Abbott praises Cumbrians

Carlisle manager Greg Abbott hailed the efforts of his side as they kept their outside play-off hopes alive with a 4-1 win that sent Exeter tumbling down into npower League Two.

Ivorian striker Francois Zoko netted twice while Jordan Cook and Liam Noble were also on target with Liam Sercombe replying for the Grecians, who went down to their ninth successive away defeat.

Abbott said: "It's a fantastic achievement. It's taken a tremendous amount of hard work to get where we are. We want to be further forward, but we haven't got the bigger resources of some other clubs."

Carlisle were without leading scorer Lee Miller but still managed to create many chances with Abbott admitting that the final home game could have ended with even more goals.

He added: "It could have ended 9-7. We set up to be attacking and created as many chances in this game as we have in any game all season. We had to find a formula, but you still have to defend and Exeter caused us some problems."

Carlisle's attacking options will be further reduced for their final-day visit to Oldham because Sunderland forward Cook was playing the final game of his loan arrangement.

Abbott said: "He scored a wonderful opportunist goal and I like him, but we will have to see what happens and who else shows an interest. That interest will determine whether he comes back to us. We will have to cope without Jordan, but whoever comes in has to make it work."

Grecians manager Paul Tisdale said: "It's a disappointing feeling and one I'm not wanting to repeat very often. But I am pleased with the way we have played over the last month. The way we played it could easily have been a different story.

"I'm pragmatic enough with the way we have played this season to know it's the start of a process of building ready for next season. I don't want to dwell on the disappointment. It was always going to be a tough season for us in this league but I expected and thought we would do better.

"The spirit in the club has been excellent from start to finish. We played with no fear and how we managed to score only one goal I don't know."