Opposition view: Carlisle boss Simpson says Cobblers 'did exactly what we expected them to' after last-gasp victory

Carlisle United boss Paul Simpson said he 'always felt' his side had a good chance of beating Northampton on Saturday despite the 15 places that separated the two teams ahead of kick-off.

The Cumbrians had won all three games under Simpson since his appointment and they made it four from four on Saturday thanks to Tobi Sho-Silva and Jordan Gibson, who struck either side of a Paul Lewis header in a dramatic final 15 minutes.

"Sometimes you just have to stay in a game and that's what we did today," said Simpson. "I thought they were a really tough side to play against and to be honest they did exactly what we expected them to.

"We knew they would get it forward early, we knew they would be a threat, we knew they would have runners and we knew they would be good on set-pieces with free-kicks, long throws and corners.

"They have scored the most goals from set-pieces in the league this season but we had a meeting on Thursday about it and then we worked on it on the grass and I thought we were magnificent in the way we dealt with it.

"It was a really tough game for us but I thought we were outstanding. This was where I thought we would be really tested and really challenged and we were, but we stood up to it.

"They are not second in the league after this many games just by chance but I always felt we could win this game if we switched the play quickly and if we kept our width. We didn't do it as much as I wanted but when we did, we caused them problems.

"We made a few little tactical adjustments at half-time to see if we could stop the ball at source and try and pick up more second balls. It was a brilliant delivery in from the free-kick and it was actually the fourth official who said to the referee that it was a handball and we earned that penalty because we kept pushing forward."