Carlisle United: Mike Williamson may face Notts County problem that was clear v Grimsby Town - View | OneFootball

The Blues weren't able to secure a first win at home for their new boss on Saturday against the Mariners.

Carlisle United head coach Mike Williamson could well be faced with a similar issue against Notts County to the one that plagued his side in their match with Grimsby Town.

If there ever was a game of two halves, it was the League Two contest that took place at Brunton Park on Saturday afternoon.

In what was Williamson's first fixture in the home dugout as the new boss of the Cumbrian side, his players showed up and showed out for 90% of the initial 45 minutes.

They exerted a lot of dominance over Grimsby, who struggled to get on the ball or out of their own half for a while, and went into the dressing room at the break with a 2-1 lead.

But, as you can see from the momentum bar above, things switched after the half-time whistle went.

Town snatched the momentum from the home side during the break and never really looked back. A side that were being trampled on for much of the first-half now had their tails up, and they never went back down.

They only created a couple of big chances in the second period of the game, according to Sofascore, but they took advantage of the openings that they received.

In the final 10 minutes of normal time, two crosses from their left-hand side, that Carlisle didn't make a good enough attempt to stop at source, found Grimsby heads and ended up in the back of Harry Lewis' net.

Unlike Carlisle, the visitors held onto their lead and made sure that all three points would come back with them to Lincolnshire.

To lose a game in which their side had such initial dominance was frustrating for United supporters. The issue which caused their downfall was clearly outlined by the boss and those in attendance after the final whistle.

Carlisle United's midfield issue vs Grimsby

Williamson attributed his side's demise to a lack of concentration and the players tiring, as per the News & Star.

It became increasingly obvious from around the hour mark in the match that Carlisle had lost the control that they once exerted over the contest. Misplaced passes and loose touches became more and more common as the game went on, but Williamson decided to stick with the players he had on the pitch, rather than looking to the options on the bench.

The head coach did make a couple of changes, bringing on the defensive duo of Jon Mellish and Terell Thomas, but this came with minutes to go in the 90, after Grimsby had already levelled the score.

He said, after the game, that he wanted to keep his best attacking options on the pitch for as long as possible in order to try and swing things back in their favour.

While this could have helped them to re-assert their dominance, it was in midfield where the battles were being lost.

Harrison Biggins and Josh Vela both had very tidy first-halves, but were clearly showing signs of the tired state that Williamson said some of his players were in.

In Harrison Neal, they had a natural central midfielder on the bench, plus a more unconventional one in Mellish. Had some of the Blues' other options in the middle of the pitch been available, Williamson may have gone about making his changes differently.

Carlisle's midfield issue could plague them again vs Notts County

The three aforementioned CMs in United's squad on Saturday make up less than 50% of the players in their position at the club. The rest of them, unfortunately, are injured.

Dylan McGeouch, who looked good in Williamson's first game in charge against Swindon Town, picked up a calf injury on Friday which forced him to miss the Grimsby match, and Callum Guy, Ethan Robson and Taylor Charters are all recovering from long-term injuries.

Those last three are certainly at least a couple of weeks away from returning to first-team action, and Williamson said that McGeouch is very unlikely to feature against Notts County.

Given the head coach's unwillingness to get Neal on to do a job for half an hour in midfield, and the lack of other options, the Blues could end up with the same tiring midfield on Tuesday night that they had against Grimsby.