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JP
How do you feel about the night?
GA
Obviously I am pleased, we said at the weekend we wanted to win the game because we are taking it very seriously and it is our best chance of getting any trophies I would think this season. Certainly the best chance we are going to get to go to Wembley and we have got what we came to do, and that is give some players some pitch time and we have got a result that looks quite handsome on paper.
JP
It took you a lot of chances to get going, you have just been talking about it, an unbelievable amount in fairness.
GA
It is infuriating because everything we do and set-up and play, and our football was very decent in the first-half and we created loads of chances and we are not scoring. If this is a game against a top team in League One then you maybe don't get that many opportunities and you get punished. That is the message that we are putting into the dressing-room that yes our football is decent, we look like we are playing with a nice tempo, we are passing it nice and well and we are getting in good areas.
But we have to finish, and we are better than that, we could have had 10 or 12 goals tonight and I wanted 10 or 12. Because that gives us the belief that we can score goals and we have to score goals and that is what the game is all about. But we made hard work of it a little bit and people get edgy and frustrated and the performance isn't a whole performance today. It is some nice football, some terrific chances, but it was only four goals and we should have had more.
JP
Scott Dobie getting two of them though, that must be great for him and he really looked confident as well.
GA
Well he came on and he looked the part didn't he, he looked like he could have another one if he had been on a bit longer. But we always had it in our mind to give him half an hour, that was it, and give other people pitch-time. But he has gone on there, we have needed him and he has come up with the goods. Like we say, we know what he is and what he isn't but that is six goals he has got now, and the two goals he has got tonight have won us the game.
JP
And the first one he got as well was a really neat composed finish, which is perhaps something that has not quite been there in the early part of the season.
GA
It was a brilliant finish, it was a great little pass from Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) wasn't it and he has got on the end of it and he has popped it in really nicely. His left foot is probably his weaker foot in those circumstances and he has not let anybody down with that.
JP
No, he took it very well, on the other hand how did you feel about Richard Offiong's performance tonight - given his chance?
GA
Not good enough tonight, he has got to improve, Richard has got to improve. We haven't got time to nurture him through, he has got to try to improve around the training ground and around the reserves and at the minute the other two lads (Dobie and Joe Anyinsah) look a little bit ahead of him. We need improvement in Richard, it is there in the locker but we have got to get him up to speed quicker and on the pitch he has got to do his work, and that's where it counts to be honest with you.
JP
He is one of these players who, like Dimitar Berbatov, has a sort of languid style about him, but when it is not going right for him that is infuriating for the fans watching because he looks like he is not working hard enough.
GA
Absolutely, it looks like he is a little bit disinterested at times, but that is OK if you are scoring goals. But at the minute he has got to get on the end of things that go in the box and his hold-up play got to be better, and obviously the offside thing - he has got to work harder to make sure he is in line.
With his pace he should never get caught offside, he is that quick he could give most defenders two yards and still beat them. So there is work to do with Richard but we have got to put the arm round him and get him sorted out and help him along and get him right up to where we want him to be.
JP
Of course Carlisle United at times have a history of not giving players quite that chance, the fans perhaps getting on their backs straight away. Do you think he just needs bit more time and it will come right for him?
GA
Well let's hope so.
JP
You certainly hope so, Gavin Rothery as well got his chance on the right-hand side tonight, do you feel he took it?
GA
He flitted in and out of the game really, Gav is a better player than that. I don't think he has done himself……, he has not played as well as he can do and they have to wait these guys. They are working hard on the training ground and they need pitch-time and we have to find out about them. We have found out a bit about him, we have found out that at the minute he is probably not as good as Kevan Hurst and that is part of the exercise as well. But we didn't want to experiment too much because I wanted to win the game and we have done that.
JP
Again, do you feel that you could have avoided conceding the goals that you did?
GA
I don't know, the first one is a soft goal and he (Shaun Brisley) has got a free header from a short corner which is a really soft goal. It was their only attempt and the annoying thing is that it was the only attack they have had and even then they didn't look like scoring, they didn't even look like having an attack. But that is what we have been doing - shooting ourselves in the foot.
The second one I think we have got to close it down quicker but he (John Rooney) has put it right in the corner out of Adam (Collin's) reach, no blame attached there. But I think we have got to close the shot down a little bit further and it just puts a little bit of a mucky edge on it for me.
