By Jon Colman

Last updated 13:54, Tuesday, 02 September 2008

Cleveland Taylor wants it to be known that he has no plans to wallow in his new status as terrace hero at Brunton Park. The huge public salute for his inspired performance against Yeovil at the weekend will not trigger a drift into complacency.

On a mission: Cleveland Taylor shoots for goal during Saturday’s 4-1 win against Yeovil

“It just gives me confidence for the next game,” said the 24-year-old.

“I had a tough start when I first came here, as everybody knows. But that’s in the past now and I don’t want to talk about it any more.

“I just want to get on with what I’ve got to do out there, and show people what I can do.”

Taylor’s influential second-half performance in Saturday’s 4-1 victory was such that booming chants of “Cleveland, Cleveland” tumbled from the stands at regular intervals.

A huge leap forward indeed for the winger, whose struggles last season were met with impatient jeering from sections of the United faithful. Illness and a long spell out of the first-team at Scunthorpe last season left Taylor chasing fitness and form for most of his first season with Carlisle, after joining in January.

Now, after an encouraging pre-season, he cuts a refreshed and confident figure. He shone in the gloom of last Tuesday’s Carling Cup hiding at QPR, created three goals against the Glovers at the weekend, and will retain his place on the wing against Southend this Saturday with Scott Dobie still suspended.

The Cumbrian will be available again after the Shrimpers’ visit, yet it would be wrong to presume Dobie will stride straight back into John Ward’s starting XI given the belated impact of Taylor.

“I felt after the Morecambe game in pre-season, I felt a bit unlucky not to start in the first league game,” said Taylor. But that’s football - you’ve got to be patient, got to stay fit and when your chance comes you’ve got to try and take it.”

Until Carlisle cut loose in the second half on Saturday, inspired by Taylor’s persistent wing play, Yeovil frustrated Ward’s team with the sort of dogged display which the Cumbrians will have to tackle time and again at Brunton Park in the coming months.

“They came with a game plan to stop us playing,” said Taylor. “And for periods of the first half, we struggled to break them down.

“It took us a while to get going which isn’t like us. But we’d had a long week with a lot of travelling and we knew it was going to be a tough game. Yeovil have been doing well on the road and they had a lot of confidence coming into the game.”

Danny Graham’s 45th minute equaliser relieved much of the tension, allowing Taylor to leap into life in the second half and provide the striker’s two other goals, along with Gary Madine’s last-minute clincher.

“All of our strikers are in great form and me and Simon (Hackney) have got to get the balls in the area,” said Taylor.

“I’ve been told to run at people and commit them. I’ve been working at that since pre-season. It’s something I know I can do and it comes with confidence.

“If you don’t make a mistake over 90 minutes, half of us wouldn’t be here, we’d be playing in the Premiership. You’re going to make mistakes, but you’ve just got to get on with it and not analyse them too much.”

United, sitting promisingly in third place and level on points with the League One leaders, have certainly started the season in prime form.

But a demanding fixture list which sees tussles against Southend, Scunthorpe and Leeds next is more than enough reason for Taylor to preach caution and calm.

“It is happy days at the minute, but we can’t get too excited yet,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of games to go and some tough games coming up. We’ve just got to keep working hard and keep doing the things that get us three points.”