United caretaker manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-1 League One victory away to Stevenage, Kavanagh over the moon for everyone at the club:
JP
I am sure you are happy tonight?
GK
Extremely pleased, absolutely over the moon, for obvious reasons with the two results but more importantly I think the response from the staff, the players, the directors, the chairman, all the office staff, they have been nothing but supportive and extremely wishful that we do well. It is lovely to be able to give them what they have asked for but there has been so much hard work done on the basis of how we play and how we actually try to deny teams space.
Everything that we have asked of them last week they have done, and I set them a challenge today to say we did it three times last season where we won back to back and the first time we did it was Boxing Day and then the 29th December. So, I set them the challenge to do it twice and it is only the end of September, and next week the challenge will be can we do it three in a row. But, if we get that type of energy and that type of performance and that honesty and intelligence then I will have no problem with the group at all, I thought they were magnificent.
JP
The first time that the club have ever won here at Stevenage as well, how impressed were you with the way that they managed to cling on in there even when Stevenage got the goal back and started to try to flex their own muscles in the game?
GK
Well, we knew before the game that we are obviously capable of competing, we knew that last week was going to be a different week to this week because Sheffield United are very much a footballing side, Stevenage were going to be a big physical up and at you team. I thought they started to play football until we got the goal and then they played a little bit more direct, which is their style, you know what Graham Westley’s teams are going to give you, a lot of hard work, a lot of honesty and a lot of organisation.
But, credit to our boys, we conceded a goal after the break, we didn’t let our heads drop, we changed one or two things tactically which I felt we needed to do. I thought at the top end of the pitch we needed another body just to stop them getting out too easily because I felt there was wave after wave of attacks. So, we put David Amoo upfront who looked at me as if he didn’t want to go and play there, but we have seen him do it in training.
I thought Dave Symington came on and the big thing, as I have said from day one, I am going to ask for as much as you can give and a little bit more every day. But, the key to that is the players behind who aren’t playing, because they are going to have to drive and they are going to have to push everything forward. They came on and did their jobs today and they were all superstars in my eyes as far as I was concerned.
JP
You are going to have to do a bit more explaining to tell us when you were maybe under the cosh at 1-1, how you had the guts really to bring on a winger for a central midfielder?
GK
Well, I just thought tactically that their boy, it was either Luke Freeman or Greg Tansey, it was one of them anyway, went in the hole and I thought he was going to continue to get on the ball. I thought we could shut up shop and maybe defensively put Paul Thirlwell front screening him and hope that he wouldn’t get on the ball, but either way I knew that with one man upfront in Mark Beck, prior to that it was Lee Miller, that they were going to have wave after wave of attacking.
I wasn’t sure that we were going to be able to cope with it because they are a big physical team, they had already had the penalty and they had one or two free-kicks around the box. So, I thought if Becky was going to continue to win his headers as Lee did and Becky was doing when he came on, I thought let’s see if we can stick a bit of pace up the top and threaten them in behind, which David Amoo is more than capable of doing.
The biggest concern I had was David Symington coming on, would he defensively give us that organisation and that intelligence where it was working. I mean it worked to a treat today, I am not saying it is going to happen every week but it did today and it was really, really pleasing to see.
JP
He [Symington] hit the frame of the goal twice, set one up and then absolutely flattened Freeman as he was trying to escape here, I mean that is everything you wanted isn’t it?
GK
Absolutely, I mean Dave has a tendency as an individual and as a player and as a personality to be a little bit Jack the Lad and the joke is on him so to speak. But, I think he needs to start realising what his potential is and how good he can be when he focuses and has that determination and drive about himself. It is done now, it is in the bag and we put it to bed so to speak in terms of the victory.
But, on Tuesday when we come back in again I am going to show him the video, I am going to show David Symington exactly what he is capable of doing, and that is what we have got thirteen players for including the substitutes. Because, without the group and without the staff and without the support that we all get it is very difficult to do this job. So, it is really, really pleasing to get two back to back victories.
JP
How about the group, how is the confidence doing, I mean it looked to us like it is really starting to return now, where are you at with the squad?
GK
Well, we are top of the table in my mind because I said to the lads last week that it is a 40 game season, give us what you gave us from Monday to Friday last week and do the same this week. So, it is six points from six and in the table in my mind we are sitting pretty at the moment. So, to be honest, as I said last week, it was about trying to take the pressure away from the players, and for whatever reason last week, and it does generally happen when you have a manager change and people feel they have stuff to prove again, and it is just about sort of taking the shackles off.
