United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) at Thursday afternoon's press conference for the local media, Abbott first answering if the Blues are doing anything differently in the run-up to a must win home game against Exeter on Saturday :
GA
Your training goes as normal, again, a great appetite for it and we want to just close the season down with a couple of wins and see what happens. That has always been the aim to win as many games as possible. We know we have had a bit of a tough period but you look back at that period and the teams that we have played and the way that the results could have gone, and we could be sitting here with five or six points more. But, Lady Luck and what have you has just gone against us and we have ended up with no points from the last three games when we have probably competed in all three as well as the opposition.
JP
Pressure on or pressure off now it is a bit out of your hands?
GA
Probably pressure off to an extent, well we know we have just got to win two games, so we just go out there and do our best to do that. There is a belief that we can do that within the squad so we have to do that and see what happens. But, when the ball is in other peoples' court you just have to think, well let's just go and do that. We want to send the people home happy, we have tried that most of the season and it has worked to a large extent, but it keeps the season alive if we win and if we go into the last game with it being mathematically possible then that has been a success in its own right.
JP
I know to an extent it is our of your hands but looking at the fixtures and the varying degrees of difficulty in those run-ins for the final three, are you as a manager able to not look at that I suppose and concentrate on your own games, or will you have half an eye and half an ear on what is going on elsewhere?
GA
Well, listen, if anybody is honest in here did anybody think that Bayern Munich would be playing against Chelsea in the European Cup Final, probably not. So, things can happen in football that surprise people, so if there any surprises out there we have got to make sure we just win our two games and we are ready to jump into one of those places. There will be twists and turns in one of the leagues at one end of the table, and very easily it could be ours and we have to make sure that we are ready to jump if that happens.
JP
Of course Exeter are battling for their lives so they are not going to come up here and roll over for you are they?
GA
I don't think many teams roll over anymore anyway, the free points at the end of the season has long since gone. There will be better games than others for certain teams but they need to win and hope for a miracle themselves. I know (Paul) Tisdale as well and I know football people, and listen, we might win the game but it won't be because they have let us win it, it will be because we have deserved to. So, everything we get on Saturday will be well earned.
But, I would expect it to be an open game because we are going with as much attacking intent as possible, and it could be an absolute cracker to be honest because it is great. It is a fiesty game at the end of the season with lots depending on it for different reasons for both teams.
Trying to pick a team against Sheffield Wednesday was very difficult because they are a very, very powerful team, and to be fair we took them to the 96th minute. So, we got that right but you have to stay in the game against people like that. Saturday is slightly different, we have got to try to force the issue and win the game, as Exeter will be trying to win the game, so it is an open game on Saturday. There could be goals and we think there will be plenty of goals.
JP
Speaking of pressure on and pressure off, would you rather they were still scrapping for their survival and maybe be a bit anxious with that, or would you rather that they had already gone and maybe had less to play for, because it can swing either way can't it?
GA
Well, Doncaster have just had a fantastic win didn't they, they get relegated and then they have had one of their best results of the season. So, do you know something, who knows? who knows? You would be wrong to say I would rather see them down, if they were relegated and played nine youth team players who all weren't very good then I would be OK. But, when they are playing with their top team and they are all playing with no pressure it is an easier situation for them. So, they are under pressure to win a game aren't they, so the answer is probably I would be happy as they are.
JP
In the situation that you are in now with these final two games, how do you speak to players ahead of matches like this? Is there any difference? Do you just tell them to go out there and try to enjoy themselves?
GA
Well, as a manager you just try to not do anything different, try to prepare the team and the performance as best you can. Through the season we have prepared it quite well for most of them. Don't think you should do anything different, you have got to keep morale high, you have got to keep spirits high, it is the end of an absolute slog by the way this season. Especially with the geography of where we are and all the travelling involved, but we get our heads around that.
But, you have to keep them going because without a real holiday and a real break we have been going now since July the 5th, it is a long time. I think while we are still alive we have got to think we are still alive, we aren't out of it yet, I don't want people to think I am talking about what might have been and what could have been. I think when that Oldham game finishes then I will tell people what I think of the season, but I think we are definitely on the right lines, that is for sure.
JP
Jordan Cook, we know he has been sort of getting himself through game by game, how impressed have you been with him during his time here in this extended loan he has had with you?
GA
He has done everything I thought he might do, he has been frustrated that he hasn't played earlier on as many games as he wanted. But, the bits we have seen of him there are obviously signs that he can be a good player and one that we quite like and I think he quite likes us. So, he needs to try to finish, it is his last one tomorrow, finish with a bang.
JP
If things, all things being equal, is he somebody who you would like to maybe look at a little bit more in the future if there was that opportunity?
GA
I would rather get this season out of the way and have a look at who signs and who doesn't sign, and where I am and what I need to do, but obviously he is on the radar because he is here. But, there are quite a few things need to happen before we start penning down who we are looking at and who we are targetting at. We haven't even re-signed the players that we have got at the club, so I don't know where I am in terms of my squad for next season. It is probably something I am allowed ten more days without answering too many questions on that because I have got two big games coming up.
JP
That is the big thing, but all of those decisions then depending on where you are going to be on the players, because there are a number out of contract and quite a few fans are already talking about that now?
GA
Yeah, I mean it is the next talking point probably, after Saturday and next Saturday it is the talking point, who we are keeping, who is going to re-sign and who we are going to get. I am sure that I will have a long arduous summer dealing with you lads telling me who I should be and shouldn't be buying, so I will look forward to that with great aplomb.