United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-1 League One victory at home to Chesterfield, Abbott saying that the Blues didn't find the right formula in the first-half :
JP
If there was ever a game that summed up a game of two halves, that was it?
GA
Yeah, we were really............. We have lost Lee Miller and we have lost Matty Robson and we have lost James Berrett at the moment, three players that have been part of the successful first half of the season we have had. They are big players for us and they take some replacing and we tried to find the right formula, and I didn't think first-half we had that. We looked a little bit edgy in possession, we looked a little bit laboured, the speed of our play was slow and it didn't give us the chance to get the extra man in midfield to work.
So, we just decided to change it around at half-time, the conditions didn't help, obviously they were awful conditions, we changed it round, we went with the two up top to put them under pressure and try to get as much out of Francois (Zoko) as we could. I thought Francois, you look at his first and second-half performances, chalk and cheese, his twin brother came on at half-time didn't he.
Then we played some decent stuff second-half and we kept at it, it wasn't what you would call vintage football but we kept at it, we put them under pressure and we slung balls in the box. We asked Paddy (Madden) and Jordan (Cook) initially to put their defence under pressure which I thought they did and then you get some rewards through sometimes just sheer persistence and determination.
JP
Paddy Madden's work-rate as well, I know he didn't get the goals and he didn't set up the goals, people might talk about that, but the way he worked their back line actually opened things up for you today?
GA
Yeah, Paddy puts people under pressure, that is part of his game and he will keep going and he will knock doors down for you, a bit similar to Craig Curran but there is a goal in Paddy. Listen, at the end of the day he has gone on at half-time, we are a goal down, we come off at 2-1 and he has played a big part in a contribution that has done him the world of the good in his confidence and people to see him play and that. So, there are some positives in there really but we weren't happy at half-time and we are a lot happier now.
The results at the minute are key, they are vital, the industry is all about results and we have to grind out results sometimes and we have ground out a result today and that is what you have to do if you want to be around the top six or seven. I speak to a lot of Huddersfield fans all the time and they have said that they have not played great football all season but they grind out results, and we have got to start getting into that habit. You are probably going away from this game thinking it wasn't a great football match spectacle-wise but the team has won and that is what people are judged on.
JP
It was a great fight and it was a great revival in that second-half, how pleasing is it for you guys as coaches to see the team turn it around so much under your instruction in that second-half?
GA
Well, we have gone to war with them at half-time in terms of playing with no fear, playing with a passion, playing with a determination and playing with some pace and power. We did change it round, we thought it helped and we got a response and that is all you can ask. I have said time and time again what a really good group of players they are and they have gone out there and they have won the crowd back, because I think at half-time I think the crowd were frustrated, and we were frustrated because we know we are better than that.
At the end of it you know Chesterfield are on a really good run, they are five unbeaten and I think four wins in those five games so we have just turned over a side that is on another run, take away the fact that they are near the bottom. I don't think that this league at the minute has any bearing on that because teams at the bottom are getting beat by the teams at the top and vice-versa, it is a funny league.
JP
4-3-3 has really served you well as a formation, the one that you sticked with, you did change it around and you went pound for pound player for player 4-4-2 against 4-4-2, did you just feel that your players maybe had that little bit more than Chesterfield, and if you just went man on man with them that you maybe could find a way past?
GA
We just thought we needed to put them on the back-foot, we didn't get the ball into the front areas quickly enough and we weren't getting enough bodies into the box first-half. We thought they were ordinary first-half, not ordinary, the way they did it was simple straight-forward football, getting it into the channels, working off the front two and we decided to do that and get the ball higher up the pitch.
We knew we had energy, we knew we had got some pace in the side, we wanted to get Francois isolated one v one against their back four and he did that, and everything has worked today really tactically, it has come for us which is pleasing. We will go home and we will dust down a lot of this performance and we will say we have won a game without three players that have been really important to us, and let's not hide behind that fact. We are a club that needs our best players on the pitch and Lee Miller and Bez and Robbo have been really consistent for us this year.
JP
And Rory Loy as well we thought in commentary?
GA
And Rory as well yeah, no, listen, I have forgotten Rory and apologies for that. Rory was flying, but I think we are forgetting about him a little bit easier because Francois has come in and done such a wonderful job. But, there are four players that were really starring for us at the time.
JP
A couple of stats, one interesting, one not so, 5,000th goal Carlisle United have conceded in league football today, but on the top of that the 15th, 16th and 17th points you have earnt this season from losing positions, how crucial could that be come the end of the year?
GA
Well, there is certainly going to be more than 5,000 come the end of the season goals against us, let's promise you that, and we can laugh about it at the minute because we have won. What was the other one? 15th, 16th, 17th and what?
JP
Points from losing positions this season, that is pretty good going you know, that means that you show spirit and fight when you come back?
GA
Well, we shall give them a goal start next week shall we and start from there then. No, listen, I don't like going a goal behind, obviously it is important you can respond but you generally lose more than you win when you go a goal down.
JP
The goal that did put you down in a first-half that was, let's say tricky, quite a sloppy goal, you had talked about in the build-up about trying to be better and make yourself harder to score against. What was your feeling when that one went in?
GA
Yeah, I mean yet again it goes down as one of those soft ones, I think Ben (Parker) has done everything he can to stop the shot. I think he has maybe even got a bit of a deflection on it, a bit of a blocker, but it has hit the underneath of Adam (Collin's) hand and just squirmed a yard over the line. So, we can't do anything about that, it happens, it does happen in games but at least we have conceded one but we have come back and scored two. We were talking about the positives of scoring goals and we are a side at the minute that looks like we can get them, we still need to............ It would have been nice to have done a 2-0 today and won a bit more comfortably than we have, but we will take the three points all day.
JP
In a first-half when no-one particularly shone, Ben Parker still looked like he was maybe struggling with getting back to competitive football after all of his injuries, but by the time the game finished he got his goal and he put in a really sterling performance, maybe the Carlisle fans have just seen a bit of what he is made of there?
GA
He is a really decent player is Ben and his first-half, I thought he was tentative, I thought he was a yard short of the pace of the game. I have just said to him, listen, you should be eating League One up the quality he has got, he should be eating the game up, but his goal and the crowd and the confidence he got from the few good bits and pieces he did in the second-half. You see the difference in a player with confidence, it really is about confidence, and when you say there weren't too many good performances in the first-half I must point out that I thought Tom Taiwo was magnificent, I thought he was absolutely magnificent and set an example to the rest of the players.
JP
And Jordan Cook as well actually?
GA
And Cooky as well with his energy, but certainly in that middle of the field I thought Tom with his energy and his work-rate, I thought he was tremendous.
JP
A scrapped out win then and one of those good wins, next up Stevenage away, the team just keeping you out of the play-offs at the moment?
GA
Well, listen, we go into it with a lot better heart than we would have done if we had got only a point or even a defeat today. So, listen, players' attitudes are determined by results and on Monday they will be a lot happier than they would have been if they had only drawn or lost today.