Carlisle United are facing up to the prospect of losing three key players for a spell after a damaging night at Salford City.

The Blues lost Rod McDonald, Joel Senior and Callum Guy to injuries in the first half of the 2-1 defeat.

New right-back Senior was stretchered off while experienced defender McDonald and midfielder and captain Guy limped off.

Manager Keith Millen says the trio will be assessed but first impressions of the injuries were not positive.

“All three of them aren’t great, looking at it,” he said after the game.

“With Joel, I don’t know yet. With Callum it’s a hamstring, which isn’t good.

“Rod’s looks like a calf [problem], as he landed.

“They’re not knocks, they’re more contacts or twists. We’ll have to see how bad they are.

“But they’re not kicks, where you think, ‘You might recover in time for Saturday’.

“That doesn’t look good. It will test us, but that’s why luckily we’ve got a bigger squad and we can cope with it.

“It’s three bad injuries we don’t need but I’ll have to make some decisions to make sure we stand up to the test it poses.”

The three injuries worsened a bad night on the road for the Cumbrians as they fell to a third straight League Two defeat.

The incidents saw Millen turn to substitutes Morgan Feeney, Corey Whelan and Joe Riley – the latter cheered by United’s big travelling support after a lack of first-team chances recently.

On Riley’s popularity among away fans at the Peninsula Stadium, Millen said: “I said to Joe at half-time, ‘I didn’t realise you had such a big family…’

“That was a bit of a strange one but, whatever…Joe’s ok, he understands, we’ve been talking to each other – he came on, he’s got that composure but you’ve got to have the right balance next to him.

“You can’t have two footballers in the middle of the park because you are gonna come off second best.

“First of all, in this league, you have to win the battle. If you don’t it doesn’t matter how good a footballer you are, you’re not gonna get the ball.

“I look to try and get the balance right all over the pitch. Joe got on and affected the game.”

On the defensive changes, meanwhile, Millen added: “I thought we dealt with it, we didn’t go under or crumble. To be fair, Morgs [Feeney] has been unlucky, he’s done ok, and he’s come on and done well.

“Corey can play at right-back. We were ok. I thought the back four was decent.”

Millen praised Southampton loan centre-half Dynel Simeu for his performance in his second United outing.

“I was pleased with Dynel,” he said.

“I thought it was a tough game for him on Saturday, against Sutton, for his first game, but I thought [against Salford] you could see more signs of what he will give us.”