United assistant manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 4-1 League One victory at home to Leyton Orient, Kavanagh saying it was a professional performance from the Blues :
JP
It has to go down as a tremendously professional performance that from your team, comprehensively winning and moving yourselves up into those play-off places?
GK
That is right, I think it was, I think today was a really professional performance, very, very strong, very solid, and I think the early goal settled us down. It gave us that opportunity to go and play in the manner in which we know we can and to come away with a 4-1 victory against a side who have been on a good run of form is a great day's work.
JP
The only disappointment, and I will get it right out of the way, was just that they got a goal when they did because you looked so comfortable against them?
GK
Well we did, I mean the problem came because we had made that many substitutions, we only made the two substitutions but we had to chop and change. We put J-P (Jon-Paul McGovern) in the midfield, we were trying to protect James Berrett a bit really because he is on a yellow card tightrope and if he gets another yellow card then he misses two games, and obviously he has been a big player for us this season. He has come into a really good vein of form so it is key that we keep him on the pitch as long as we can, so obviously we took him off today as precautionary, put J-P inside and we had to change one or two positions when we were defending.
So, as it turned out J-P was watching Jamie Cureton but to be fair it is probably my fault, I told him to pick him up from corners, he didn't think it was set-pieces so he didn't pick him up, so we conceded, so I will take the blame for that. But, listen, it didn't take the shine off today's game because it was a great performance, we would have definitely taken 4-1 before the game and they are a good scalp to get three points from.
JP
It is really only a minor thing isn't it, in terms of the goals you scored, for the first time in a while a couple of goals that you haven't had to work quite so hard for, I mean some of the goals have been so hard to come by, you have had to play some amazing football to get them, but today a couple that weren't so?
GK
Well, I mean the first goal was a great goal, Francois (Zoko) has taken it brilliantly, and that settles everyone down. But, it is strange, I mean they have been playing a 4-1-4-1 system and for some reason today they didn't and we had worked on that and we were trying to get the ball into Lee Miller early. But, because they played the 4-4-2 it obviously left gaps in front and we thought we were going to have to, really although we had to work for it, we didn't have to work for the two goals, the second and third goals.
A little bit jammy, but sometimes when you are in a good vein of form and you are playing well the way we are they go in for you, obviously when you are struggling they don't, but we will definitely take them. It gives us a good goal difference now because I think we were on minus, so we now jump into plus and we also cement ourselves in the top six.
JP
Of those two jammy goals, a good word for them by the way, it sums them up quite well, Matt Robson came away and his face said that he didn't really expect his free-kick to go in, and Tom Taiwo's, has he said that it was a cross or is he claiming he meant that?
GK
Well, before that he had a great chance, a half-foot volley where you think if he hits into the ground with the way the pitch was obviously being so wet that it might gather pace, and he didn't connect with it as well as he would have liked. I am not sure if it was a tackle, if it was a help back into the box or what it was but it ended up going into the top corner, so I am sure Tom will tell you it was well meant. But, listen, you take them when they come, Tom has had a few weeks out of the team and in the last two games he has come in and he has done really well.
So, it is very, very pleasing, it is important now that luckily enough today we haven't got any injuries and it is important that we look after the lads, which we have done. The training pitch has been really, really heavy and we are still getting that workload out of the players, so it is going very well and long may it continue.
JP
I know just before we came on air, talking to us there, you talked about what a great goal it was for James Berrett, but splendid stuff from him and you see how important it is because I mean by the high, high standards he set last year he has not been quite as prolific this year, but already in January onto seven goals now?
GK
Yeah, well I mean people have said that he has not been prolific but I think he got ten goals last season, and he got five before Christmas, he is now on seven, I think because he has come in probably unexpectedly last season and performed to the level and the manner in which we did there is probably a bit more pressure on him. But, the second season is usually a little bit more difficult and I think he has coped and handled it really well.
But, man of the match today without a shadow of a doubt was Lee Miller and he gives us that platform that when the ball goes in it generally sticks, even when it doesn't stick he makes it really difficult for centre-halves. It gives us that opportunity to get up the pitch, I think before speaking to Lummy (Chris Lumsdon) about it, as a midfield player it is fantastic to know that when the ball goes forward you can break off your midfield man knowing and gambling that the chances are going to fall in your favour. Long may it continue that he stays fit because he is a difficult one to replace if he we were lose to him.
JP
We defied the sponsors against Sheffield United and gave our personal man of the match to Miller, two games running now, not scored but brought in so much for the team, he is crucial to you at the moment?
GK
He is, and I would like to see a couple of the goals that he did score today which were disallowed. We weren't sure if they were offside, I mean I know they were given as offside, but listen, we are not bothered if he doesn't score. Obviously, as a centre-forward you are selfish and you want to get your goals and you want to look at the end of the season and look at the goalscoring charts and know that you have scored and put your fair share in.
But, he gives so much more to the team, he is a real team player, he is really honest in his work-rate and in his endeavour to hold the ball up, and he has got no end of quality, for such a big man he has got a great understanding of taking the ball into him, holding it up, delaying the play, laying if off, getting the ball wide and then getting in the box. He has been a really good signing for us and he gives us that platform, especially in the 4-3-3 which the full-backs joins in, all across the pitch I think today we just looked quite solid.
JP
And speaking of platforms, because of the pattern of the game today, it allowed you to give Chris Chantler a bit more time on the pitch following him now becoming one of your players rather than when you were borrowing him from Manchester City, important for him to get that?
