By Jon Colman

Last updated 13:52, Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Maybe it was the frustration of defeat clouding his memory, but John Ward’s claim that Carlisle United had never before suffered three consecutive losses under his command wasn’t quite accurate.

Michael Bridges

The Blues manager can be forgiven for wiping from his memory the successive setbacks against Leeds, Southend and Millwall at the tail end of last season, since it was that damaging run that nailed the Cumbrians’ automatic promotion quest.

Their current run – stumbles against Scunthorpe, Leeds and Walsall – is threatening to put in peril their current hopes at a much earlier stage this time. Such was their inferiority in the West Midlands on Saturday that significant changes to the team are now likely to be high on Ward’s agenda ahead of Tranmere’s visit in four days’ time.

No name will be higher than Michael Bridges, whose time for a first-team start – and possibly a sustained run in the side – may finally have arrived.

And the striker is experienced enough to know that United’s current struggles can quickly become a quirk of history if they can kick-start their campaign against the Wirral men.

“It’s that word ‘bouncebackability’,” said Bridges. “We need a bit of that now.

“If we had played badly over the last three games, we could hold our hands up. At Scunthorpe, we destroyed them, against Leeds we played pretty well, and even at Walsall it will be interesting to see how many chances we actually had.

“It’s harder to take when you are playing well and losing. We would much rather play poorly and win. It’s like a striker who might be having a horrendous time but still getting on the scoresheet.

“That’s all the matters in the end.

“Whichever way you look at it, it’s three defeats in a row so we need to find a scrappy win somewhere.”

A promising substitute’s display at the Banks’s Stadium won’t have harmed Bridges’ cause, after his progress towards the starting 11 had previously been impeded by a hamstring injury.

“That little niggle set me back a few days,” the 30-year-old admitted. “It was unfortunate, but I’m getting there again now.

“After a good run-out at Walsall, hopefully I’m pushing for that starting place.

“I want to be in there, but it’s the gaffer’s team and the boys have been doing well. It’s important there’s no nastiness of anything in the dressing room. Whatever happens, we’ve all got to stick together.

“There is a good set of lads here, we all gel, and the banter was back as soon as we came in on Monday. The last three games have been big gamers and we needed to get something out of them. We haven’t managed to do that, but we’ve just got to forget about it now, pick ourselves up and get on with it.”

Bridges impressed in tandem with loanee Jennison Myrie-Williams in the second half on Saturday, and both men could be summoned from the start against Tranmere.

“The manager wanted a bit of fresh blood on there,” said Bridges. “Jenno’s a lively character and I like to drop into space and create a few things.

“We started playing a bit, trying to get it down a bit more. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t thread Danny Graham through on one occasion. And when the ball dropped to me for a volley outside the box my eyes lit up, but I didn’t strike it too sweetly and dragged it wide.

“The chances were coming, although their ‘keeper was magnificent and gave their back four a lot of confidence.

“We made a right game of it at the end and you’ve got to take the positives out of the game.”