Manager Steven Pressley says Carlisle United’s 10-man fightback against Bury has “reignited” their season.

The Blues boss said he was proud of his players after their dramatic 3-2 win at Brunton Park.

The victory, which included some stunning goalkeeping from Adam Collin, helped United move a point from the play-off places.

The absorbing game saw the Blues lead after just 29 seconds through captain Jamie Devitt before conceding twice and losing Mike Jones to a red card before the break.

Callum O’Hare and Hallam Hope then struck to clinch the much-needed victory against the high-flying Shakers.

“Sometimes you need days like that to kickstart your season,” Pressley said.

“The one thing it does is give everybody hope again.

“The biggest thing was our reaction at half-time and getting the three points.

“I do believe if we hadn’t got them it was a long way back for us [in the play-off race] – both in terms of points and the psychological effect.

“It’s amazing what 45 minutes can do in football. It can reignite your season and it has certainly done that.”

Devitt scored one of the quickest Brunton Park goals in recent memory before Chris Stokes hit back twice for the Shakers.

Jones’ dismissal, for two first-half bookings, will see him suspended for next Saturday’s trip to Stevenage.

A string of superb Collin saves kept United in the contest as O’Hare levelled and Hope, against his former club, won it at the death with his 14th of the season.

Pressley added: “We got off to an amazing start and I thought, ‘This is perfect, this is our day’, but I thought we lost our way a little bit in the first half.

“We didn’t get pressure at the right moments and kept turning the ball over.

“Going in 2-1 behind and a man down, the most important thing was me and Tommy [Wright, assistant manager] got together and spoke very calmly about the correct substitutions in the second half and how we could go about it. We then fed that to the players.

“But, as I’ve said on many occasions, the tactical elements only allow you to go about the game in a cohesive manner. The real winning of the game is the mentality, the desire to do the other aspects of the game.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the group. It was a proper performance of mentality and desire – the type of performance I think makes your supporters very proud.

“There is everything to play for, but we can’t let our efforts be for nothing. We must ensure that we follow that up next week with another performance and win.”

Pressley, meanwhile, suggested midfielder Jones was unfortunate with the second yellow card he received.

It came as he pursued Bury’s Jordan Rossiter and, having already been booked, appeared to try to avoid challenging the Shakers man.

Rossiter went down and ref Chris Sarginson dismissed the United midfielder.

“There was some sort of contact but in my opinion I didn’t think Mike had any intent to bring him down,” Pressley said. “I thought he was trying to get out of the way of the challenge.”