Carlisle United 0 Grimsby Town 0: Carlisle United are undeniably more solid under Chris Beech. It is at the other end, where tight, unsatisfying games like this need to be settled, where the fragility is showing right now and where his most effective work is going to have to be done.

Example: the 60th minute against Grimsby, United advancing down the left, Hallam Hope cutting in against a defender, and, instead of a decisive move, uncertainty. Hope checks, gives the ball to his left-back, Gethin Jones, and duly it is worked from a positive position back towards Carlisle’s centre-backs on halfway.

In one sense, sensible enough – if it isn’t on, make sure you keep possession – but in another, revealing of this team’s tentative psyche. Carlisle had the odd moment against Grimsby but nowhere near enough. They are unbeaten in five, but only one of those games has seen a victory.

Through those statistics it is possible to see a team with slowly improving foundations (no bad thing, given their earlier generosity to opponents) but one that looks like it needs a crack team of psychologists to make their forward players think more boldly. Or, alternatively, some different forward players, which will surely be an aim in January.

This was a winter skirmish from the lesser end of League Two and carried many hallmarks of that environment. At its worst it was skittish, haphazard and very, very cold. At its best, from Carlisle’s point of view, it saw certain defenders stand tall again, and Aaron Hayden’s emergence is certainly an early plus from Beech’s first couple of weeks.

Nobody, though, can expect laurels for a goalless draw, at home, against a fellow struggler who haven’t won since late September. This was an opportunity to elbow past Grimsby in the survival battle, but Carlisle were not good enough to take it. Nor were the Mariners in return; they hit the woodwork twice to United’s once, but also came up blank.

The Blues’ challenge now is to take points from higher-placed opponents, having drawn with Morecambe (24th) and Grimsby (20th). By the end of Boxing Day they will be halfway through this campaign and by then we will have a slightly better idea of their prospects.

To many minds, though, it is clear enough already and while Beech was short of a few injured players here, this squad has shown its limitations since August and is ripe for refreshing next month. It was telling in one sense that the head coach preferred a midfielder (Canice Carroll) at right-back here than an actual right-back (Christie Elliott). It was then telling in another that the notion could not be relied upon beyond half-time, Carroll having struggled in the role and Elliott whistled back into favour to restore a little balance.

Pinning down the reliable factors of this side is a relatively short task. Mike Jones is one and he was their best player in a first half which needed jump-leads attaching from an early stage. In front of a sparse-looking ground, United’s 4-2-3-1 system did not immediately click and Grimsby made the more positive early running. Harry Davis had a header ruled out for offside and another spate of highly untidy work at the back ended with a pair of crosses, the second headed against the post by James Hanson.

Moments later, Carroll hesitated, committed too late and was easily beaten by Matt Green as the visitors came again. It was all rather ragged and a Harry McKirdy counter-attack a while later proved to be an isolated break from that particular player, who was intended to raid from behind Ryan Loft.

Carlisle at least warmed up some 20 minutes in, settling better into their shape and fleeting moments of invention seeing Jones and Stefan Scougall feed Hallam Hope to go close, and then Jones turning a lovely deft pass into Hope’s path as the forward cracked the bar.

It was better but, as a sustained attacking surge, brittle. Scougall at times appeared too deep to influence matters greatly and Ethan Robson tried to punch a couple of holes in United with his midfield running the other way. After being fouled by Carroll outside the box, he was next to hit the woodwork via a deflected free-kick.

Jones then whipped a shot wide for Carlisle and it was certainly end-to-end in terms of opportunities, without either side taking control. Grimsby lost Hanson to injury late in the first half but were not vastly weakened without their experienced target-man, for after Jake Hessenthaler had nipped behind Scougall to be denied by Adam Collin, United got a much bigger reprieve when Carroll’s dire backpass put sub Charles Vernam in on goal, only for his heavy touch to waste the golden chance.

That was Carroll’s last contribution, Beech ending the experiment at half-time, and Elliott, his replacement, was certainly a neater fit on the right. United’s best intentions, though, fizzled out in the attacking third and there were certainly spells when Grimsby played the better football in search of the key opening.

Vernam had a number of sighters himself, but couldn’t seriously extend Collin. Green then headed straight at United’s keeper. McKirdy, in the margins mostly, wasted a Hope cross on the volley and while Mo Sagaf then added some midfield industry, it remained a long wait for something likely to go Carlisle’s way.

It was scraps rather than decisive openings. Loft had an effort blocked, as did sub Olufela Olomola, and United did end the game on top, aiming crosses and set-pieces into the mixer, Hayden winning one and denied by a defender. It was, though, persistence without craft or penetration – or the kind of confidence displayed by teams who have located the winning knack.

It finished without that moment that could have warmed shivering supporters or deceived us that Beech has anything other than a big challenge on his hands. What we got, instead, was another day of the colder reality.

United: Collin, Carroll (Elliott 46), G Jones, Branthwaite, Hayden, M Jones, Scougall (Olomola 79), McKirdy (Sagaf 65), Thomas, Hope, Loft. Not used: Gray, Knight-Percival, Birch, Sorensen.

Grimsby: McKeown, Hendrie, Gibson, David, Waterfall, Hessenthaler, Wright (Whitehouse 84), Clifton, Robson, Hanson (Vernam 43), Green (Rose 76). Not used: Russell, Ohman, Cardwell, Pollock.

Booked: Robson, Green, Gibson, Wright.

Ref: Marc Edwards.

Crowd: 3,653 (217 Grimsby fans).