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Pre-Match Quotes From The Pools

Last updated : 27 February 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Gary Liddle
Hartlepool midfielder Gary Liddle spoke to the Northern Echo about his side's home game against Carlisle at Victoria Park tonight, Liddle hoping that the Pools players can take the positives out of their 2-0 FA Cup defeat against West Ham on Saturday :


"We said after the game on Saturday that if we take the workrate, endeavour and spirit into Tuesday's game and the matches beyond that we will certainly push up the league.

"I spoke to Danny (Graham) on Saturday morning. He said they are doing well and they have got quite an experienced team with Graham Kavanagh in there and they have obviously got Danny's goal instincts. They will be dangerous but we are confident of winning and I think it's good we have a game so quickly.

"The lads have to recover well now because I think we pushed ourselves beyond the barriers on Saturday, there was a lot of running involved as you would expect against a Premier League team. But we will get ourselves right and having another game will be good for us.

"We need consistency, it's a word that has been bandied a lot about the club recently but if we can take Saturday's performance into Tuesday I'm pretty confident we will win.

"There's been too many times this season where we've played well and gone into the next game and put on a poor show if you like. It's what has made us into a mid-table team at the moment and we will be looking to produce some consistency and move up the league."



Meanwhile centre-back Michael Nelson commented to the Hartlepool Mail :

"After Saturday's game finished it was a case of 'well done lads' but after that all the talk was of Carlisle. We've now got to try to be consistent. We got a good win last time here in the league against Northampton and we put in a good performance on Saturday and hopefully we can continue that. If we play like we did on Saturday we'll come out with the three points."



And Director of Sport Chris Turner said :

"I said to the players after the West Ham game that they did well and raised their game, but I don't want it to be after the Lord Mayor's Show tonight against Carlisle. I want the same, and I have no doubts I will get the same effort and commitment."



In team news for the home side highly-rated winger-cum-striker James Brown is out for the rest of the season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, while midfielder Willie Boland is also sidelined for a lengthy period after undergoing surgery for his own knee ligament injury. Another midfielder in Antony Sweeney is available though after recently recovering from an ankle problem, Sweeney having made his comeback in the West Ham game.

The referee for tonight's match is Martin Atkinson from Leeds, and he will be assisted down the lines by David Richardson from Halifax and Mo Matadar from Blackburn. Meanwhile the fourth official is Nigel Miller from Darlington.