" Notts County is a great club, it’s a pity they are in the lower reaches but you can see now that it’s a fabulous stadium and it’s nice for me to come back here. It was a real tough game I thought out there today.
" At half-time we were disappointed that we hadn’t come out firing at all and we needed to get the two wide men further forward but their wing-backs pushed us back. We were very disappointed about that, we wanted to get further up the field which I thought we did a little bit better in the second-half.
" We defended very well and had to defend very well. We were disappointing in and around the final third and we just lacked that cutting edge. We picked the wrong ball or the wrong pass out and in the end we were pleased to get a 0-0.
" Notts County have had a poor run at the moment, we thought we’d come here and try and get at them and put them under pressure in front of their own fans but that never happened. Credit to them, they came out and played very well so you have to dig in then.
" We had a great chance at the end with Karl Hawley, if that had gone in then probably people might have thought it was a little bit unjust but that’s football. When you’ve defended as well as we have done today, we’re pleased about that but going forward we didn’t really create a lot today and didn’t look as sharp as we would like to be.
" Notts had a lot of pressure and certainly in the last 15 or 20 minutes the boy with the long throw and the corners looked very dangerous. It was just all hands to the pump and get your head on it which fortunately we did. You are thinking though that with the pace we’ve got with Alan O’Brien coming on that we would catch them out and we very nearly did that.
" I suppose we’ll have to be pleased with a point but we’re in this business to win football matches and we always try and win home or away. "
" If you win your home games and draw away from home you’re going to be thereabouts but looking back now we’ve had to dig in and we’re pleased with that. Obviously we’re not pleased with some of our performance retaining the ball going forward, we gave it away too often and we lacked that cutting edge in and around the penalty area.
" I would say we lacked the cutting edge but give credit to Notts County. They pushed us back, that was the thing that we talked about at half-time, their system was forcing it onto us where we wanted to force our system on them.
" We wanted to get Simon Hackney and Raphael Nade further up the field which I think we did better but not as well as we could have done. "
On the subject of United’s disallowed goal :
" We were a long way away, I thought Simon Hackney got his head on it but people say it was an own goal so I can’t really comment on that. It was too far away but the referee didn’t give it so we can’t get at him about that. "
Talking about the FA Cup first round draw away to Cheltenham :
" The thing with the FA Cup is that wherever you go you have to get through the tie so home or away we’ve got to try and win it. We’ll try and win it at Cheltenham, people will say get a draw and get them back to Brunton Park but once you are in the cup the object is to win the game.
" It’ll be a tough game with Wardy (John Ward) our old friend again, we went down there and had probably our best performance of the season to beat them 3-2. They had a penalty near the end which made it a little bit hairy-scary but I thought we dominated the game down there.
" We’ve got to take something positive from that, I know it’s a different situation totally but having already gone there and beaten them that’s got to give us confidence. "
Asked about the LDV second round draw at home to Blackpool :
" We’re at home and I would think there will be a reasonable crowd with Blackpool, a local derby if you like, although it’s probably 100 miles away.
" We’re quite pleased with that, it will be a good game, a team from a higher division, go and see how we go against them and how much improvement we need to do if we are going to go up. We’re looking forward to both games. "
On United’s position of ninth in the table after 15 games :
" If we’re in and around there then who knows, we’re in there to try and get promotion if we possibly can. If we can’t get promotion automatically then you want to be in and around those top six. At the moment we’re just outside that but we’re quite pleased with the start we’ve had. "
On the subject of the 727 strong travelling Blue Army :
" Brilliant fans aren’t they after what they have gone through last year with the floods and getting relegated and things like that. They’ve stuck with us and that is what we are here for, they deserve some success and hopefully we can bring it to them at Carlisle. "