Chris Beech felt Carlisle United had their “pockets picked” in their 3-2 home defeat to Tranmere Rovers.

The Blues went down at home despite twice leading in the first half.

James Vaughan’s 88th-minute goal won it for Keith Hill’s side.

Beech admitted Carlisle had not defended “cleanly enough” at the key moments despite the head coach being pleased with the effort United put into the contest.

“You’ve got to credit your opponent, they’re a good team with some great, experienced players, but we’ve just got to concentrate on what we can concentrate on, and we have to avoid those mistakes,” he said after Carlisle slipped a place to 10th in League Two.

“It’s gut-wrenching when you work so hard [but] make pivotal mistakes – it costs you, and it did, no matter how much effort we had.

“We started well and the second half were pretty much camped in their half. Their best chances were actually off our corners – we didn’t get enough first contact on turnovers and they’ve got quick players who broke well.

“That was their strength as it was on Saturday – Salford’s goal was similar to the two goals we’ve conceded tonight bar the mistake for the second.

“We’re just getting your pockets picked at the moment in terms of trying to be offensive and play. Sometimes it doesn’t roll for you, we haven’t got that quite right yet, we need to control it better, but I’m pleased with everything else.”

Joshua Kayode’s fifth of the season put United into an early lead before Kaiyne Woolery levelled.

Nick Anderton rifled Carlisle back in front but the Blues failed to deal with a Vaughan cross which drifted into the net shortly before half-time.

Kayode saw a header cleared off the line as United applied pressure after the break, but they were stung when sub David Nugent set up Vaughan late on.

Beech felt Carlisle looked more like their old selves in much of their performance.

He said: “[Our goals were] brilliant and we had other great opportunities that they cleared off the line or blocked.

“I was really pleased with the play and the balance of the team. It definitely looked like us, for me – looking at the Harrogate game, the Salford game and this one, every game we’ve got better but we haven’t been able to defend clean.”

Beech refused to offer United’s recent prolonged lay-off through Covid-19 and the weather as mitigation for their defeat.

He said: “I’m in a great position to put a thousand excuses in front of you but I’m not going to do that.

“I won’t talk about it because all I’ll do is get criticised for looking for a comfort blanket. I don’t want one, I want the next game; I wish we were playing now to be honest.”

Beech admitted United’s set-pieces were not consistent enough as they looked for a way to get back ahead in the second half.

“The corners were a bit too long, but when Callum [Guy] got one underneath the bar, you could argue did it go in or not [from Kayode’s header], you don’t know, but the ref didn’t say it did.”