JP
A sour taste to the back of the throat somewhere. A very positive taste to the back of the throat, if you can have one of those, was Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's performance. Very inventive, just what has almost been missing at times that invention.
GA
Well he is that link between midfield and attack, he finds that pass doesn't he and that is what he is in there for. We know what he can and can't do and we wanted to have a look at that system with him in there and he has had a hand in a couple of the goals. He has scored himself, he should have had a couple in the first-half and, like I said to him, we could have been sitting here talking about a wonderful performance rather than just a very, very good one.
The same with Tom Taiwo, when they get in those areas to score then they have got to score. That is what is missing in Tom's game, if he can add goals and an attacking presence to his game then he can be a really, really good player. But he has missed two or three very, very good chances and come Saturday we might not get as many as that against Norwich, it is going to be a bit tougher. So we must make sure that we make them count when we get that opportunity.
JP
Another good goal from Matty Robson, explain how he keeps coming up with them.
GA
Well he is a good player and what we have said to him is be dynamic, be direct, be positive. In the first-half I thought he was very ordinary, infact he got in some great positions in the first-half but didn't have that purpose and that edge to his game that we have been seeing. I said to him that he is a far better player than he was showing and his killer ball wasn't good enough in the first-half.
But he found his performance in the second-half and he has got another goal, typical of the goals he has been scoring from that left-hand side. We are indebted to him at the minute because he keeps on coming up with some really important goals and he is going to be a good player for us.
JP
With the changes that you made this evening ahead of the big game at the weekend, what have you learned about the team?
GA
Well I have learned the same as I know, we have to find the back of the net to show how good a side we can be and if we do that we will be fine.
JP
Also though a lot of chances again to score the goals that you did, do you think you need to get down that goal to chance ratio?
GA
Well we won't get that many chances on Saturday and our finishing has got to be better and more clinical. We have got to have more purpose in the final third and we should be sitting here praising everybody about the four goals, which I am going to do but I think we should have had more.
JP
What did you think of Evan Horwood when he came on, he had to play out of position and seemed to put in a good shift?
GA
Yeah it is difficult for Ev, left-footed players will generally do anything bar kick it on their right foot. Most right-footers can play left-back but not many left-backs can play right-back. But he has done it, he has come on, we wanted to give him a half at left-back but unfortunately Rav (David Raven) has had an injury and we have had to change that round. But he has done himself……., it was a great little pass for I think it might have been the fourth goal into little Bridgey. He is a good player and he has been waiting for his pitch-time and that will have done him good as well.
JP
What is the situation with Raven?
GA
He has got a groin problem, we don't know how bad it is. I am hoping that we brought him off quickly and that hopefully he will be OK for Saturday, but I don't know until it settles down in the morning.
JP
Danny Livesey out of the squad altogether, was that tactical or did he have an injury?
GA
Danny has got obviously the knee injury he has had, the tendonitis he has had, we are looking after him. Similar with Kevan, they have played a lot of games and had a lot of training and that was purely just to give them a breather.
JP
Finally on the injury front, is there anyone who is you would think ruled out for Saturday, in particular Paul Thirlwell I would guess?
GA
I am not sure, there might be, I don't know, he is going to come back in tomorrow and we will see how he is. I think he is a big doubt at the minute, he hasn't done any training so I would think he is a big doubt but we will have to see where he is later on in the week, it is too early for me to say yes or no with that.
JP
Positives outweigh the negatives by far in the end?
GA
I quite enjoyed parts of the game, we played some smashing football, found some good passes and found some good attacking play. I just want, I am being over-critical, I want to see the ball in the back of the net far more often when we get the amount of chances we do. But I thought we were very much better than Macclesfield to be fair, as I think we should be. But sometimes these games are more difficult but we made it easier in the end.
JP
And finally one question that I must ask with my journalist's cap on, 1,753 - the lowest attendance since the back end of 2003, is that a bit of a concern even for a game like this?
GA
I think it has got lower attendances attached to it, I think if you look round the country tonight everybody will have their lowest attendances for a number of years. Because until you get to the later stages of this competition it has not got much interest, but now we are in the quarter-finals I think that will improve.