Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson's reaction to 1-1 draw with Swindon Town

A hard-fought contest at Brunton Park resulted in a 1-1 draw as temperatures climbed to nearly 30 degrees Celsius.

Manager Simpson saw Kristian Dennis score for the fourth straight game to cancel out Jacob Wakeling’s Swindon opener.

United missed good chances to win while Swindon’s Harry McKirdy couldn’t inspire the Robins to victory on his return to Cumbria.

Simpson said the intensity of the contest was a credit to both teams given the conditions.

READ MORE: Carlisle United's Paul Simpson gives injury update on Ben Barclay, Morgan Feeney and Ryan Edmondson

“I think all the players deserve a massive amount of credit for that. I think they gave us a really good game of football,” the Carlisle boss said.

“You watch games on TV from abroad where there’s real heat like this and it always affects the tempo. The players didn’t allow that – there was a proper tempo to this.

“It was a good League Two game where both teams were going for it.”

Simpson said Carlisle had done as much as they could to manage the conditions.

“It’ll take a lot out of them,” he added. “We tried to prepare as well as we could for the circumstances. We had the buckets which [co-owner] Steven Pattison thankfully provided for us.

“We got the iced towels to try and cool them down as much as we could.

“The honest answer is I’ve no idea what effect it will have, because this is unusual. We don’t have to play in 29-30degrees [very much]. But they looked fine.

“They came in at the end and were really disappointed we hadn’t won it and I think that’s a real positive. They weren’t moaning about being shattered and it’s too hot.

“They’ll be fine. They’ll get freshened up, I’m sure they’ll go into a cold, darkened room for the next 36 hours, and they’ll be ready to go again on Monday.”

United went behind to Wakeling’s goal before Dennis levelled shortly before half-time.

Carlisle passed up some good chances to score more, with Dennis, Omari Patrick and Jack Stretton in the thick of things.

At the other end, Tomas Holy made important saves from McKirdy while teenager Jack Ellis impressed after being handed a start in defence.

Simpson added: “I thought we had five minutes after they scored where we looked a bit rocky. I thought that was a bit of a test for us, and I was interested to see how we were going to react.

Kristian Dennis, left, shot United level

“The lads dug in, they kept going and they started to create chances again.

“Everybody will look at Omari’s chance in the first half, but he was actually offside, so it wouldn’t have counted anyway. That did him a bit of favour.

“We created some really good opportunities and that’s because we were constantly on the front foot.

“We pressed and we won things high up the pitch and the little openings we got came from that. It really is about us just being more clinical.”

United have five points from three unbeaten games at the start of the League Two season.

It comes at a time Carlisle's squad is being stretched by injuries.

Simpson said those who have come into the side deserve credit - and patience.

"As a manager, looking after the XI is easy - it’s important that the remainder are right and in a good place," he said.

"Just look at Corey [Whelan] stepping in for Morgan [Feeney] and taking the armband, he slotted in so well. He deserves a lot of praise for that because he has been excellent through pre-season.

"Omari was in and I feel bad for him, in a way, because he’s having to get fit with having missed a big chunk [of pre-season].

"He’s getting fit out there under the scrutiny of everybody watching and people can be critical of that. He dug in and did really well.

"He worked tirelessly, he ran, he created moments for us, and I think when he gets fully fit he’ll be effective and he’ll do an excellent job for us."