It was a good win for Carlisle against Barrow last Saturday. We’re mid-table: a nice position to be in, a point off the play-offs.

As a player it boosts your confidence to look at the table and see you’re in contention.

I was pleased for Jon Mellish. After his mistake cost us against Scunthorpe he played well and scored his first league goal, which turned out to be the winner. That’s the way to silence your critics, and he’s been rewarded with a contract extension.

He got another two goals in the defeat at Sunderland in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night, which shows you what a goal can do for your confidence. I don’t read too much into EFL Trophy games, but the goals are still a good achievement for him.

Now we’re looking for a result at Port Vale tomorrow. A draw would be a decent result at a team who’ve made a good start. It would be good to go on an unbeaten run and get a bit of consistency, something we haven’t had for a long time.

I’m pleased that Aaron Hayden’s suspension has been overturned after he was sent off against Barrow. It looked harsh to me. It didn’t look as it he was lashing out.

Speaking of sendings-off, Anthony Martial’s dismissal for Man United after he brushed Erik Lamela’s face is one of them that leaves me shaking my head. There was always players who tried it on. But referees used more common sense then.

Now there’s a rule that they’re brainwashed with: if you lift your hand it’s an automatic sending off. When that leads to a red card like Martial’s, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

It’s annoying that players don’t seem to get punished retrospectively for play-acting like Lamela. He went down in stages, as if he was thinking about it. Totally unnecessary.

There’s always been gamesmanship. I’m not saying that I never made the most of a full-back’s challenge. But nothing like that. There was more physical contact then. And when it was physical, it really was physical.

That Man U v Spurs match is one of a few in the Premier League this season with amazing scores: 6-1 to Spurs. Leicester won 5-2 at Man City and of course Aston Villa beat Liverpool 7-2.

You’ve got to give credit to Dean Smith at Villa. Maybe teams have shown Liverpool too much respect. Villa have attacked them from the kick-off and put pressure on their defence. Liverpool’s attack will destroy you if you give them a chance, so maybe attacking them is the best policy.

It was similar with Leicester at Man City. Leicester have got a lot of pace in attack and they used it.

I can’t believe the number of goals there have been. Some of the biggest clubs have been on the wrong end of it so maybe they’re missing fans more than other clubs.

England are playing Belgium and Denmark in the Nations League in the next few days. I don’t understand the Nations League. We’ve just had a meaningless friendly against Wales, and now this.

A shortened season has just begun and we’re already interrupting it. The season is interrupted every few weeks for fixtures nobody I’ve spoken to has any interest in.