United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) on Friday evening ahead of Carlisle's League One game against Peterborough at London Road tomorrow, Abbott first talking about the ten-man Blues defeating Hartlepool 1-0 at home on Tuesday evening :
PN
In terms of character where you would put Tuesday night's performance?
GA
It is up there with a lot of the other good things we have done this season. The one thing that the boys have got is a real good determination and a real togetherness and a determination to make sure if we are going to get beaten or we are not going to win games, that teams are going to have really pull out all the stops. We know at times we have not been as good as we would like but on a lot of occasions we have produced some really good stuff. We are sitting now after Tuesday's important three points in a nice position in the table hoping to drive on from there and more good things ahead.
PN
Yeah, I know you are always keen to play down any talk of the play-offs, of more important interest to you I guess is that 13 point gap now between yourselves and the bottom four?
GA
I do think that it is important, for the players and for the club. It is a situation that if it still lingers or if it is around then you are always thinking about it. But, I think after Tuesday night, that is how important that three points was to the club. But, we are looking forward, I am not going to talk about the play-offs, I know you do and everybody will want me to and I wouldn't, and you know I wouldn't. But, it sort of more or less eliminates the bottom situation which is one thing that you have cleared, you have got it out of the way, that is done now. We have got to start looking forward and looking higher up the table, rather than looking behind us.
PN
Francois Zoko, does he practice those overhead kicks in training?
GA
Yeah, he does, and we have lost about six or seven balls in the river, so he is not very good at them. But, listen, if there is one player that can produce that probably in our club it is Francois, we know what he is, we know what he isn't, but you can't deny that is his individualism and his quality at times is fantastic. He is still learning the game in England and we have been delighted with him to be honest.
PN
I don't know whether you have had the chance to look back at Liam Noble's tackle, but any complaints about that red card?
GA
If you had been playing five or six years ago you would have said it is a free-kick and everyone gets on with the game. The way the game is going at the minute and the amount of aggression with his determination to win the ball gives him little option for us to complain about it or make an appeal. It is one of those things, nowadays you just can't do that type of tackle, they are outlawed, whether you agree with it or don't agree with it, it is not part and parcel of what is allowed nowadays. So, we spoke to Liam about it and hopefully he will learn from that, but it is a just a young man with an absolute abundance of energy and determination. He has probably got it just a little bit wrong but certainly no grounds for an appeal I wouldn't have thought.
PN
Yeah, Liam is going to miss the next three games, how ready is Paul Thirlwell for a possible return?
GA
Well, listen, he has trained with us today, we are going to look at him, he has trained well, he has trained for four or five days now, but two or three of them were with the youth team at a low tempo, he has only had two proper training sessions with us. We are going to look at him tomorrow, we are not going to name the team today, we are going to look at him tomorrow, we are going to look at Lubo (Lubomir Michalik) tomorrow. We are looking at everybody and seeing who is fit and who is ready and who is prepared to go and put in a big shift, because that is what is going to be needed. We will make our minds up overnight when we have seen reactions to the training today.
PN
And of course some sad news this week concerning Sean McDaid who has been forced to retire from the game with that knee injury, that is terrible news for the player isn't it?
GA
Yeah, listen, Sean is a good footballer but he is a fantastic individual as well. He is a really top guy, the lads love him, very popular around the dressing room, I don't think I have ever heard anybody in football say a bad word about him. Sometimes the flip of the coin comes down on the wrong side for the wrong people, you wouldn't wish this on anybody but certainly Sean, it is the last thing he wanted or I would think deserves. But, our best wishes go to him, I have been talking to him for a long while about the situation and hopefully we can help him and other people in football can help him and he can go on and carve out some sort of career within the game, but obviously in a different capacity.
PN
Do you think Sean is keen to remain in the game in some capacity? We look at somebody like Neil Dalton down there who couldn't continue his game but took up physiotherapy obviously and has taken on that role, is Sean keen to remain in football?
GA
I just think sometimes it is all we know, Sean has been at Leeds since he was nine to be honest, so he has been in the football industry since he was nine years old, although as a professional obviously only since he was sixteen, and it is probably all he knows. So, if there is an opportunity to stay in football then I think it is daft to try to turn your hand to something else, because we are generally not very good at anything else we try, it is only football that we know.
PN
Well, we of course wish him the best wishes in whatever he does in whatever he chooses to do. Just onto tomorrow, obviously another tough game, Darren Ferguson appears to have steadied the ship down there at Peterborough?
GA
Yeah, I think he has done more than steady the ship, he has actually got them in a great position to mount a push for promotion, whether it be automatic or whether it be through the play-off system. He will be keen to see that continue tomorrow but we know what we can be like, we can be dogged and we can be determined and we can upset people. So, although he has done a fantastic job and got his team in a powerful position we are not coming here to give him less problems, we are going to hopefully give him a few and give him something to think about, Hopefully by come quarter to five we have created a lot of problems and got some sort of result out of the game.
PN
And obviously you mentioned Paul Thirlwell and Lubo Michalik, any other concerns tonight? Obviously, Danny Livesey going to be missing for a couple of weeks now?
GA
Yeah, Danny will probably miss Saturday-Tuesday, and then we will have a look at Danny, it is not as bad as first thought, and maybe two weeks is even longer than it needs to be. But, again with hamstrings we can't take any risks. But, he is the only one, and again, that is a blow to Danny because he has got himself fit, playing games and doing alright. He is very, very disappointed that he is not going to be able to play tomorrow and like so on Tuesday, but the big man is a bit happier now that he knows that the news isn't as bad as it could have been.