Hallam Hope says Carlisle United are confident about their prospects in their FA Cup replay against Cardiff – even though he was gutted to miss out on a late winner on Saturday.

Forward Hope set up Harry McKirdy’s goal that put the Blues 2-0 up, before the Championship side fought back to 2-2 after the break.

Hope then had the chance to win it for Chris Beech’s side five minutes from time but fired narrowly over the bar.

It means the clubs will meet again at Brunton Park next week to settle the Third Round tie and earn a Fourth Round visit to Reading or Blackpool.

On his late chance, Hope said: “I really did think it was going in. My head was in my hands when it went over.

“It was one of those where I knew I had to go for it before I got closed down and the keeper was beaten.

“I was gutted about that, but it doesn’t change the fact we played well as a team.

“It will be a different test in the replay, but we’re confident going into any game that we can win it and we’ll look forward to it.

“We want to go as far as we can, and I think we’ve shown against Cardiff that we’re capable of doing that. We’ve just got to make sure we perform in the next game. Hopefully we’ll get the job done at our place.”

Hope said United can take encouragement from the way they started the game and built a half-time lead, and also their response after Cardiff staged their fightback.

The Barbados international added: “I think we were a bit unlucky not to get the victory. I thought we played really well.

“It was always going to be a tough game but we went out with the frame of mind that we wanted to get through to the next round.

“Going ahead by two goals makes it more disappointing that we didn’t manage to see it out. They had a spell where they came at us, and they got their goals, but it was us who looked the more likely to score at the end of the game.

“Against a team like [that] we could have folded but I thought the lads dug deep, and we had chances ourselves to win it. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t take one of them.”

Hope played a key part in one of the game’s memorable moments, when his 45th-minute cross was headed expertly home by McKirdy.

Hope said: “It was quite tight over by the touchline when I got the ball but it was a good break from the team.

“I knew I just needed to get it out of my legs and try to get the cross in. Harry took up a great position and he’s getting a few with his head recently. It’s the type of goal any team likes to score.

“We’ve got good attacking players and we can play on the break or in possession, and we want to be getting more goals from that kind of situation.”