Steven Pressley felt his Carlisle United players didn’t win enough of their personal battles in their 3-0 defeat at Stevenage.

The United manager says he believes the match at the Lamex Stadium was “a real learning curve” for some of his side in terms of what they need to do in order to be successful in League Two.

He said: “As I said to the group after the game, we live in a world where, in the Premiership, we see them analyse the game, talking about the tactical elements of the game all the time.

“I reminded our group that, in League Two, yeah, the tactics are important to a degree.

“But winning your personal battles, winning your one to ones, winning your tackles and earning the right to play football here is the most important component.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t do that on Saturday.

"Physically, we were not strong enough. We didn’t stand up to their size and physicality particularly well, and that was a real learning curve for some of our players.”

Boro boss Dino Maamria, meanwhile, hailed his side’s win as one of their best of the season as they moved up a place to 11th.