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GA
It is terrific but we had a meeting today and we put it to bed for a bit. We've said that it is vital now that we concentrate on the MK Dons game and the league programme up to then. Five weeks is a long time in football and people have now got to keep their game together and they have got to keep their focus right.
Because the selection can change quickly where players have got to be on top of their game. Five weeks is a hell of a long time, there are a lot of games to play before Wembley so I have told the boys to put it to bed now.
They have done wonderfully well, wonderfully well to get where they have got and a fantastic occasion for the club, like the Everton cup tie to look forward to. But we have got to get our heads on the league and make sure we continue the momentum we are gathering in the league programme and get ourselves firmly established in the top half of the table.
JP
How careful and difficult a balance is it for you as a manager to make sure they put it to the back of their mind? But not that they forget it entirely because there are great points to come out of your Johnstone's Paint run that you can use in the league.
GA
We just use those points as points from any game. You look at all the positives from the game, you look at some of the negatives from the game and that is what we talk about now. We don't talk about the cup thing because that is put to bed now, but we talk about the game as a game because we have to take heart from some things we did right and also some of the things we didn't do so well.
So we have had a good training session today, they are bright because the situation is good for them and the energy is positive that is coming out at the moment. So it is a good group to work with right now but football changes very, very quickly and we have now got to put a run of results together in the league and make sure we maintain momentum.
JP
I think ding-dong best sums up the MK Dons game down there a little bit of a while ago now. I am sure you will want to avoid something like that at the weekend?
GA
I don't know, I think I would take a ding-dong 4-3 win again if you said that to me right now. I think we would be happy enough with that, the crowd would be ecstatic and the two managers would be pulling their hair out again. But I think it will be another good game, both teams are playing good football.
We are going to try to attack, we are going to try to take the game to them and I am sure Paul (Ince) will be thinking he has got a chance of getting something out of it as well. They will be hurting from their loss on Tuesday night, hopefully they will still be a little bit down and morale is a little bit low. We are full of enthusiasm and energy so I am looking forward to a really good game again.
JP
Gary Madine has gone out on loan to Chesterfield for a month, what is your thinking behind that?
GA
Gary needs some pitch time, he has been out to Rochdale and not had enough time and he has been out to Coventry and had not enough time on the pitch. He has got to get some pitch time now and I think it is a good one for everybody, for me to get him some games where he is playing regularly and John (Sheridan) needs a centre-forward that has got some size to him.
So Gary is going to go only for a month and it is going to be assessed and reviewed at the end of the month. But I think it is a great opportunity for him to get some proper football, which is what Gary needs at the moment.
JP
Of course he can't come back inside that month, does that suggest that Joe Anyinsah's injury, you are very confident now that he is going to stay fit with that one?
GA
Well we have got Joe haven't we and we have got Richard (Offiong) and we have got Darryl Duffy and we have got Scott Dobie. So we have got four strikers and it is well known we play with one sometimes, it is well known we play with two sometimes.
So we think we have enough to let Gary go, it is a big help for us to give Gary a platform to play games as well. It works in our favour this one as well, it works in Gary's and my favour to see him play regularly at league level, and we can assess how he does in that month he is down there.
JP
Given the fact that Joe Anyinsah does have his injury that is a bit of a fingers crossed scenario with him. If that injury did flare up again and if perhaps somebody else suffered an injury or a loss of form, would you be happy to go back into the transfer market with this emergency loan window that we have open?
GA
I never talk about other players, I talk about the players we have got and that is as far as I go with that.
JP
Tell us about Ryan Bowman then, youngster who is given a chance (at Workington) on work experience we are lead to believe.
GA
It is a great chance for Ryan, you know my thoughts on the reserve level we need to be at. He needs to be in the thick of real football, he has not had enough of that and the size of my squad, I am struggling to get him around my first team.
So the chance for him to play at Workington is terrific, again it will help Ryan, it will help me, it will help Darren (Edmondson). It is a good one all ends up and we need to see if Ryan….. physically he is a good size, he will handle the physical side of it no problem.
So he is one that is ready to go and do it and if he can play at Workington and prove he can handle that level of football, at 17 or 18, I think he is just 18 is Ryan, then everybody is a winner. So it is a really good shout for me to have a young player playing at a really serious level of football.
JP
He has been free scoring in youth and reserve team level, what do you need to see from him? Is it less perhaps the goals because you know he can score them, is it more how he handles being a player in first team competitive football?
GA
We have got to be careful of seeing where he has scored his goals. Youth team goals are easy to come by, they get harder to come by at reserve team goals where he hasn't got a hatful, he hasn't got a glut of goals at reserve team football. The first team is even harder, much, much harder to get the goals. So we shouldn't paint too many pretty pictures about goals scored at a lower level.
What he has got to do is score goals at a proper level, senior level and then we know the potential is getting realised. Because you hear a lot of stories of people scoring 40 and 50 goals at youth team level and that doesn't always happen at first team level, not very often anymore. So Ryan is another one, potential, and we need to see him playing at the most serious level possible.
We have been playing reserve teams that are miles stronger than the opposition and that doesn't do us any good and judgements can be clouded. Now what we have got to try to do is make right and proper judgements all the time to be fair to ourselves and to be fair to the players. By sending Ryan to Workington we will get a better chance to judge him.
JP
Your two players who were out ineligible (on Tuesday) obviously in on loan, (Ben) Marshall and (Darryl) Duffy, are you happy for them to come back into the team? Are they looking to do that pushing straight back in or do you perhaps show some faith in the players who have got you to Wembley?
GA
We have got an 18-man squad tomorrow and I am delighted that the strength of it is very, very good.
JP
After his goal though, he has twice come from the bench Ben Marshall, has he maybe got a chance of starting for Carlisle for his first time?
GA
All the 18 have got a chance of starting.
JP
How about Tom Taiwo, has he got a chance of starting this time around?
GA
He is in the 18.
JP
What is the injury situation like going into this one, just 24 hours or so away?
GA
Not too bad, we are not bad, we are OK with the injuries. You generally find when teams are doing well that not many people want to be on the treatment table and that is the case with us at the moment.
JP
And one final question, the crowd of 9,400 for the game against Leeds, they can't help but have been entertained by that game. How hopeful are you that you are going to get a few more of those, I guess stray fans who aren't here week in and week out back in through the gates at Brunton Park.
GA
Well, I think we have talked about us having an obligation to do that as well in terms of results and entertainment and excitement. I think there is a lot to look forward to from now on right to the end of the season, certainly with the cup game being at the back end of March.
So if we can get 6,000 or 7,000 tomorrow that is a massive improvement on the 4,500 to 5,000 that we have been getting. Then what we have got to try to do is keep them but I think there were maybe 8,500 of our own fans the other night. So I would be disappointed if we didn't go over the 6,000 mark for sure tomorrow, certainly I think our performance deserves that.
I think the fans have been enthused by what they saw so hopefully they can come again and we can do the same thing and get the same type of result. When they see us climbing the league I think that helps them come through the gate as well.