GK
Well, I think when you make a debut anytime it is important. It is obviously nice to come in when it is a victory and the game looks comfortable, we had a fair idea we were going to win at that stage. But, still, I am sure he was a little bit nervous, I thought he handled it quite well, although he probably only got four or five touches of the ball. But, we see him in training every day, he is an excellent link player, he is always looking for the ball on the half turn, he generally always looks to try to play forward, very, very neat and tidy.
There are one or two things that we have been trying to work on with him about his defensive side, but he is a real honest lad. I am sure a lot of people will look at his size and think that is a factor, but with the quality he has he generally moves the ball very, very quickly so it doesn't allow the opposition to actually get close enough to him to smack him. So, he is a bright player and one that we hope has a big future with us, and it is a real plus today that he gets on and he gets his debut.
JP
Given the form the Cumbrians are in it would be no surprise that people are looking at your players, maybe two or three weeks ago though Francois Zoko might not have been at the top of the list, but six goals in six games now and he is your joint top scorer?
GK
Yeah, well I think it was his brother that came at the start of the season, he was here for the first six months and then Francois has obviously gone away and he has now come back and it is the real Francois who is here. No, to be fair to him he has been absolutely different class, his work-rate has improved, his confidence has improved, his understanding of the system has most definitely improved and goals do that for you.
He is probably the most physically strong at the club, I don't mean in terms of lifting weights and stuff, I just mean in terms of his core and in terms of his ability on the ball, he is so strong and he is so quick and he is very difficult to knock off. When he is playing in the form he is in at the moment he is a pleasure to watch and obviously to work with. But, the pleasing thing from our point of view is obviously not only the goals, is the work-rate also that he is putting in.
JP
Now after this game, one of those teams a little bit below Carlisle, a professional job required, back up to one of those really, really exciting games against one of the best in the division (MK Dons) again next weekend?
GK
Yeah, a lot of teams have said that MK Dons probably play the best football and we have generally gone there and given them a good game over the last few years. It is a lovely stadium, it is a lovely pitch, they have good players, we know the way they play, it is a very open attacking game. I think when I spoke a few weeks ago, one of the games we had played (Wycombe at home), we had made a real counter-attacking game of it. We certainly don't want to do that against them because their players in the top six positions of the pitch will crucially cause you a problem.
Obviously, from our point of view we want to go there and pass the ball in the manner in which we have done today and have done over the last Christmas period and four or five weeks and take the game to them. We are full of confidence, we are not going there fearing anybody, as you say and quite rightly so, there are a lot of teams and scouts in the division who are looking up and taking notice of the way we are playing. So, we have got nothing to fear, we will go there and embrace it and hopefully give them a really good game.
JP
They have creditably drawn with QPR today, so they will have a replay three days after they play you, do you think that will be on their minds? Do you think you can consider that sort of thing yourselves?
GK
Erm, we will take that as a bonus but I am sure if Karl Robinson is being honest then his priority this season is promotion. He will feel he has the squad to do that and they do have a decent squad, a decent sized squad, so I am sure they can manage in terms of the games. But, no doubt his priority will be us next week, he will know that we are coming there full of confidence and he knows he is going to be in for a tough game. Likewise we also know the same so hopefully it will be a well matched game and hopefully we come out on top.
JP
And just one final one, I am not sure how much you will know about this but it is great to see Rory Loy on the pitch today, just playing with the mascot who was his nephew, just prodding the ball inbetween the two of them. Do we have more of a timescale on how long we are expecting him to be out with his injury for now?
GK
Not really, obviously it was a horrendous injury, I mean I was by his side when it happened and it wasn't nice to be honest. I saw his leg last week when he came in and it is remarakable the improvement he has made in a week, last week it was black and blue and very, very swollen. This week he is managing to put a little bit of weight on it, which he was afraid to do last week but the surgeon and our physios are encouraging him to do that, and the quicker he can do that the quicker the healing process by all accounts improves.
But, we are certainly not going to put a timescale on it, first and foremost it is vitally important for him that he gets his head right, he gets himself fully fit in the manner and time in which it takes. We fully support him and hopefully because of the part he has played this season if we could reward him with a promotion or a play-off position then that would be just a huge, huge bonus to him. So, hopefully that is the case.
JP
#promotionforloy I think is what they are calling it on twitter on one of those hashtags, your goals just going in on the laptop just to our left here, we have seen the scuffer, let's have a look, here is Tom Taiwo's effort.............which is a cross.
GK
I am not sure, to be honest I want to be kind to Tom, but to be fair I know he hasn't seen the keeper (Lee Butcher) off his line there so I am not going to say.
JP
Talk us through this one, what do you make of this goal (Carlisle's fourth)?
GK
Well, I think Lee Miller fights all day long there with the centre-half (Scott Cuthbert), it gives us the opportunity, Bez breaks off him, slips a good ball through to him and then he has the composure and the time to be aware to obviously suck the goalkeeper out and then it is a great little finish underneath him. That goal conceded is a little bit sloppy there, straight away after that as I said I have had a shout at J-P and he said that he thought he was just marking him for corners, so cheers J-P, thanks a million for that. But, listen, it is not a blemish, obviously the keeper (Adam Collin) wants to keep a clean sheet and we would ideally love to, but it's just that it is a great victory today and we are very pleased.