United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Matt Newsum (MN) following Carlisle's 3-1 pre-season friendly win away to Bradford City, Abbott saying that he thinks the Bantams will be one of the stronger League Two sides this season :
MN
A winning end to your pre-season preparations?
GA
Yeah, at a tough place as well, I think Bradford will be one of the stronger sides, they are putting together a nice young squad with a bit of experience in there, so they are always tough places to come. You have seen that by the Morecambe and the Gateshead games that we have played already pre-season, but once we really got our game going today we have put on another decent performance. We scored three fantastic goals to be fair, every one of them, even the first one, the move was brilliant and then (James) Berrett's two strikes have given us a nice confidence booster if you like in terms of a result for next week.
MN
I guess when you set up friendlies and when you choose your opponents, that sort of thing, you are looking to test your side, and you certainly got one of those?
GA
What we tried to do here was go up against a side that we knew would be direct because of (James) Hanson and play into him and then work for second balls. He caused us a lot of problems in the first-half, I thought we controlled it much, much better after about half an hour of the game probably. But, he is a threat and he is what might happen against us this season, and it is something we have to deal with.
Their energy was a key as well, I knew they would be fired up and ready to have a go as they are all fighting for places for next week as well. That is what League Two is all about, energy and determination, and again for half an hour I thought we were second best but after that I thought we controlled the game, played some brilliant football and the second-half was a joy to watch again.
MN
Obviously, you have tried to mix up your formations, try different styles and what have you learnt from that?
GA
I have learnt that I have got some good players and I have got some depth, so we have to try to make the selection right now for next week. That is the key is getting it right, as long as we win the game it will be right, if we don't it will be wrong. But, there are certianly enough players there to choose from now, and enough performing well enough to warrant a place. But, there are only eleven can go in and that is what we will be doing this week, is looking at everything that has gone on from June the 30th and trying to do a team from there.
MN
I guess you are going to have some disappointed lads in the room in terms of when it comes to three o'clock next Saturday?
GA
Yeah, I hope so, I hope when they are left out they are not too happy about it, and that is what the squad is all about. That is what we have tried to rebuild and sort of make better from last year if you like, is having more depth and more numbers. I think at the minute we have got a good few players that could go into the team and definitely wouldn't let us down I think.
MN
You have touched upon the goals from James Berrett already, that is three absolute crackers in the space of a week, so how encouraging is it to see goals from midfield?
GA
I think in the way we play it is vital, Bezza has got his fair share last year, ten, the way he has set off he probably might be able to do that again, if not better. But, I don't care where they come from, we would like the strikers and the top midfield players, the top end midfield players scoring, but he will probably never score three goals like he has scored in this week ever again in his life, they have been three absolute belters that would grace any goal of the season competition. So, fantastic, a great striker of the ball, made it look so easy today.
MN
Obviously, away from today's game we have heard about Paddy Madden and the disappointing news, how much does that force your hand in terms of the strikers you have available?
GA
I have still got three, and Rory (Loy) again when he came on looked very sharp today, so again something we are looking at, something we are always aware of. Again, at the minute we are scoring goals, winning games, not a problem, but if we don't score next week and we lose then it would be a problem. So, we have to look at it and no knee-jerk stuff. but that sort of area has always been dealt with anyway regardless of Paddy's injury or not, or one of the others gets injured or not it is an area that we are always on top of. If we think we could do something we would do it regardless of Paddy's injury situation to be fair.
MN
And obviously a return for you to a place that you know very well, how enjoyable is it to come back and receive the reception you did?
GA
Yeah, nice, I sort of grew up here and I was a baby in football terms when I came and I think I left a man if that is right. I have come back and the fans have shown me a bit of respect and I showed them a lot back, they were good to me and hopefully I gave everything I had for them. But, you don't spend nine and a half years at the start of your career without having an affinity with a club.
There are some lovely people, Mally Scott is still there who was an Associate Director when I was here, he is still there now and he showed me where to go, he didn't probably realise I really actually did know where to go. But, it is nice for him to lead me up the steps, looking a little bit older and a little bit more on the waistline, but apart from that looking grand.
MN
And finally, just a quick one, obviously looking at your personnel I know Peter Murphy had to come off, probably a precaution, I know Steven Swinglehurst was holding his head, how are you looking personnel-wise?
GA
Er, we were alright up to about 70 minutes and then looking round and Mark Gillespie was next, he was going to go on at centre-forward. I think they are knocks, Craig Curran could have been with us but we decided to leave him and take no risk, so he is going to be OK Monday to train. I think Murph's is a locked back but wasn't happy, wasn't comfortable moving, Steven will have a few stitches, he will be fine, just Paddy, he is going to see a specialist this week and we will find out the extent of that, so one down and I think nineteen still standing.
MN
And did Kav (Graham Kavanagh) enjoy it?
GA
Er, he missed a sitter didn't he? He should have scored with the header, but I think if he had scored it he would have taken his shirt off, he would have got sent off for the celebration so probably better he missed. We would never have stopped hearing about that for the rest of the season.