The weather has had the biggest say in the last three games.

Chris Beech will be pleased with the way his players have battled. We’ve been creating chances but not finishing them off.

He brought Jon Mellish back into the side at Crawley last Saturday, but used him in midfield rather than defence, and by all accounts he played very well.

Just because a player’s been signed in a certain position, Beech isn’t afraid to experiment, and pretty much everything he has tried has come off.

The lads will give it a go in a new position, even if it’s not their first choice.

I didn’t start off as a winger. I got England Schoolboy caps at inside-right.

Back then, a lot of forwards were blooded in the professional game by getting their chance on the wing.

It was a way to protect them really. I had a good start as a winger and that set my career off.

We’re home to Morecambe tomorrow, and they haven’t scored a lot of goals.

But they’ve been capable of winning enough games to stay above Stevenage at the bottom.

This is the closest we’ve got to a local derby at the moment.

Of course, we’ll have another next season if Barrow come up from the National League, which looks likely, as they’re currently seven points clear at the top, with just 12 games to play.

I’d love to see Barrow back in the league for the first time since 1972. I never played against them.

Carlisle were in the old Second Division when Barrow were still in the league, in the third and fourth divisions.

We haven’t played them in a competitive fixture since 1964. I know it’s a trek to get to Barrow, but I think supporters would treat it as a derby. You can imagine the atmosphere if we played them on Boxing Day.

If you look at who could come up from the National League and down from League One, next season could be a good one fixture-wise for Carlisle.

Halifax or Harrogate could come up, hopefully with Barrow. Bolton are coming down, and maybe Tranmere.

Then there’s current League Two sides like Morecambe, Oldham, Salford, Bradford.

In his Cheltenham programme notes last week, Andrew Jenkins talked about the arguments for returning to a regional set-up in the lower leagues. He said on balance he prefers being part of a national structure.

I agree. I can see the financial argument for a regional set-up. And I like playing northern teams.

But it would feel like a step back to move away from the national system. And the roads and rail structure are much better now than when Division Three North and South finished in the 1950s.

I heard the Plymouth manager say it can take eight hours to get to Carlisle. Before the M6, it used to be 11 or 12 hours.

I was sad to hear about Harry Gregg’s death this week.

When he was Carlisle manager, his boy played for Denton Holme, the same Sunday league team as my boy Steven.

We used to watch the games together, but I never mentioned Munich, and he was such a modest fella, he never mentioned it.

What he did that day, the lives he saved… the word “hero” is often lightly used. Harry Gregg is the biggest hero football has had.