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" That has obviously meant a lot to me, I'm really pleased with the way the boys have performed and the effort was phenomenal. If anybody doubts whether or not they are going to take this thing forward then they just had to see the effort that they put in tonight. Sometimes not pretty, but overall I think we deserved to get a result out of the game and on we go.
" In the first ten minutes I think Kevin Gall has had two fantastic chances, then he has had another one from a corner. We got into the areas that we knew we were going to exploit either side of the back three of the Bury defence. Kevin is disappointed, he's saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry", but he doesn't need to be sorry. He is trying as hard as he can to finish the game off and I think at times we actually try too hard which is a nice pat on the back from the players. We've got to kill teams off though haven't we to make life a little bit easier for us.
" Bury have got fantastic set-plays and they have got fantastic height in the side. I thought that the way that we dealt with the throw-ins from (Dave) Challinor and the corners from both sides whipped in with loads of pace….. The back four have defended with their lives but that is what they get paid for by the way, don't be too upset about that. They've done it, they've put their bodies on the line, they've made clearances, they've put blocks in and it's terrific.
" That's what we want from them, it gives us a platform to keep a clean sheet and we will always score goals at the other end. Even in the second-half Joe Garner has had a wonderful chance and some magnificent slick moving play where just that little bit of quality at the end pulled us down. "
" David Raven was magnificent, bearing in mind that is the first time he has played a full game at centre-half for Carlisle United, and possibly in his career. I thought his heading, tackling, reading of the game, pace and determination to keep a clean sheet was excellent. That is a fantastic thing for us to have because obviously the centre-half position is a problem if we get injuries. David has come in there and proved he can do a job, headache?, yes fantastic, a nice headache that one.
" I was full of excitement pre-match because this is what I like doing, the football side of it is where I come to life and I spring into gear. From 4pm onwards when we were at the pre-match I just couldn't wait to get started, I didn't know where you had to have a pre-match. I wanted to come straight to the ground but that is the little boy in me. I was really waiting for it to happen and it's exciting isn't it, the whole journey will be exciting. I'm going to be bright, happy and keep my spirits up, I want the players to be like that but then when we work we work. I think tonight was exactly what I was talking about.
" I said to them at half-time that Bury would come at us really tough, really strong and they would throw things at us from the set-plays again and the throw-ins. I also reminded them of the Walsall game where I thought we didn't play as well as we might have done, we didn't dominate the game. I said : "Put your chances away and give us an easy second-half will you", but they didn't do that for me.
" He (Neil McDonald) will be very disappointed, it's been a tough time for him. Again we don't want to go too much into the reasons for why because we honestly don't know. I've had to pick the players up, pick the team up and keep the football club rolling along, that's what I'm paid to do at the moment. I've got sympathy for Neil, he knows that, we'll talk again soon, we talked again last night, but I think tonight is a time to look at what the players have done there and maybe a pat on the back as well for Neil for the way they have achieved.
" The players are going to have a rest tomorrow, they had a game on Saturday so they will have a rest tomorrow. I'm going to have the morning off, I'm going to go and see my family and then I'm going to go up tomorrow afternoon. There are still a load of bits and pieces to deal with and then we'll start preparing for Oldham. We'll be nice and bright again on Thursday, really bright on Friday and then hopefully we can get another performance in terms of effort and determination like we got tonight on Saturday against Oldham. "