'We are moving in that right direction' - Williamson after Doncaster draw

CARLISLE United manager Mike Williamson has said that he believes his side are 'moving in that right direction' after their goalless draw with Doncaster Rovers.

Cameron Harper thought he had secured the Blues only their second home victory in League Two this season when he fired home in added time, however, the wild celebrations at Brunton Park were cut short by the assistant referee's flag.

Carlisle also had other chances to claim all three points with Sam Lavelle forcing a smart save from Doncaster's Teddy Sharman-Lowe in the final seconds and Dan Adu-Adjei firing over from close range in the first half.

Speaking after the match to the News & Star Mike Williamson explained his disappointment at not finding the winning goal but insisted that Carlisle's performance was more evidence of their upward trajectory.

He said: "It's encouraging, obviously the emotion initially is disappointment because you feel that euphoric feeling when you think you have got the winner only to be ruled offside but then we had to respond and we still had to defend a few moments.

"Overall, we knew how tough it was going to be and I think we have put a few back-to-back performances together now and we knew this was going to be the hardest test and the lads stood up and faced it.

"We feel that we are moving in that right direction."

Coming into the clash, the Blues had a clear gameplan in mind to cause problems for McCann's visiting Rovers and in periods carved out good chances with slick passing and creative build-up, something Williamson was keen to highlight.

He said: "Against Doncaster, you have to work for everything, and in every yard of space and every pass there is going to combat so the lads know that we had to be good in transition and we had plans to try and induce the press and then play round, through, and over.

"The lads still had to it because physically Doncaster put a lot of pressure on our front lads when they were receiving it which makes it difficult and but I think we did a lot of pleasing things."

Although Carlisle United's performance against Doncaster Rovers was largely positive, the goalless draw leaves the Blues at the foot of the table but level on points with Morecambe and Swindon Town.

Despite the encouraging performance, Williamson asserted that the most important metric is the final score and getting points on the board.

He said: "There are loads of positives to take, obviously at the minute the biggest stat that matters is the scoreline and I suppose that is the biggest impact in our emotion walking off the pitch.

"There are loads of positives to work on when we come in on Monday and we have got another tough test next Saturday."