Paul Simpson has saluted Josh Emmanuel for an impressive Carlisle United debut.

And the Blues boss is confident the new signing is ready for a second game in four days on Tuesday night.

Emmanuel went straight into the side to face Charlton Athletic after joining the Cumbrians until the end of the season.

The ex-Ipswich Town and Hull City man made some eyecatching contributions in the right wing-back position.

Emmanuel, 26, was making his first appearance in first-team football since May but earned an ovation from Blues fans after a strong 70-minute showing in the 1-1 draw.

Manager Simpson said: “I was delighted with him.

“It’s probably fair to say after the first training session I thought, ‘He’s got to be signed’.

“I had a picture in my mind of what he was like, but the challenge comes when they get in training and doing all the football stuff.

“He kept telling me, ‘I’m a naturally fit lad’ and all this sort of stuff, and you think, ‘Yeah, I’ve [heard] that before’ in some trialists, as such, coming in, and they’re not naturally fit lads.

News and Star: Emmanuel impressed on his Blues debutEmmanuel impressed on his Blues debut (Image: Ben Holmes)

“But he is. He’s come in and done really well.”

Simpson said Emmanuel wanted to play the full game against Charlton but United’s boss did not want to risk that given his lack of first-team games recently.

He also wanted to protect the ex-Grimsby Town man ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Reading at a time injury-hit United need all the fit players they can summon.

“He said to me, ‘I will be able to do 90 minutes’ but I always had it in my mind that we couldn’t take a chance to do that,” added Simpson.

“If we had no midweek game, the chances are I might have kept him on [against Charlton], but I just felt it was about trying to get 60 minutes out of him, because after 60 minutes you start to get that burning in your lungs and legs and you have to get yourself through that point.

“It was about getting him to that 60, getting him off [soon after that], and hopefully he’s fine for Tuesday then we’ve got ten days [before our next game] to get some more work into him ready for the period after that.”