United media officer and first team kitman Andy Hall (AH) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) this evening ahead of Carlisle's League One match at home to Preston, Hall first talking about a relatively one-sided rivalry between the two sides :
JP
What a match this promises to be, everyone so excited?
AH
I think you are probably the same as me, it is the one we looked at back in June when the fixture list came out. Preston don't see it the same way, we have to be honest about that, when we say to them you are our biggest rivals at the moment they look at you as if you are daft. Because, they immediately start to think Burnley, Blackburn, Blackpool, things like that. But, for us, for Carlisle United with the location, travelling time and the history between the two clubs which hasn't always been rosy, they are our biggest rivals as far as we are concerned in this division, and wouldn't it be nice to put one over them.
JP
It is interesting isn't it trying to consider how exactly that works out because Carlisle you would imagine will come at Preston and go whack, but Preston will be expecting just sort of a usual match because they don't see the match the same. So, will they be more professional and Carlisle be slightly more their heads on other things, or will be it the other one and Carlisle be so up for it and Preston won't be quite at the races, you just don't know how it will play out?
AH
I don't know, I think we got a clue at the weekend with what they did down in the deep south against Exeter, they played really well. They have been solid anyway the last few weeks, there have been a lot of 0-0s with Preston, haven't been scoring but they haven't been conceding either. That tells you that there is a bit of organisation coming in somewhere, it might not be pretty but at the weekend they added the goals as well. So, we have to watch out for that because if they have got that solidity at the back and now the confidence to go forward then they will wait for us to come at them and try to exploit the gaps. So, it won't be easy this but we are confident.
JP
In terms of the squad, unchanged, Greg Abbott just feeling that it was just such a good swashbuckling performance as he described it to Chris Lumsdon a moment ago at the weekend, that he is happy for those guys to enjoy the spectacle and the professional nature of this game tonight?
AH
I think it was gritty, we saw a different side to the lads that we have seen on the road for the last four or five games so far this New Year. There was a real determination not to concede and I was as gutted as anybody when it hit the back of the net because you felt it for those defenders. The likes of the big lad (Danny) Livesey who just does his job week after week, there are no heirs and graces with Dan.
He doesn't expect to be compared to anybody like Rio Ferdinand who can pass the ball or anything like that, he just defends and he did it so well on Saturday with Peter Murphy doing what he has done for 440-odd games at the heart of the defence. They deserved a clean sheet, sometimes you haven't been able to say that away from home but on Saturday they did and Bournemouth got it by horrible football I would describe it as, just going for it. Congratulations to them, they got their draw, but it was gutting for us.
JP
Speaking purely as fans I would have loved to have been a fan of Arsenal in the sort of nineties and early noughties with the 1-0 to the Arsenal days. I even enjoyed watching Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, I love those attritious, battling, scrappy games, some fans don't, they want to see all of the football don't they, but I just think those sorts of games are great and if United could have just hung on it would have been wonderful at the weekend, but it was still a good performance even if in the end a couple of points slipped away late on?
AH
Well, I think I have said this to you a number of times, the reason we are where we are in the table this season is because we play some good football. It tends to work out that you tend to get the rewards if you try to pass it, then again sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up, we didn't do it at Chesterfield, didn't do it against Hartlepool, didn't do it at Brentford and we saw what happened because of that.
But, when we have done it, when we have rolled our sleeves up we have tended to earn the right to play football, particularly here on our home patch and that is why we are looking at a fantastic run at Brunton Park. So, I think we will have to do the same again because like I say, Graham Westley has come from a small club in Stevenage to a massive club at Preston and he wants to show people that he is up to that task as well. So, we are going to have to be ready.
JP
And Lummy and I just finally chatting before we came on air, looking at where Carlisle are in the table, looking at who Notts County have got at home to Sheffield United, that is not going to be easy even though they are at home, looking at the games in hand United have got, it is in United's hands?
AH
It is, and we said at the beginning of this month that with an eight game fixture jam in front of us we would sort it out by the end of the month, I don't think we will you know. League One is absolutely unbelievable, it has all gone haywire results-wise, you have looked at some of the teams playing at home, Charlton, some of the points they have dropped this month, what is that all about? So, it is wide open, not so much in terms of Charlton because they have done the hard work already. But, the teams that are beneath them, we can actually look at putting a run together and catching up with them. So, it is not done and dusted as to what position will be filled by which team just yet and it is games like this one tonight that will sort that out.
JP
Yeah, and we certainly hope that United can win the battle tonight and win the war over the course of the season with matches like this one?
AH
Just a quick one as well before I let you go. There is going to be a bit of a drought in terms of the manager (Greg Abbott) being able to speak to the press over the course of the next week. That is not a media blackout, that is the fact that we travel down to Colchester, travel straight back down to MK Dons and there are going to be a couple of rest days inbetween. So, you are looking at a sort of period between Thursday and next Thursday where it is going to be very difficult to get hold of anybody. But, that is purely down to the fixtures and nothing to do with the club being mithery.
JP
By the way, I believe there is going to be a minute's applause tonight as well?
AH
Jack Watson, what a charcter, anybody who works over in the north-east, they will know him, and anybody who supported Carlisle through the 70s and 80s when Jack was a real right-hand man to Bob Stokoe, they will know all about him. So, his life will be remembered, he sadly passed away on a day when he was going to be a guest of honour because he was also an Honorary Vice President, so we were devastated when we heard that.
Also tied into that I think the football community united at the weekend when Fabrice Muamba went to the floor. Everybody was shocked and frightened for him and for his family, and the fact that he has had a few words with Owen Coyle today is absolutely magnificent. So, tied in with the celebration of Jack's life will be a celebration that Fabrice is going to be around to play some more football.