Versatile midfielder Gary Liddle spoke to the Nottingham Post ahead of his side's League One match against Carlisle at Meadow Lane tomorrow, Liddle hoping the Magpies can improve their form on home turf:
"We're looking forward to playing at home right now. I know the results have not been too clever at home over the whole season, but we've enjoyed it out there in the last few games. It was certainly good being out there when we were beating Bury 4-1. That has done a lot for our confidence and hopefully we can put on another show for the fans against Carlisle.
"We haven't given up on the play-offs and chasing that top pack of teams, but we're under no illusions that it's going to be tough. Draws probably aren't going to be good enough and we definitely can't afford to lose too many, that's for sure. We need to win games – and that's exactly what we're going to try to do. Every game is huge now if we want to go for it. We're nine points off, which sounds a lot, but it's nothing.
"If you can get a bit of momentum going with a few wins you can quickly climb the table. Teams above us will drop points as well and when they do we have to make sure that we pick up on it and keep chasing them. I know the club had a massive upturn in results at the end of last season when I wasn't here and it's going to take something very similar, if not better, now. But we can still do it.
"We had a period earlier on in the season when we went eight or nine games without getting a win, which if you're striving for promotion you can't really afford. It's been said that we're giving ourselves 45 minutes to try to win games at the moment because we keep going behind, which is not right. We don't come out to concede and go behind to give us a spark to fight back, but that's how it's been going. Hopefully we can break that cycle tomorrow and get that first goal – and go on and win."
Meanwhile club captain Neal Bishop commented to his club's official website:
“I think we have been patchy at best recently in our form and our results, numerous times we have had to dig ourselves out of a hole after a poor first 45 minutes. There are 12 or 13 games left now but we are playing midweek so you soon run out of games and the points you can gain are few and far between. So, we need to put a run together probably bigger than we did at the end of last season. It is going to be a big ask but we have got the players here to do it and we have got the squad here to do it if we get injuries and suspensions.
“It is going to be a big ask but while it is still mathematically possible we will keep trying, and for me there hasn’t been a standout team this season and the league has proved that. It is topsy-turvy and it just goes to show that if we can put a run together of four or five wins then we can get right back in there. It is do or die now, we need to put that run together or we are going to run out of time.
“All successful teams are based on good home form, but we need to pick up wins both home and away. The situation is that draws are no good to us in our position, we need to start picking up three points and we need to start doing that consistently. We start with Carlisle who are a good footballing team, they have been struggling this season and 4-0 at their place may have flattered us a bit, but it will be like any game in this division, it is going to be competitive and we are going to have be at full tilt if we are going to get three points.”
As far as team news is actually concerned for the Magpies tomorrow there isn't really any. County having no long-term injury or suspension problems at the moment, while manager Chris Kiwomya commented, without naming names ahead of the game, on the state of his squad fitness-wise: "We have got one or two knocks but we will see how they fare for the weekend."
The referee for tomorrow's match is Darren Bond from Burscough and he will be assisted down the lines by Paul Cook from Hull and David Storrie from Leeds. Meanwhile the fourth official is Rob Merchant from Stoke-on-Trent.