United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-1 victory away to Leyton Orient, Abbott saying the whole attitude of the group is terrific :
JP
You must be delighted with so many aspects of that win today?
GA
Yeah, obviously the coming back from a goal down well into the second-half is an encouragement but I just think the general attitude of the whole group, not just the players but the backroom staff, it is terrific. You have seen our lads now on the pitch now training because they haven't played full games and Danny Livesey doing his extra bits, we just think we are a group that we hope are going in the right direction, but they certainly scrap and they fight. Probably a difference from last year, we don't want to give anything away cheaply without teams having to scrap and die to beat us, and I think you have seen a bit of that today.
JP
A full team display, and we will talk more about that, but we must focus on two debutants (Lee Miller and Stephen O'Halloran) who have both had wonderful games for you?
GA
Yeah, I mean, we have been looking for that type, and listen, it is a dream start for Lee, he has come in and he has got his two goals and I thought Stephen O'Halloran didn't put a foot wrong with his tackle in the first-half when he needed a bit of pace and showed some class. I thought Lee's all-round game was outstanding to be honest and he has probably just shaded it to be honest, obviously he has got two goals so he just shades it.
But, we are trying to bring good players into the club on not great deals of money like the other people have got, but we think we might have found another two. We are delighted with all the signings and I mean that, every single one, and Stephen hasn't had a chance to show what he can do, but he got his chance because Murph (Peter Murphy) has had a back spasm and couldn't make it, had a late fitness test and wasn't going to be right, so he has taken his chance and taken it fantastically well, and we are a happy group going back.
JP
It would have been easy for Peter Murphy to have sat there watching Stephen O'Halloran play so well in his position and think 'oh dear', but the first man out to come and shake his hand and that shows the spirit?
GA
There is a good group and Murph, whatever he is and he isn't, he is a terrific pro and loves the club and wants the club to do well, and that doesn't surprise me. I think nearly enough everybody was on, if he was first on fair play to him, that is briliiant, I didn't see that, but everybody to a man over to see the fans, long journey and a lot of travelling fans compared to what we get at our end, and again, hopefully we have sent them home happy.
JP
In terms of your game today, as a manager let's think about your markings out of ten on the sideline, you have talked about in the past wanting to get the right players in to be able to have a plan B, as Chris Lumsdon put it today at times you had a plan C and a D and an E as well?
GA
Yeah, I mean it is hard to give a manager an eleven isn't it? I am only joking, I am only joking, I don't think the fourth official (Ian Cooper) liked me very much. But, listen, I think the thing today was that even at 1-1 we made a really positive change to get Francois (Zoko) on the right, we thought J-P (Jon-Paul McGovern) was just showing signs of tiredness, he has had a full whack at it, never missed a minute.
We put Francois on the right, Craig (Curran) down the middle to try to get Francois to do something from wide for service, and it worked and on days like that you sort of take a nice pat on the back, great, we take the critisicm, great, but we are all trying to work the best we can just to make the club as good as we can and at the minute we are doing OK and everybody is pleased with the outcome from everywhere. I don't want to take credit for anything, we make decisions, sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong, and today maybe we got more right, and let's hope we have.
JP
Back with Lee Miller, you couldn't have dreamt of a better start for your new signing?
GA
I thought he should have had a hat-trick, we brought him in to score proper amounts of goals and he has missed another one at the end of the game. Nah, he has run himself ragged to be fair and that is what hunger and trying to prove people wrong does for you, he will have a point to prove to himself, and no animosity towards Middlesbrough but it hadn't worked for him there and he will want to prove to everybody that he is a good player and he can score goals, He looked lean, he looked fit, he died a little bit for the last five minutes but he is entitled to with the amount of work he has put in, I think really, really a genuine sort and I think hopefully we can see a successful period for him.
JP
Two proper striker's goals though, that is perhaps what you have been missing at times?
GA
Well, yeah, that is what we are looking for but we couldn't find one, (Paolo) Guerrero was interested, but, no, listen, crosses, we said if we could get crosses in he will get on the end of it, but the other one was a poaching goal which we have missed out on. I am not bothered how they go in but the first one was a typical centre-forward's goal at the far-post, he gets it in from six yards and the second one, Johnny on the spot. Listen, long that may continue because there has been a long debate about us needing somebody that can score goals regularly, and I hope that is the start of a good thing for us.
JP
You reshaped the formation and brought him in after a win of course, was that a difficult decision for you to make those changes?
GA
Well, we are trying to make changes to suit teams we play and we had got reports that the right-back (Elliot Omozusi) and I don't want to criticise opposition players, was having a tough time so we wanted to......... I think Andy Welsh for sure deserved a start, so we had got a big one in the middle so there were two things, Andy to get up against the right-back and cause him problems, he did ever so well actually the right-back, he did ever so well on the day apart from some of his passing, but that is not for me to say.
But, certainly to get crosses in the box for Lee was the key and we got them in there and he has got on the end of stuff. But, we might even change again on Tuesday night, we will have a look at all the reports on Aldershot, I have had them watched today and if we think it is right to play a different way we will. But, you know sometimes changing winning formulas is a gamble but today I think it was the right thing to do and it was a really good game I think from up here, it was down there anyway, two teams scrapping and obviously for different reasons and we have come out on top fortunately.
JP
One of those with the character it brings out in your team as well that is almost better than a 3-0 or a 4-0 in terms of it?
GA
I think that is the most pleasing thing that I think there is a resolve in that dressing room, listen, we were a low dressing room when everybody was calling for us after the first game and now we have put together a decent little run of games and there is a lot of determination in there. I want my team to show that determination, I want us to play great football don't get me wrong, but without the first bit you ain't getting the second bit and today we got a bit of everything at different times of the game.
JP
Next game, Aldershot on Tuesday night, and you have been drawn against Rochdale, what do you make of those two?
GA
I just think it is a fantastic draw because it gives us a great chance of winning Tuesday if we can, respect to them, we know we can beat teams of our own bidding, Rochdale, so let's try to get through to the next round, let's give it everything we have got, we ain't messing about with this competition, you know what we are like, we like to win games. But, we will regroup because there are a lot of people have played a lot of football and there are a lot of people need football and deserve some football, so we will have a look at it all, see where we go Tuesday and then forget about Rochdale just for now, because Aldershot are going to be a big test for us.
JP
Peter Murphy's injury, how long is he likely to be out?
GA
We don't think it is a long term one, he probably won't travel with us on Tuesday and then we will give him a full week at home, hopefully by Thursday it has all released and he is back on the training field and he gives me another problem.
JP
And one final question, James Tavernier, he didn't even stand out today because of how well everyone else played, but another really strong performance from him?
GA
Yeah, well he will get better for the games and it is good for him, and I thought some of his.............. It was probably one of his weakest games today in terms of what he did with the ball but he has defended brilliantly and he has shown a lot of determination, but he is a good player, we like him and again he will get better for having more pitch time, and it is all part of his experience.
JP
Any developments on keeping him longer term yet?
GA
No, I am hoping......... Newcastle, they play tomorrow don't they, I will probably end up speaking to Newcastle probably Monday morning, they know what the situation is and we will wait for them to come back to us.