Gavin Skelton believes young guns Taylor Charters and Sam Fishburn can continue to play a part for Carlisle United after their outings against Newport.

West Cumbrian midfielder Charters, 20, got his first league start since March in the 2-2 draw in south Wales.

And promising 17-year-old striker Fishburn came off the bench late on for his Football League debut at Rodney Parade.

For Charters it was the third league start of his career and his first full 90 minutes in the Football League.

Skelton felt the young midfielder deserved his chance and can build on his outing.

“Given more opportunities Taylor might grow on that one,” Skelton said.

“He was ok. He can perform better. But I’ve gone off reserve games in the past, how people play and how they train; that was my thought process [behind picking him].

“I think there’s more in him, but I was pleased with his discipline.

“We brought him into the middle of the pitch [midway through the game] because we felt Newport were getting control of the middle of the pitch.

“He stuck to it. I was disappointed a couple of times when he turned over possession when he won it, but he’ll be reasonably pleased with his night’s work.”

Skelton, meanwhile, admitted Fishburn had pushed his way into his thoughts after impressing in training.

The teenager recently returned from a productive non-league loan spell at Lancaster.

United had given thought to loaning Fishburn out again during the final stages of Chris Beech’s tenure but, for the moment, the young frontman is in the first-team fold at Brunton Park.

“He scores goals in training,” Skelton said. “He scores a lot of goals in training.

“He likes getting between the posts. He had a good spell at Lancaster, and he is a goalscorer.

“We couldn’t quite get him on [earlier in the second half] for different reasons.

“But we were getting balls in the box, and Sam has got goals in him. We wanted to get him between the posts but couldn’t quite create that opportunity.

“That comes with a bit of maturity, and hopefully if we can get results, that comes with confidence.”

Skelton’s two changes to his starting XI saw Charters and goalscorer Joe Riley come in for Jack Armer and Corey Whelan.

Brennan Dickenson started at left-back before moving further forward when Armer came off the bench in the second half.

On his starting XI, Skelton said: “It was a reflection on a lot of games, training, what we’ve seen, and we felt for tonight’s game it was the right way to go.

“It’s no reflection on Jack. He’s played a lot of games for a young lad. I don’t think he appreciated when I told him [he was dropped] but he’ll benefit from it going forward. When he came on he had a spring in his step.

“Joe Riley’s a good footballer. When he plays right-back he brings us energy there. He gives us a different proposition than when Corey plays there, who did perform well on Saturday.”

Skelton also hopes star signing Clough will benefit from adding to his United tally.

The equalising penalty was Clough’s second goal in a United shirt as he tries to make a bigger impact since his summer move.

“He is an excellent footballer,” Skelton said. “He’s had an illness and injuries, so hopefully with his goal here, albeit a penalty, he can grow in confidence and I’m sure he will.

“He’s desperate to do well, it’s just finding that exact right place for him to play.”