Callum Whelan urges Carlisle United to fight harder for revival

Callum Whelan says Carlisle United must run and fight far harder if they are to jolt their faltering season back to life.

A flat 1-0 defeat at Eastleigh made it four games without a win and left the Blues just two points above the relegation places. For a side tipped as one of the pre-season favourites for the title, the slide is starting to sting.

Carlisle have taken only two wins from their opening nine matches and already trail unbeaten leaders Boreham Wood by 13 points. The loss in Hampshire felt like a new low, and for Whelan it has to be the moment everything changes.

"I hope that was a blip on its own because that wasn't good enough," the midfielder told BBC Radio Cumbria, cutting through any excuses.

He refused to hide behind tactics.

"System, formation, I'm not really interested. We didn't run harder than the opposition, we didn't fight harder, we lost too many duels.

"It's not what we pride ourselves on."

Whelan, 27, came off the bench at Eastleigh for his first appearance since the opening day after a hamstring injury. From the sidelines he has watched points slip away as new head coach Rob Elliot tries to bed in his ideas. With almost a fifth of the campaign already gone, patience is wearing thin.

"I'm a bit fed up of saying 'when it clicks' and 'when, when, when'," he admitted.

The message to the dressing room was just as blunt.

"As a group of players, we've got to start taking responsibility. First of all, making sure we win games but performing way better than that and working way harder than that."

The expectation in August was promotion talk. The reality now is a fight to stop that gap to the top stretching into the distance.