Opposition view: Paul Simpson 'hugely disappointed' after defeat at Sixfields relegates Carlisle

Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson admitted it was a ‘huge disappointment’ to have his side’s relegation from League One confirmed by Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Northampton.

A long way adrift at the bottom, Carlisle’s immediate return to League Two has looked inevitable for some time and their fate was duly sealed by goals from Kieron Bowie and Ali Koiki at a blustery Sixfields.

"It's obviously a huge disappointment but the relegation isn't on today, it's on the whole season,” reflected Simpson. “We had all of the excitement of the promotion last season but unfortunately we haven't been able to follow it up and we have fallen well short.

"What we have to do now is regroup, have a look into what's gone wrong and make sure we come back stronger and better next season and that's the challenge going into the summer."

Reflecting on the game itself, Simpson said: "It's such a poor first goal to concede. We spoke about about getting in early from corners and we showed the players and we worked on it because they've got good delivery from set-pieces but we switch off and we allow them the first contact and they bundle it in.

"It wasn't a great game and the conditions didn't make it easy with the wind but it's the story of our season – we start the game well, we get into good areas but we don’t score when on top and then we concede a poor goal.

"We didn’t create much in the second half and then we get done with the second one in stoppage-time but it’s another defeat for us, whether it was 1-0 or 2-0 is irrelevant. Now we need to make sure we get a strong group together so we can bounce back straightaway next season."