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"This afternoon represents an opportunity missed for us, and Colchester's defeat at Exeter only serves to compound my misery! It was a frustrating afternoon, a lot of things went against us, and it was a disappointing result.
"We have had a big discussion about both penalties in the dressing room, and we feel that we were hard done by on both occasions. The first one was compounded by the red card shown to Jeff Hughes, and that changed the game massively.
"Carlisle started well in the second-half and credit to them for that. However I believe that first penalty was awarded by the assistant referee, which makes things even worse. I think the referee (Neil Swarbrick), who was ten yards from the incident, was inclined to play on and he let it carry on for a good few seconds. Then his assistant put his flag up and made the decision.
"Sometimes decisions like that go for you, and sometimes they go against you. A lot of things went for us in last week's home game, against Southend, but it was the reverse for us today. "
"We were OK at best in the first half, though we weren't firing on all cylinders by any means but we were in the game. At half time we spoke about some issues that we could address, such as trying to put them under more pressure and causing them more problems.
"We thought that being against the wind in the first half, and kicking with it after the break, that we could force them back and inject some urgency into our play but we didn't do that.
"They forced us back and got on top, and the poor opening ten minutes of the half led to the penalty decision. In spite of a great reaction, we were unable to contain them after that. We kept going, but there were a number of players out of position and we ran out of numbers at the end and we had to put some of the younger players on.
"The commitment of the players was there, and they worked hard, but we didn't get enough quality to the front two. We showed it when we got it up to them, as there they looked lively and they looked dangerous, but we didn't do it often enough."
"The punishment for the penalties highlights an inconsistency but, I don't want to say too much, or get in trouble for saying it, but there has been an inconsistency this year, from game to game and even within the same game, as was shown today.
"However, while we can look at refereeing decisions, we can't blame them for our defeat. I know we didn't get to our true level today, either with or without the ball. Maybe the players we were missing, and the sending off, affected us but we are better than that and we need to bounce back quickly and we need results to go for us.
"After a decent run of form, that was probably the most disappointing afternoon for a while and while I can be critical, our form has been decent and we have picked up some good wins over the last seven or eight games and the points return has been good.
"It's not happened this afternoon and puts, even more, the onus on us to take three points from Monday's game against MK Dons. It wasn't a good start to an important weekend for the club.
"We spoke about that, and the players spoke about the situation beforehand and I could see a hunger and a desire to grab it and make the most of it. But, as the second half went on we were stretched. At this time of the season, every game is so important for all clubs for different reasons."
"From our point of view, we spoke about needing a run quickly. We've not started one today, so we have to start another one on Monday and that has to continue through the next two weeks if we are to stand any chance of climbing further up the league.
"Everyone is disappointed we were beaten today. In spite of the penalty decisions, Carlisle were the better side and now we have a great opportunity to bounce back with a cracking game against MK Dons on Monday.
"The commitment and spirit that has been in evidence over the last few months was there again today. We had a few young boys on the pitch, and they acquitted themselves well. I saw a little spark of life, and of quality, from our equalising goal.
"That urgency and tempo is how we can play and break teams down, but we didn't show enough of that this afternoon. We can point to the long journey up here and the decisions that went against us, but in the end we know that we weren't at the level we should have been at."