Paul Simpson admitted a point was the limit of what Carlisle United deserved at Newport County and said: We have to be better.

The Blues fought back for a 1-1 draw thanks to Corey Whelan’s first goal for the club.

They also came close to a late winner when Paul Huntington hit the bar.

But manager Simpson felt the overall performance was not good enough, particularly in a first half where the Blues “lacked energy”.

“I’m happy we’ve taken a point – for long periods we looked like we weren’t going to get anything,” he said.

“For the last ten-15 minutes we were the team on the front foot and looked in the ascendancy, and looked the one trying to win it.

“But I think a draw was probably a fair result. I don’t think they deserved to win it and I’m not sure on our performance we did either.

“We should have been coming here and winning this, and that’s not me being disrespectful in any way. We needed to come here and get three points and we didn’t.”

Carlisle went behind on the half-hour to a Nathan Moriah-Welsh goal, but Whelan struck in the 76th minute.

It came after the defender had stepped up to the side at short notice after a hamstring injury to Morgan Feeney in the warm-up.

READ MORE: Simmo reveals details of Feeney injury in warm-up at Newport

Simpson felt the way Carlisle started the game left plenty to be desired – and felt it was a missed opportunity against a home side struggling for form.

“The sad thing is we keep having to go behind to wake us up. That’s a concern,” he said.

“All the things looked right before the game. The preparation was right. We can’t even blame the journey – it was a seven-hour journey but, considering it was a Friday, we had a fantastic journey down here. We only got stuck once.

“We just weren’t right in my opinion. We lacked energy and that’s why I made changes [in the second half] – to bring a bit of energy to the team more than anything, because it was one of those days where things didn’t go for us.

“We got into good areas, particularly first half, and didn’t execute properly or work the goalkeeper. In the second half we threatened it a bit more, but again without working the goalkeeper.

“My final message to the players was, ‘We’re here to win’. Everybody said yeah, that’s what we’re here for, but sadly we didn’t perform to that level to deserve to win.”

United improved for the second-half introduction of subs Sonny Hilton and Jayden Harris, with Jon Mellish also pushing into midfield from defence.

READ MORE: Newport County 1-1 Carlisle United - as it happened 

“It was about finding some energy, that was the big thing we were lacking,” Simpson added.

“I thought sticking them on might give us something different.

“I took Jordan Gibson off because I wasn’t prepared to take the gamble -  I thought he was running the risk of picking up a second yellow card and I didn’t want that to happen.

“Sonny came on and caused a few problems and was positive in running at their full-back. Jayden gives us a bit of physicality and some legs in there.

“It was a case of trying to get more from them, and we could smell blood and we thought we had a chance of getting a win out of it. It just didn’t quite happen.”

Simpson described the goal Carlisle conceded as “garbage”.

He added: “When you’re attacking you have to keep the back door closed. It’s a phrase I use all the time and we didn’t do that.

“We’ve allowed it in there, and they’ve had a little bit of luck as well, but none of it should happen.

“We shouldn’t be allowing us to be attacking in the far corner, lose the ball, then one pass later we take everybody out of the game and we’re undone.

“We showed some character again in the second half to come back and to go and get ourselves in it, and we go away with a point and now we have to make sure we go to Grimsby [on Tuesday] and make sure we go and do it properly there.”

Simpson's XI included a first league start for Jack Stretton, while 17-year-old forward Nic Bollado made his league debut as a late sub when he replaced the Derby County loan striker.