Carlisle United's Paul Simpson on opening-day absentees

Striker Ryan Edmondson was a surprise absentee from the matchday squad.

Simpson said that decision was down to his wish to include new signing Sean Maguire.

And he said others who missed out – other than Dan Butterworth, who was not deemed ready to return after injury – were down to his desire for different options.

On Edmondson, the Blues boss said: “He’s fully fit. I wanted Sean Maguire on the bench.

“We needed options. I needed somebody on the right side to cover as a centre-back and Ben Barclay gives us centre-back and right wing-back, so that’s why Jack Ellis wasn’t involved.

“I wanted Joe Garner involved because of his influence around the dressing room. It could quite easily have been a very good decision if Joe had stuck that header away at the end…

“Fans have to understand we’ve got a squad of players, I can only put seven on the bench and everybody’s going to be needed as we go through.

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“I had some bloke giving me stick in the Paddock for not taking Callum Guy off when we’d ran out of stoppages. You can only do three stoppages, I couldn’t take Callum off.

“Supporters need to actually understand and realise the actual state of the game.”

Attacker Butterworth is on the way back from a muscular injury and Simpson said Tuesday’s Carabao Cup trip to Harrogate Town will also be too soon for the summer signing.

“[It was] too early for him,” the manager said.

Owen Moxon suffered a dead leg in Saturday's game (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“He joined in training with everybody on Friday. Him and Kai Nugent were the only two who I didn’t consider for the game. Kai’s still not back training [after an ankle injury.

“Once we get Dan fully fit he will come into our thinking without a doubt.

“I think Tuesday will still be too early, because he was still a couple of weeks behind in terms of his football fitness, a bit like Sean is.

“We’ve got to keep trying to build those minutes on the training pitch and in towards the games. Hopefully we can get them up to speed.”

Simpson said Owen Moxon was substituted in the second half with a dead leg.

"[It happened] in the first challenge of the second half - it was stiffening up as the half wore on which is why we took him off," added Simpson.