Chris Beech on Carlisle United's draw with Newport County

The Blues had to settle for a goalless draw at Rodney Parade despite having much the better of the game.

It left the Cumbrians still in touch in the play-off contest, three points adrift of the top seven with six games to play.

Beech’s side performed well against the sixth-placed Exiles but failed to take chances that would have earned a significant win in the race for the top seven.

United’s head coach said: “I thought we started better than them, and the middle bit was better than them.

“I thought as we tried to search for a winner it opened out a little bit, but bar a couple of counter attacks and long throws they had, we were pretty strong – but that just comes down to good, basic defending.

“I’m really pleased with the lads. Like I keep saying, we went through turmoil after Christmas and to recover like we have, and we were better, stronger, quicker, played more football.

“They have lots of people saying how well they play, [but] we played more than them, had better chances.

“The lads deserved three points. We didn’t get them but we definitely pushed for them. I was really pleased with the efforts.”

United, who are now ninth in League Two, saw a number of chances agonisingly go begging, with Rod McDonald, Omari Patrick and Offrande Zanzala unable to convert opportunities.

Zanzala also saw a close-range header disallowed for a foul on home keeper Nick Townsend.

At the other end, meanwhile, Beech was pleased with his team’s defensive efforts as they kept a fourth clean sheet in five games.

He said: “I said to my two centre-halves, ‘If you’d played like that on Saturday, we’d have beaten Barrow easily’, but we weren’t quite right.

“[Against Newport] they were excellent. I watched Newport against Mansfield [last Friday] an, Ryan Taylor won every header. He didn’t here, unless he’s fouling.

“Well done to the lads at the back. It gives you a base to attack. The best one was Rod McDonald covering Aaron Hayden’s channel when Lewis Collins came inside and rolled Nicky Maynard in on a diagonal run.

“Rod got right across Aaron’s channel and cleared it brilliantly with his right foot, sliding, it was great to see.

“In the general set up of how they were - more aggressive on the front foot - it just enabled us to have a foundation to take a very good team…maybe I’m biased but I thought we were better than them.

“We had better chances, were the better team, but they’ll feel they’re in a better position because we didn’t beat them,” he added.

Beech felt Zanzala’s ‘goal’ was harshly disallowed, feeling the striker had not fouled the home keeper.

On McDonald’s first-half headed chance, meanwhile, which saw the defender head wide a Callum Guy free-kick, Beech said: “Although you might point the finger at Rod, I was right behind it, his body was in some sort of congealed way, and he did really well to get in front of the man and head it.

“Half our bench were thinking it may even be a penalty as he was getting pushed so much pre-ball. He did well to get first contact.

“I’ve been challenging him to run more, sprint faster and get first contact on set plays. If he does those things and plays like he did here, excellent.”

Beech said United applied plenty of good attacking pressure, with Patrick a regular threat especially in the second half.

“In the first half, he was coming [to] feet. I told him at half-time to spin a bit more so the full-back doesn’t always know you’re coming,” Beech said.

“He did different variations and had a full-back on his back foot. We still could have got more but I was pleased with his attacking threat, Ozzy’s attacking threat and Lewis [Alessandra]’s intelligence – he’s vital in helping us stop the opponent play.

“He did that well because Newport are renowned for being one of the most possession- based teams.”

Beech, meanwhile, explained why he replaced top scorer Jon Mellish with Nick Anderton in the second half.

Skipper Anderton, normally a left-back, went into a midfield role for the closing stages.

“I was a bit concerned with Jon on a booking, just with the constant screaming [from Newport’s players],” he said.

“When Kevin Ellison’s coming on, and they have players over 6ft, any long throw, free-kick, corner, they’re liable to get an opportunity – it was important I had enough in the 6ft+ players to mark that consideration.

“Joss Labadie plays in the middle, and Nick came on and won his headers. He didn’t do anything different to what Jon was doing but is in a better position not to be sent off and deal with the remaining set plays they threw in.”