Carlisle City boss Jim Nichols said his side had the last laugh on the Carlisle United players who described his side as a bunch of “50-year-olds”.

Nichols said the disparaging pre-match comments came back to bite the Blues as underdogs City won the Cumberland Cup semi-final 2-1.

The home boss referred to Snapchat posts by some young United players ahead of the county cup encounter at Gillford Park.

City went on to win the tie against a visiting squad which was made up of professionals and youth team players.

“Our players will be absolutely buzzing,” Nichols said.

“A couple of their players have put a couple of things on Snapchat which weren’t great, saying they were playing a pub team and a bunch of 50-year-old lads, and stuff like that – and they’ve been turned over by them.

“They need to have a look at themselves, saying that about lads who are working, semi-pro lads.

“But my lads…that’s what we expect of them, to work hard - and they’ve outworked them. It’s every credit to them.”

City players Tyler Bowman and Jordan Holt took to Twitter after the game to refer to the young United players' Snapchat comments which had backfired.

Nichols’ team came from behind to secure a county senior cup final meeting with Wetheriggs United on April 26.

The City manager felt his Northern League Division Two side deserved the victory against a United team who gave an underwhelming performance in front of a 520 crowd at Gillford Park.

“To be honest, we probably turned up expecting to play the under-18s, and got a bit of a shock when we saw the strength they’d come with,” he said.

READ MORE: Carlisle City 2-1 Carlisle United 1: Hosts shock Blues in Cumberland Cup semi-final

“But we’ve got a really honest bunch of lads here and some good footballers, and I thought we more than matched them for large, large spells of the game.

“We knew they were probably going to dominate possession but they didn’t really hurt us. They had a couple of shots from distance, and Kyle Townsley made a great save first half.

“Aside from that I thought we were really quite comfortable.”

Tyrese Omotoye gave United the lead before Holt levelled and Jordan Irving's penalty won the tie.

“When they took the lead, I didn’t feel like it was deserved,” Nichols said. “We gave a free-kick away in their half and switched off for a second, and the level you’re playing at, they’ve got lads who are sharp and get on the ball, took it quick, it took three or four out of the game, and finished it well.

“The important thing then with it coming to half-time was to get through to half-time with it 1-0 and stay intact, stay in the game.

“We always back ourselves to score. We’ve scored nearly 100 goals this year, and I thought we looked a threat throughout the game. I thought it was a thoroughly deserved result and win in the end.”

Nichols felt his side wanted it more than City’s professional opponents.

“It’s the work-rate and desire of these lads to win,” he said. “As a full-time professional, do you want to be at Carlisle City on a Tuesday night?

“And we had to make sure that we did. And I thought desire wise, we outworked them.

“I think they’ll go away a little bit disappointed at what they [United] have offered, because they didn’t offer an awful lot and we defended really well.

“It’s a great result for us and gives us a chance to win something.”

READ MORE: Carlisle United coach Mark Birch on Cumberland Cup semi-final defeat to Carlisle City