United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-0 League One defeat away to Notts County, Abbott saying that it was a frustating afternoon all round for the Blues :
JP
What are your feelings on that match today then?
GA
A lot of frustration there, really frustrated dressing room, really frustrated touchline. It was a game we are coming into it and we are thinking it is going to be tough, they are on a good run, new manager and all that. But, as the game panned out we have given more than or as much as we have been given back, and we can't find a goal and then we have conceded two bad goals, I think their only two chances they have had in the whole of the game I think, and we lose the game 2-0 and again we think we have done alright.
JP
You say bad goals, I mean I know you will say there are elements you could have done better, in a way good goals, they were good goals but you feel that you could have done more to stop them?
GA
Yeah, I mean you can always do.............. You can stop the cross, you can defend the cross better, you don't give the free-kick away and you are sitting there going in at 0-0 thinking that if we come out and nick one in the second-half, but we have gone 2-0 down and we are up against it a bit. But, Paddy (Madden's) chances don't go in, Lee Miller's is headed off the line and J-P (Jon-Paul McGovern) flicks one over the keeper (Stuart Nelson) and into the side-netting. One of those, we needed one to go in today for us and we have had far more chances than Notts County have had and we have lost the game 2-0.
JP
A few of the fans a bit unhappy with the way everything has gone today, they were saying it looks like the team are short of confidence all of a sudden, I mean do you feel that is the case?
GA
That is what happens in a game when you don't score but I think we have................ I don't think there is anything in the game I don't think, you take the two goals out of it, which is an obvious statement, but if we go a goal up we are going to win the game. We have had the better chances, we have had more chances, we needed to score. I think the confidence and the energy levels the players showed was very good, we have competed for everything, we have gone right to the wire. We needed a goal today, a goal would have given us a tremendous boost, we have just not been able to find it.
JP
Paddy with a good chance he made just before the break and a glorious chance just after half-time that would have changed the game had that one gone in?
GA
Yeah, like I said, we needed that goal today and we couldn't find one. Paddy has again put in a real top shift in terms of energy, and all the chances have fallen to him and he has just not managed to find the target today, but they will come. J-P should score maybe, well he should, and Lee Miller has been really unlucky. We just needed one of those to go in today and I think the margin, the gap between the sides, was absolutely minimal today.
You are talking about a side that is on a really good run and the confidence is................ The boys are buoyant, they are not buoyant over the result but they are in good shape, good form, they need that backing, they have still got that belief and we have to have it. We are not going to give this up cheaply and I thought the energy levels they showed today were very, very good.
JP
As Derek Mountfield said in commentary, a few months ago we were talking about how good the team were away from home, at the moment just struggling to get things going away from home, any particular reason?
GA
Yeah, honest, today there was nothing in the game, nothing in the teams. Our group was as good as their group today, the keys are the goals, you score, you have to score when you create chances and especially away from home you have to put your chances away, and we didn't do that today.
JP
Ten goals conceded without one scored though away from home in the last three games, I mean it looks like a bit of a struggle, and one win in nine on the road?
GA
Yeah, that happens over a season, listen, it is over a season, we don't want to get beat away and we don't to get beat at home. But, you know, generally most teams are better at home and we are doing alright at home. We have got two games to look forward to now, we win those two and the season is bang on alive, well it is alive now. But, we have just got to........... We just feel frustrated today that we haven't got anything out of a game where we have had some really good chances. But, like I said, I keep talking about the goal that we didn't get today, and I thought our play was worthy of one.
JP
How much of a blow was it to lose Danny Livesey for this game after he had come in and worked so well?
GA
Well, for Danny massive you know. He is desperately disappointed but he got the crack on the ribs last week and trained on Thursday and aggravated it and he wasn't fit to play. Ribs, they lie dormant, they lie OK until you put some pressure on them and then they are an issue, and he woke up today and he was in a right state, so he is very disappointed.
JP
Chris Chantler has come in for some praise again from the fans?
GA
Rightly so, yeah. Chris was absolutely terrific, he is a gritty little kid isn't he. He has tackled everything, he has headed things, he has used the ball well, he has competed fantastically well, close to being probably our top performer today. There were some decent performances but he was terrific, fair play to him, he is a good kid and we think he is going to be a good player in the long run.
JP
Given how close you came with Madden right at the start of the half, is it as you will be driving home tonight, or on the coach home tonight, will you be thinking about how many chances you created in that second half and wondering if you could have maybe given a few more chances for the strikers?
GA
Yeah, I just think we have had enough chances today, some really good chances to score, we just haven't been clinical. Away from home you are not going to have the lion's share, that generally goes to the home side, especially a side in such good form as Notts County are. But, we have got to put the ball in the net, we have to score, especially when we are on top, and in the first half until they scored there was absolutely nothing in the game, absolutely nothing.
JP
Yeah, very tight, in terms of the travelling support who came, 650 people making it down here, it is incredible isn't it?
GA
Yeah, they are brilliant and they all stayed right to the end, I think they have seen that a goal might just give us some encouragement. We welcome that backing, we get used to it now and we expect it because they follow us all over the place and stagger me with the amount of miles they do. But, we would love to be better on the road if you like at the moment, things on the road need to improve and that is tightening up at the back and making sure we take our chances.
JP
You said little margins today between the two sides, is it crucial now over two home games in the space of, well five days basically, to try to get those little things right and get the right results?
GA
Well, we have done generally at home haven't we to be fair to the team. They have done ever so well and I think they have done ever so well over the piece. We know what we are up against, you have seen the squad today of Notts County's and there are about 47 players on it, it is a Premier League squad, but we haven't got that luxury. But, we keep going and we keep finding a way of competing, and again today people come in and, not surprise you, but make sure they don't let anybody down. That is where we are, we know that, we just keep going and do our best, we will absolutely do our best.
JP
Just down to the fact today that the goal wouldn't come for you?
GA
I think so, I mean that is my look at that today, if we had got a goal it would have been all different. But, goals are massively key and it is not an excuse, it is just I think today it is a fact. But, we dust ourselves down, we have told the players to look after themselves over the weekend and we go again on Tuesday night.