Steven Pressley won his first match in charge of Carlisle United as the Blues beat Cheltenham 2-0 and, firstly, I would like to congratulate Pressley.

People can say the Cumbrians were only up against Cheltenham who are 21st in League Two. But you can only beat what’s in front of you and Macclesfield were bottom when United lost to them in October, but they didn’t look like a struggling side that day.

Pressley has only been with Carlisle for a little over a week now but fans really seem to have taken to his managerial approach in the early stages of his reign. Hopefully, he can keep getting positive results with Carlisle.

On Saturday, playmaker Jamie Devitt and frontman Hallam Hope were both on target for the Blues at Brunton Park.

Devitt is so consistent now, isn’t he? With Hope, I think everyone sort of knew he had these kind of performances in him. But the 24-year-old is showing real consistency in his game now.

Teenage Cumbrian winger Liam McCarron has also made more great strides in his young career in recent weeks, having made his full league debut in the 3-0 loss at Northampton and then his first home league start against Cheltenham, and I would like to congratulate him on the progress he is making.

I’m pleased Pressley has made it clear he wants to strengthen his squad before the close of the January transfer window, and brought in Arthur Gnahoua after his release by Shrewsbury at the start of the week.

The 26-year-old has played in League One for the Shrews, so at least he has a good grounding. He should be more than capable of playing at this level.

At the moment, Carlisle don’t have another midweek fixture scheduled until March, so they only have one match a week for the next month or so.

But as you get towards the final three quarters of the season, you do need that depth in your squad as some players begin to feel jaded after a long season. So, you need to have options. In my opinion, having that strength in depth, could be the difference between the Cumbrians making the play-offs - or even challenging for automatic promotion - or tailing away at the end of the campaign.

During my career, I only won the league once, winning the old Division Three at Oldham. In the squad, about three quarters of the players were experienced lads, with a few young ones around them because you do need those youngsters there, too.

This week, the Blues have also launched a major initiative, aimed at attracting a crowd of 8,000 to Brunton Park for Carlisle’s home game against fellow promotion hopefuls MK Dons.

I think it’s a great idea. Even if United don’t manage to get 8,000 fans to come to the game, even 6,000 would be more than 1,500 supporters than there were at the match against Cheltenham.

Tomorrow, United visit Port Vale and will come up against Luke Joyce who left Carlisle last year. He is an experienced professional, so I’m sure he will take no prisoners.

Elsewhere, it was nice to see Workington Reds beat Bamber Bridge 2-1 on Saturday.

They have a few games in hand on the teams above them in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier Division, so it would be nice to see them win those and get back towards mid-table.