with the achievement. A hundred games in two years is something not many players can do but something I’ve become accustomed to over my career.

“A player can finish a career at 36-37 and if he’s played over 500 games it’s classed as a good career. To have well surpassed that at 32 is something I’m massively proud of. Touch wood, [the aim is] to stay injury free, play as many as I can towards the end of the season and rack up that 600 mark.

“I’ll just continue to do my best for Carlisle United and try and be on the winning side as many times as I can.”

Liddle also hopes United can tie up extensions for their loan players, having been impressed with their commitment to the cause.

The Blues are confident of keeping Jerry Yates and Jack Sowerby for the season, with both players having hit good form recently.

“Sometimes with loan players, it’s not that they don’t care, but their heart’s not really in it,” Liddle said.

“But these lads are playing week-in, week-out for us and, other than Nads [Ashley Nadesan], which is a bit up in the air, I think everyone else will be quite happy to stay hopefully, and they’ll certainly be putting it in for the second half of the season.

“And it will be a big second half of the season. We’ve put ourselves in touching distance of those play-offs again. We won’t win every game, that’s the league we’re in, but if we can win more than we lose we’ll be in with a shout.”

United face an in-form Macclesfield side tomorrow who are unbeaten in three under new boss Sol Campbell, having climbed off the bottom of the table.

“You only tend to get a new manager when you’re not doing too well,” Liddle said. “But they had a good result [on Boxing Day] at Notts County, something we failed to do, and it will be another tough game.

“Whether they’ll have a different style of play I’m not sure, but we’ll certainly do our homework on it and we’ll be going out to get our fourth victory in a row.”