Craig Curran Talks About The Game

Last updated : 03 August 2010 By Thetashkentterror

Blues striker Craig Curran
United frontman Craig Curran (CC) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) after Carlisle's 1-0 pre-season friendly win at home to Hibernian, Curran looking forward to the start of the League One campaign next Saturday :


JP

Pre-season just about over for you now, you will be looking forward to hopefully being involved to some extent against Brentford now?

CC

Yeah, hopefully, that is the aim, it has gone quite quickly so we are all looking forward to the season.





JP

When pre-season at a new club comes around like this what does it feel like for a player trying to bed in but also trying to prove yourself?

CC

The same as at any other club, whether you are going into a new club or you are going back to the same club you were at the season before. You have got to prove yourself so that is what it is about anyway really, so I am used to that now.





JP

Regardless of the highs and lows of pre-season, there haven't been too many lows in fairness for the boss Greg Abbott, he has always wanted to refer fans to the fact that it is all geared towards Brentford now and that is the next thing on the agenda for you?

CC

Yeah, pre-season is just about getting ready. It doesn't matter what you do in pre-season, you could have won all your games or you could have lost all your games, it doesn't change the outcome of the start of the season where it really matters. It is just about getting prepared and getting ready for that first game.





JP

I know the standards of Scottish football are different from those in English football, but the facts are today that a third division English team has hammered, albeit not in score, a Premier League team in Scotland. It was difficult to tell who was top flight and who was third division today?

CC

Yeah, we have got a good team and we have got a good squad together, so everyone is fighting for places and pushing on for that game next weekend until the end of the season. That is what it is about really and I think we can do well.





JP

Just on the visitors today, how did the players feel about it, were you a little bit disappointed with Hibernian today given that they have this reputation for being one of the most attacking teams in Scotland?

CC

No, we conducted ourselves right, we stopped them playing and as you could see with the fans - we frustrated them, and if we do that to every other team in this league then they won't be able to play and they won't be able to handle us.





JP

In terms of the squad now, how strong do you think this is compared to how perhaps the squad you were with at Tranmere last season?

CC

It is a much better squad this year but it all comes to nothing until you do it in the league, and that is where it counts. It doesn't matter whether we have won all the games in pre-season or not, it matters in the season and that is where it counts. It is going to be a different type of game to today, I imagine next week is going to be 100mph.

The first game, everyone is going to want to be flying, the atmosphere is going to be bigger and better so it is going to be a different game. But we have got to apply ourselves right and if we do that then there is no reason why we can't do well.





JP

And I'm sure your manager Greg Abbott will have made you and all the other new players aware of this, but Brentford actually came here on the opening day of last season and spoiled the new season party by beating Carlisle.

CC

Yeah, I have heard that we owe them one, so that is an extra incentive for the lads, especially the ones that have been here, and obviously the ones that have come into the club as well to beat them.





JP

What have you made of Francois Zoko, the Ivorian coming in, he seems to have just won the fans over in no time at all and they are all absolutely adoring him. What is he like to train with and play with?

CC

He is a good player, a very good player, we have got a good squad and there are loads of good players, himself, Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson), the type of players that can play in that little hole and undo teams and slide passes through. Ideally that is brilliant for strikers like myself.





JP

He is another player who fans are already saying he looks more like a goal provider than a natural goalscorer. Jason Price has already said that that is more his game as well, there is a bit of pressure on the likes of you and Gary Madine isn't there to actually come up with the goals for Carlisle this year?

CC

We are strikers, that is what we are there for, I am not hiding from that and I am sure Gary won't be. That is what we are here to do and they will come, the goals will come, you see the positions we get in and the chances we have had. It is just that little bit of luck in the box and when one goes in I am sure they will flow.





JP

Just finally, how are you finding settling into the area itself and settling into your new club? Is it like you have always been here now?

CC

I feel really settled in now, the lads, I am used to training, the crowd, the ground, everything I am used to. I am living here now, it is a lovely place, so everything like that is perfect, so everything is going well and hopefully it will lead on into the season.