Colchester defeat hurt, says Ward

Ward's side lie three points above the relegation zone

Carlisle United manager John Ward has admitted Saturday's 5-0 loss at Colchester left him with plenty of soul-searching this weekend.

Ward, 57, takes his side into Tuesday's visit of Hartlepool on the back of eight games without a win and hopes the match will help to clear the doom.

"I went for a good, long walk to get myself in the right frame of mind for Tuesday," he told BBC Radio Cumbria.

"We all like to play, win or lose, to get another game in quickly."

Carlisle were play-off semi-finalists last season, losing to Leeds United who were in turn eased out in the race for the Championship by Doncaster Rovers in the Wembley decider.

But while Gary McAllister's Leeds have carried their promotion form into the new season, Carlisle have struggled to replicate such performances and Ward believes there are players within his squad who have underperformed so far.

"Everybody's got a responsibility to deal with the situation in the way that is best and one or two people haven't done that.

"It's important that the first thing we recover is the attitude, the approach and the commitment towards the job that we're asked to do and it's a good job."