Carlisle United No2 on debut goalscorer Ryan Edmondson and Penrith AFC friendly win

The former Leeds United striker was on target in his first Carlisle United outing in last night’s friendly against Penrith.

Summer signing Edmondson slotted home in the first half to get his Blues career off to a good start.

And assistant boss Skelton says the former Port Vale loan man has shown positive signs throughout the early stages of pre-season.

READ MORE: Penrith 1-5 Carlisle United: former Leeds United man Edmondson on target in first friendly

“To be fair, in training yesterday, we did a drill…unopposed but he was scoring goal after goal after goal, which makes a striker feel good, and he’ll feel good tonight,” said the coach after last night’s 5-1 win.

“They live and die by that.

“We’re pleased to get him. I think he has a real chance. He has a good feel about him; just needs to try and get a consistent run in a first team, and I’m sure we’ll have a really positive player here.

“Hopefully he feels how much we want him here too. That can be important to a player, to really feel part of it.

“You get that feel he has that, and it’s up to him to go and perform and score goals.”

Edmondson scored after 34 minutes and, after Andy Murray Jones levelled for Penrith early in the second half, Jordan Gibson, Nic Bollado and Kristian Dennis (two) earned victory for Paul Simpson’s side.

Edmondson’s fellow new signings Tomas Holy and Owen Moxon also got their first outings in front of an excellent 1,040 crowd which will boost the home club’s coffers ahead of the new campaign.

Gavin Skelton

Skelton said he was pleased with how Carlisle’s squad – which included three trialists – applied themselves in the first summer outing.

“It’s always a game everyone enjoys, and in terms of experience it was good, and in terms of performance, it was a really positive end to the week, to come out convincing victors against Penrith who I thought worked really hard and played some good stuff at times. It’s always nice to win.”

Manager Simpson had stressed the importance of Carlisle’s players hitting physical targets during the game, and Skelton said the squad had shown up well in that respect.

“Things are always data obsessed now but the eye probably tells us as much sometimes,” he said.

“We’re pleased because they had a hard day yesterday, trained today and had a game tonight, and put a good shift in.

READ MORE: Penrith AFC 1-5 Carlisle United - as it happened!

“You need that – when you feel tired, to keep going and going, which they did tonight, which is pleasing.

“There were some really good goals in the second half, which helped. In the first half we had a lot of control and possession, but we didn’t cause them enough problems with a penetrating pass or shot, but we obviously worked hard to move the ball well.

“In the second half I think when Penrith scored it gave us a little bit of a shot in the arm, and we showed a bit of quality, which we had to do.”

Skelton said United’s trialists – a keeper, defender and attacker – would be the subject of further discussions.

“They’ve trained hard, performed well tonight, but it’s something we’ll discuss over the weekend,” he said.

Skelton added that five players who missed out last night with training-ground knocks – Tristan Abrahams, Taylor Charters, Jamie Devitt, Sam Fishburn and new boy Sonny Hilton – had been left out as a precaution, and he hoped most would be involved in training and games next week.

Owen Moxon’s withdrawal in the second half was also “precautionary”, the coach said.

Skelton, meanwhile, said United were thankful to Penrith for the welcome and was pleased the Northern League Division One club had enjoyed a money-spinning evening.

“A good crowd hopefully helps Penrith,” he added.

“Without sounding patronising to Penrith I thought they performed well at times. They had a good shape about them, moved the ball well at times, and we found them difficult to break down.

“In the end probably the fitness levels and full-time aspect shone through at the end.”