CARLISLE United boss Chris Beech was visibly relieved as his team finally “turned up” having misfired their way through a disappointing start to the delayed season.

First-half goals from strike partnership Omari Patrick and Josh Kayode sealed the deal for the Cumbrians, in front of 1,000 fans allowed into a game designated as an EFL test event, with Southend rarely managing to find any kind of purchase in the opposition half.

“I’m really pleased for the players, and for the fans, because there was so much positivity leading into the season,” Beech said, having urged his team on noisily from the dugout.

“Our part of the bargain is to produce performances which represent the Carlisle people.

“I’m not saying we haven’t done that in our previous games, but we’ve been guilty of shooting ourselves in the foot, despite having played well.

“I’m delighted that we’ve put that right, because it can start to dwell on minds and people naturally begin to question what’s going on.

“We started slowly, we got our goals, great goals from our strikers, and suddenly we’ve relaxed and we’re enjoying ourselves.

“I’ve told the lads so many times they need to believe in what they do, and not to hide away if things go wrong.

“The good thing was that our fabulous fans were back, and they were behind the lads for every kick and header.

"As a club the test seems to have gone well and I just hope that means, situation allowing, that we can get even more back as we go on from here.”

Patrick’s deflected effort saw him open his account for the season on 36 minutes before Kayode worked space to sweep a neat finish into the bottom corner three minutes later.