United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-1 League One defeat away to Scunthorpe, Abbott saying that the Blues didn't start the game in a determined enough manner:
JP
No doubt disappointed with the defeat there, what did you make of the game overall?
GA
I thought we started the game not as determined for once as the opposition, they were right at it first-half and they put us on the back foot and they started off alright in terms of territorial advantage in the first ten minutes. But, then they get a really……………. It has been a goal that has been coming all season against us, that type of goal, a cross and the centre-forward (Akpo Sodje) getting across the front of people.
Then the second one is not a great one for us and we are 2-0 down and we are in a situation where you are fighting the game and fighting a team that has just turned their little corner at home and they have had a couple of wins. It showed tonight, they had a bit more zest about them and bit more zip about them. We didn’t really get any sort of foothold in the game in the first-half, it was a different story in the second-half and things could have been different.
We got a lifeline with Bez’s (James Berrett’s) goal and we were hoping that might just kick us into action. I thought our second-half performance probably just about might have got us something out of the game, and we couldn’t find that second goal, a mixture of good goalkeeping and near misses.
But, we couldn’t quite get it, it is disappointing because a nice result here tonight gives you a real momentum and a real confidence to go forward into Saturday’s game and get something down there and then you are back at home and we would have been in a nice position. But, we have been rocked a bit tonight, a decent run has come to an end but we have to pick ourselves up and move on from here.
JP
I guess when you come to a team like this and they really do have a go at you like Scunthorpe early on, you have to make sure that you are solid at the back. Do you think you could have done more to stop that first goal in particular going in? It seemed like Frank Simek could have done with a shout for time actually at one stage in the build-up to that goal?
GA
Yeah, he should have got a ‘time’, he has headed the ball that he probably didn’t need to head it. But, Frank has got to head that ball there unless somebody shouts to him, but it is probably the way we started the game that nobody did shout to him.
Frank has headed it, and then we don’t get out to close the cross down quick enough, we talked about (Mark) Duffy’s delivery right-footed if he plays on the left, he will whip things in and everybody knows about Sodje, it is something we talked about in training.
But, the ball was fantastic, his run is good and he has got ahead of I think it was Sean (O’Hanlon) who he gets the header in front of and it is a good goal from their point, it is a bad goal from our point of view. But, the key was probably a shout for Frank, but that is done, he didn’t get one and it is in our net and we are on the back foot again, but there you are.
JP
In a way is it almost like a mirror of the Tranmere game in the fact that they took on a side who are higher placed than them in the division and they really went with everything they had in their armoury? I mean I just heard a bit of what Brian Laws has been saying to our right here, taking huge positives out of beating your Carlisle team because of what that means to them?
GA
Yeah, well we have been on a really good run haven’t we and we are probably second or third in the table in the last eight games. But, we have just said we have done all the hard work, but to keep it going you have got to come to places like this and not get beat, and we have just shot ourselves in the foot a little bit.
But, it is a bit of compliment that Brian (Laws) is so pleased that he has won a game tonight, but it is no pleasure to me to have listen to that. I wanted to win the game myself and move forward into Saturday, another result Saturday and you are looking at 10th or 11th place all of a sudden and people are wobbling at the top and that momentum you get would have surged us forward.
We have just been rocked a little bit tonight, but we have showed a lot of spirit. To be fair to the boys they have had a………. It is more or less the same eleven playing and they have had it tough week in and week out, there is maybe not a lot different we could have done tonight and the players have really pulled their socks up second-half and had a right go at it. Just couldn’t find that second goal which we needed tonight and things may have been a little bit different.
JP
What do you do now, I don’t suppose you need to do too much to get the spirits back up for that trip to Portsmouth and another game where you will go there hoping to get something?
GA
Yeah, I mean, listen, we never get too up and we never get too down. We weren’t particularly buoyant on Saturday, it was just another good result on the back of some more. But, in football you get used to dealing with every situation, the games are coming thick and fast, we are coming into the final legs of the season.
