Carlisle United's Paul Simpson on Leyton Orient defeat

The 1-0 setback at Brunton Park on Saturday saw the Blues fail to build on the previous weekend’s positivity.

Ruel Sotiriou was the Londoners’ matchwinner at Brunton Park and Carlisle came up short in their efforts to fight back.

Simpson said the decisive moment was a “rubbish” way to concede and felt United lacked “spark” overall – particularly in a poor first half display.

“I’m not trying to take anything away from the pass or the finish, it was a deft little finish, but I think we’ve gifted them a bit of a goal there,” Simpson said.

• Jon Colman's big match verdict on Carlisle's defeat to Orient

“[That said], I still think with 70-odd or 80 minutes with the stoppage time left, there’s still plenty of time to get ourselves back in it.

“Take the goal out of it, I don’t think you can start any game and have any first 45 minutes like we have if we want to get something out of the game.

“There was no spark to us. It’s about an aggressive way to play, an aggressive way when you’re out of possession to press. I think [Orient] probably won nearly every second ball in the first half.

“I was happier with the second half but I just don’t think you can start any game like we did and then expect to suddenly flick a switch and change it around and come out on top.”

United’s sixth defeat from 13 league games leaves them 20th in the table.

Victory would have taken them above Orient but the visitors instead climbed to tenth.

Joe Garner battles in the Orient box (Image: Barbara Abbott)

On his side’s failure to make the most of their Bolton win, Simpson added: “I think it probably shows the level of inconsistency we’ve got in the group, unfortunately.

“That’s not me being brutal about it, that’s just me being honest – it’s just where we are as a group.

• Carlisle United 0-1 Leyton Orient - as it happened

“We had a level of consistency last season that was enough to get us to the play-offs, we’ve now stepped up and we haven’t got that level of consistency yet.

“Players who last week were outstanding. Here they weren’t at that level. There’s just such a huge gulf between last week and this week. That’s a worry but also a disappointment.

“We have to get there and make sure we keep working to get there. If we do that we’ll get consistent results as well.”

United applied some pressure in the second half and sub Terry Ablade hit the post.

“He had a bit of life about him, we turned them round and he got in behind with his pace, and he used it more effectively than he did on Tuesday night [in the EFL Trophy defeat to Nottingham Forest Under-21s], which is a bonus,” added Simpson.

“I thought even before Terry came on, particularly in midfield we had a bit more desire about us [in the second half].

“But not enough and we can’t start game like we did and allow them to have that foothold.”

On the goal United conceded, meanwhile, the Blues boss said: “It’s a rubbish goal. I thought Sam [Lavelle] had got himself into a decent position, I don’t know why Tomas [Holy] is out there, and when he is out there I don’t know why he doesn’t just clear everything.

“Even after that, when the ball is rolling in I think there can be an enthusiasm to go and try and stop it by other players and unfortunately they didn’t.

“You look at the example where they hit the crossbar and none of our players have reacted to the rebound. We knew they’d be a threat from second balls from set plays.

“I thought that was an example of where we had no life about us, it was all waiting for somebody else to do it. If that’s what you do you get nothing out of the game.”