We organise them a little bit differently, we set them up a little bit differently and we told everyone that if one goes we all go, we all press and we all squeeze the play and we slide across the pitch and we deny them space and time. Then when we have it we look to break and I think we are at the moment a very good counter-attacking team.
There is nothing to be shameful of with that, that is the way we set up, that is the way I wouldn’t say we will always necessarily go and play, but we are going to have to absorb pressure, but we know that we have got the pace and the quality in the wide areas which they have both shown today, that we can cause teams problems.
JP
From taking over in the bottom four you have now got the club four points clear of it, is it all about now just trying to make that bottom four not an issue to Carlisle?
GK
To be honest I am going to approach it in the exact same manner that I have done in the last two weeks. It is done now, OK, the points are in the bag but my preparation will start from tomorrow morning. I am going to go to games Monday and Tuesday and Thursday of next week, the lads will work extremely hard as of Tuesday and Wednesday and we go again. There is nobody going to rest on their laurels, we won’t allow it, the staff have been really, really good in driving that and they have supported everything I have asked.
To be fair the players are buying into it and I think when you see the level of performance, not only the results, but you see the energy they have put in, the discipline, and I keep going back to the word intelligence, but it is a huge word. If we do it right then it will make our jobs on the pitch both individually and collectively a hell of a lot easier.
JP
One of the men who run the club, John Nixon, was able to be able to stand there in the stands today and then shake the hands of all the players as they were coming off.
GK
He didn’t shake my hand.
JP
But, did he say anything to you?
GK
No, I haven’t spoken to him, to be honest I didn’t see John, I was desperate to get in the dressing room and speak to the players. I just said to the boys at the end of the game, it is one of them, if you could bottle that feeling and sell it then you wouldn’t be a millionaire or a billionaire, you would be a trillionaire.
I mean to see the players and the way they are and the euphoria and the togetherness and all the things you think of and dream of as a kid about what it would be like if I was a professional footballer and to go and play. That is nothing to do with money, that is just literally the feeling and the energy that the group has, absolutely top drawer. I am just going to ask again, can we go again next week and give us the same level of performance, and I do think the result will look after itself if that is the case.
JP
We shall certainly see on that one, but I must ask further on that point I was making, has there been any indication of what you will need to achieve this job now, I mean on the club’s own statement about continuing the process they said you were in the driving seat. Two wins on the trot is not a bad way to be driving?
GK
I think I have said from the offset that I want the job, I think I have shown whether I get the job or not that I think I am capable of doing the job. Sorry, I will start that again, we are capable of doing the job because the staff have been, and I am going to say this all season, because the staff have been absolutely magnificent, and that includes the office staff.
So, whatever the club decide to do, obviously I hope it is in my favour and I hope we all get the opportunity to progress and continue what we have done and what we set out to achieve. But, all I will do is just continue my job as of tomorrow and let the process of elimination if you like continue. But, I think everybody can see that I have sort of done myself a little favour anyway, so let’s see what this week holds.
I mean, I can’t commit myself any more because I don’t know any more, I mean that is being honest. John has been extremely honest with me, he said they were whittling down the names, there were going to be conversations had, there probably were going to be some interviews. I was still part of the process up until Friday, I was one of the names in the hat and I will take his word for it. The chairman and directors have been first class so let’s see what it brings.
JP
I suppose the one negative today, Lee Miller had to come off with an injury, what is the situation, anything known on that?
GK
Not at the moment no, I am not sure if it is a calf or his back, it is definitely a problem in his calf but I am not sure if it is relating from his back. But, I mean, it wasn’t a negative in the end because of the performance Mark Beck put in. Just before he went on the pitch I said, listen, if you are going to remember any game this season then remember Blackburn, you were unplayable and that is exactly the level of performance I want from you going on, and he did that.
So, we have got an understudy there at this moment in time who if he keeps progressing and keeps developing then he has got an opportunity to be the focal point of this team. But, he needs to keep performing to keep Lee on his toes, and I was really pleased for Lee today because he has had a difficult few weeks up top on his own and probably not getting the service that we wanted to get to him, or the support we wanted to. But, he gets his goal today and hopefully that is his confidence high now and he is off and running.