Salford City head coach Peter Cklamovski has remained buoyant following his side’s performance last Saturday, despite bowing out of the FA Cup at the hands of Carlisle United in the first round.

The League Two leaders had been expected to advance to the FA Cup second round before their trip to the home of the non-league Cumbrians, but the hosts were ready and able to spring a surprise on Cklamovski’s side at Brunton park on Saturday afternoon.

The Blues secured a memorable home victory as Salford fell to a 0-1 defeat, with David Ajiboye’s deflection tumbling past Lee Burge in the Salford goal seconds after Ryan Graydon’s tame spot kick failed to trouble the Carlisle keeper.

The Ammies’ recent trend of recording healthy FA Cup runs also came to a halt following the trip to Cumbria, with Salford dropping out of the FA Cup against Manchester City in the middle stages of the competition in both 2025 and 2026.

Cklamovski, who signed in as Salford manager to replace Karl Robinson in the summer, conceded his disappointment with the result away from home, but retained positivity in reflecting on the club’s first defeat in 8 matches.

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He said: “Overall first half [we were] a little bit disconnected from what we wanted to do, and it took us a little bit of time to get into the game. Credit to the opponent, they played some good stuff early and put us on the back foot in that first 10, 20 minutes.

“I felt like we grew into that first half, disappointing not to get the penalty and take a moment in a cup game where those moments matter, and unfortunately they go up the other end a few minutes later and get one themselves – a little bit against the run of play at that time.

“We just built ourselves into the game, just recognised that the spaces were there and maybe took us a little bit of time to recognise that in patches of the first half, then we found the rhythm in the second half which was important for us to find that bit of momentum, and then that connected into a performance where you think ‘we’re back’ and maybe connect that into a goal, we just didn’t do that tonight unfortunately.

The Australian is currently riding the crest of an especially high wave of league form, boasting an unbeaten League Two record across 11 matches spanning back to late August this year, and enjoying his time in his first season in English football.

Salford’s loss on Saturday ended an eight match long winning run, a bout of league form which Cklamovski will look to lean into as the fixtures come thick and fast.

“We’ll stick to our process and make sure we get our training preparation right, and make sure we’re ready to go for a home game in front of our fans, and I want to say a massive thank you to our travelling supporters tonight, again, disappointing that we don’t send them home with a smile on their face, but their effort to come here and watch and cheer us on doesn’t go unnoticed.”