Paul Simpson says Carlisle United’s poor goals-against record since January shouldn’t be pinned solely on keeper Harry Lewis.

The keeper, who pulled off some impressive saves in the 3-2 defeat at Charlton, has conceded 25 goals in ten games since joining the Blues.

But manager Simpson says United’s struggles at the back have been a collective matter – and Lewis has not been individually culpable for many of them.

“It's been a real tough time for him since he came in,” said Simpson of the former Bradford City No1.

“I still believe that, long-term, he's a good goalkeeper.

“I keep hearing things about people saying that he's [conceded] loads of chances…I think he's made one mistake, one goal we can we can lay at his door.

“He’s conceded a lot of goals because we haven't defended very well as a team in front of him. And we all have to take responsibility for that.

“You can't just label it on H.”

Simpson said some of Lewis’s saves “kept us in the game” at The Valley.

One stop in particular from George Dobson stood out but Carlisle still went down to defeat.

The rock-bottom Cumbrians are now preparing for tomorrow night’s home clash with Barnsley.

A boost to Simpson, meanwhile, is the return of Josh Emmanuel.

News and Star: Josh Emmanuel returned to action as a sub at CharltonJosh Emmanuel returned to action as a sub at Charlton (Image: Richard Parkes)

He came off the bench for his first appearance for two months at The Valley.

United’s manager now has options in the right wing-back or right-back position, where Jack Ellis started at Charlton.

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“He [Emmanuel] gives us energy,” said Simpson.

“We’ve also got Fin Back fit. But [at Charlton] I picked the two wing-backs in Jack Robinson and Josh Emmanuel [as subs] because they can both cover that, that outside centre-back position and do the wing-back [role] as well.

“So that was my thinking behind those.

“Fin is in the mix as well. So with Josh fit, we've now got three good options for that right wing-back slot. And we'll see what we do for Tuesday.”