Day to remember for Curle

Carlisle manager Keith Curle oversaw a much-needed 1-0 victory over Tranmere in his first game in charge, much to relief of the fans.

Curle was hurrying off down the M6 immediately after Carlisle's hard-fought three points, their first win in 16 games, to attend his daughter's wedding reception and give a speech. But what he saw in the win over a very moderate Tranmere side left him feeling encouraged that he can drag Carlisle clear of the bottom of League Two. He said: "I know this club is fragile, but I need the players to believe in themselves. I know we're bottom of the league, but we have got something to build on. It was not pretty today, but we can go on from here. "I keep telling them the first thing is to stop the opposition playing and then we can go and play ourselves." Curle added: "I have belief in what I can do as a manager. To be honest the players needed this win more than me. The players had to be brave and the reaction from the people of Carlisle was fantastic." The Carlisle manager also had a word of praise for goalscorer David Amoo who has been in and out of the side this season. "I know what he can offer and I think I can improve him, he is a flair player and is someone who can scare the opposition," he said. Carlisle could have made life more comfortable for themselves had Mark Beck and Patrick Brough managed to find the target with early chances. Marc Richards blew Rovers' best chance when he allowed debut making goalkeeper Dan Hanford to block his close range effort and George Donnelly lofted a second half shot over the bar from well inside the area. The breakthrough for Carlisle came in the 72nd minute when Amoo got his head on the end of a Danny Grainger corner to steer the ball wide of the diving Owain Fon Williams. Tranmere manager Rob Edwards had an unhappy return to the club where he began his career as a player and was left admitting that his young side is seriously lacking in confidence. Edwards said:" I'm disappointed. It was a scrappy performance. We've missed chances in the last four or five games and that is how you lose games of football. "I saw an Edwards Out banner in the crowd. We were up against it here and I am scratching my head in terms of the players at the moment, but we will have to look again and take the positives from the game." "Our young players are learning on the job. The two centre-halves and the left-back are young and we have young players right through the side. No excuses, but we need some older players in the side. "We had chances when it was 0-0, but our confidence is wafer thin at the moment and you can see the players getting anxious when you go 1-0 down." Edwards admitted: "We need knowhow and I'm asking the older players to help the younger guys. I just want us to win football matches. We lost here 4-1 last season and have been losing for far too long. "I'm so disappointed with the way we have started the season and we need to start winning quickly."