We have to make sure that we manage the players properly and make sure they have got all their energies for the Tuesday games and the Saturday games. The inbetween stuff is less important at this stage of the season because all your groundwork probably and should have been done.
It is about getting the right mindset for Saturday and Tuesdays now, that is what it is all about, is making sure that the big times of the week we are ready for. First-half I thought they were better than us, second-half I think we were probably the better team, but it is sometimes a little bit late by then.
JP
You at the weekend mentioned the ‘P’ word, play-offs, and the fact that you were still in with a shout of that, will you need a consistency of performance now to make sure you are finding that high level if you are going to even threaten that?
GA
I am not talking about play-offs, what I am saying is if you keep winning games and you get a run going anything can happen, there is always one comes out of the pack. I am not putting extra pressure on the boys, the boys have been terrific of late and everybody has got to have a dream and sometimes things can happen that are unexpected. If you keep winning games then all of a sudden something is thrown at you that you thought was out of reach.
But, you know, we need to get 50 points first, that is my target at the moment, then we need to get 60 and then after 60 you can see where you are going. But, at the minute 50 is the first bit, we do that and then we can move on and then see where it goes. But, it is probably a tall order, but, like I said, winning games puts you in positions that you didn’t expect to be in at some stage of this year.
JP
There is no doubt the third goal flatters Scunthorpe a bit, you were clearly overcommitted trying to get your own equaliser, do you think there is enough that you can build on there to make sure that you can continue what has been good recent form for the Portsmouth game?
GA
Well, the last eight games tells you there is a load to build on and we are looking a better side than we did earlier on in the season, so there is definitely stuff to keep the season going and keep the momentum going and put this one out of the way.
But, we are not probably a good enough and strong enough squad at the minute to go on 15 and 20 match unbeaten games, but we have got to win just to keep winning as many games as we can, try to win as many games as you can, that is what the aim is all about.
JP
You mentioned the strength of the squad there, I know that you desire to try to get that cover for Chris Chantler, are you any further along, might there be a chance of that ahead of the weekend?
GA
Again, I don’t know, we would like to be able to go into an open market, but I am in a very limited market, and your market you are in, is it going to make you better than what you have got and is it available and can you afford it? We haven’t got the fortunes that other people have got to play with, I look at Bournemouth spending £400,000 on a player in the January window and slightly feel a little bit sorry for myself at times.
But, there is no excuses, we will try to make the squad a little bit stronger, it is an area where we probably need options, Matty (Robson) has been going great going forward, he has probably had a bit of a game today where he has found it tough.
But, the back four did and he was no different to anyone else, but it is certainly an area where I would like to get some options. If I can do it with the support of the board and whatever we have got we will try to make that happen. But, like I said, it is a limited area that I am looking at.
JP
One option that you do have currently in that area was a bright light tonight when he came on again, very direct running from Dave Symington, he didn’t manage to get you that equaliser or that goal this time but he again looked promising for you?
GA
Yeah, he wasn’t far off was he, he has had a fantastic shot that again the keeper (Sam Slocombe) has done great to save, and then he has had a couple of crosses gone in. He is developing nicely and he was a bit tougher on that side and we needed that.
David is one of them you can throw on and you never know what is going to happen with him, that is his game developing. But, he is certainly got some absolute quality when he gets into the final third, he put in a couple of great balls as well, so yeah, it is a positive out of the second-half.
JP
It certainly was, any knocks coming out of the game ahead of that long, long trip for you, I don’t suppose you will want to take somebody half-injured all that way ahead of the weekend would you?
GA
No, listen, let’s not start talking about long journeys, that is what it is, that is what we are paid for. We know they are in our league and we know we have got to play them at some point, it is just part of the job. So, there is no point getting it into anybody’s head, it is a long journey, everybody knows that, Carlisle is a long way from places. But, we just get on the bus and we go down there and try to get a win and quickly put another little run together and see where it goes for us.
JP
My fault for asking two questions in one, the other part was any knocks coming out of tonight’s game?
GA
No, I don’t think so.