Keith Millen said Corey Whelan was left out of the Carlisle United side at Stevenage because of an ankle problem.

The versatile player came off the bench late in the 2-0 victory at the Lamex Stadium.

Whelan’s omission from the XI surprised some fans – but it later emerged the defender was nursing a knock he suffered in training.

Manager Millen said it was simply a case of being careful with the former Liverpool man.

“I was protecting Corey,” he said.

“I felt they were starting to outnumber us in the box too much, when they were putting balls in, so I wanted him on there [in the second half].

“I didn’t want to go to a back five because when you go two goals up there’s a part of you that thinks you should drop off and defend, but I always feel that’s false security. I’d rather try to keep pressure on the ball.

“I didn’t want to make the change too early, but Corey should be fine – he’s got a week now to look after his ankle.”

Millen, meanwhile, saluted the performance of skipper Callum Guy, who was fit to start having gone off with a groin injury at Mansfield four days earlier.

News and Star: Captain Callum Guy in action against StevenageCaptain Callum Guy in action against Stevenage

The captain gave a determined midfield performance to help United to victory at the Lamex Stadium and Millen said: “I was pleased we brought him off [on Tuesday] – I wasn’t pleased we lost the game at Mansfield but was pleased we looked after him, because he could have done some more damage and been out for weeks.

“It was the right thing to do, and again, he played that captain’s part didn’t he?

“He’s not a great shouter, isn’t one of those captains, but leads by example in the way he plays.”

Millen said a week without a midweek game would now allow for some important recovery time before United start preparing for next weekend’s visit of Bradford City.

“The players have a couple of days rest now; we were always going to do that anyway, because they’ve worked hard,” he said.

“But then we need to do some work. I’m not gonna just give them a nice easy week. We need to keep working hard. After that, we’ve got that busy period.”