United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-3 League One draw at home to Yeovil, Abbott reflecting on a scrambled point for the Blues after two late goals:
JP
A great, great way to finish the match?
GA
Yeah, great, we put in a lot of effort today and we didn’t think things were going to go our way. At 90 minutes and 3-1 down you don’t often come away with anything, but I think that the effort that the players are putting in and they are trying, and things have just been nicely going our way of late. They deserved a bit of reward today and they deserved to have that jubilation of grabbing two goals late on and pushing them into next week with something.
With other teams not playing and other teams losing it is a big, big point for us and we are going to regroup and we can put something right that has not been quite right over the period this season. But, you need these days and it is difficult times at the minute, tough times, hard times, because there is a fractiousness around the place at the minute. But, as long as the fans see the players giving that type of effort they will grumble all the way through the game but they will accept that there is a lot of honesty and a lot of effort going into the performance.
JP
Do you think it will take these little moments that you get from Mathieu Manset or a really big tackle, that sort of thing, sometimes it takes these sparks to get teams going?
GA
It does at the minute because the atmosphere is low, the crowd have still turned up but the atmosphere is low. They need a spark, they are only like anybody else, they are like the players and they are like myself, and I think has Manny created a spark with his performance and he will give the fans something to talk about.
They have needed something to talk about and we are a club in a situation where we would to love to have more things to talk about, but it sometimes happens that way. But, we are going to keep scrapping, we are going to keep developing, we are going to keep growing and we are going to keep trying to improve.
JP
The way that the point came around, the late goal from Lee Miller probably looked like it was just a late consolation, did you in your wildest dreams imagine as you were going into that last minute at 3-1 that that could happen?
GA
Well, you live in hope don’t you. I never thought that the players at any point gave in today, I thought they kept going, they kept trying, they kept asking the question. I thought the second-half got a little bit, obviously with the goals going in against us, got a little bit disjointed. I thought we played some pretty decent stuff in the first-half and got the ball into the box in good situations and probably deserved maybe to come in maybe in the ascendency. But, listen, games are won, drawn and lost in different ways, and that is a bizarre way but we have got it and we are happy.
JP
Inspiring of course to get that point and the manner in which you did it, how do you think you got into the position where you needed such a dramatic turnaround to get the point?
GA
Well, we are playing against a side that has got a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence and they are not in the top six for no reason. They are a very good side so sometimes you find yourself on the back foot, so you have to work your way through it and we have done it today, so fair play to the players.
JP
One thing that was a product of the commentary today was that too many second balls in the middle of the park weren’t being won. Is that just a case that they have got more about them or do you think it is something that United needed to work on today?
GA
Yeah, it is something that happens, that is an area where we need to be more dominant. We have gone with two in there because we wanted the extra striker upfront, we can’t have it all ways, but it is up to the two in there to dominate the other two.
At times we got a bit on the back foot, we are used to one of them protecting the back four with the three, so I think we have just got to be a little bit more gung-ho in terms of getting right up and in peoples’ faces and anticipate a little bit better the bits and pieces that are in there. As the game wore on we got there, but it is a scrap in there and they have got two decent players, like I said, they are in the top six for a reason.
JP
A great return for Lee Miller of course with a couple of goals, but Mark Beck set up the first one as well, it is good to see the pair of them together?
GA
Well, we have got Mark Beck, we have got Lee Miller, we have got Manny now and we have got Rory Loy. So, we have got different types and if we can keep him (Manset) happy and keep him smiling and keep him where we want him to be and he believes in us like we are going to try to believe in him there could be a nice marriage there with an extra one from nowhere.
This has come from nowhere and he is happy at the moment and there is a long way for him to go in his football. He is only 23 and he needs to develop, Becky is 19 and he needs to develop, Lee Miller has got a lot going for him at his age and Rory is fighting and fighting like mad to get his place around the team.
So, it is good, it is a good situation, they will get better and we want that, we need four strikers that are all capable and sometimes the right pair goes up against the different types of opposition. But, today we felt that Becky and Lee were our best starting two and I don’t think they did anything to let anybody down. Then Manny has come on and done his bit, next week it might be Rory and the week after it might be Danny Cadamarteri.
JP
Ahead of the Easter period now, a couple of important games for you, what has that done, what has those few minutes at the end of the game done for your dressing room ahead of those two matches?
GA
Well, it has made my job easy on Monday that is for certain, and the dressing room is really buoyant now. Everybody will be looking forward to training on Monday rather than apprehensive, if we go away 3-1 there is a lot of doom and gloom and it is your job to say that it is another bad result and it spills over and it doesn’t help us.
I am not saying you can’t say that, that is what you have to do, but I have got it all positive, well it should be all positive, certainly the dressing room will be positive and it makes my life a lot easier now coming into work on Monday, even going home tonight because I get told off as well if we get beat when I get home.
JP
I understand the positives of it, but there are a few fans who have said that the late goals will paper over the cracks today, do you think that they should be able to see what was good about the way that happened on a day like today?
GA
Well, you are always going to get grumbles aren’t you. But, over the 90 minutes I thought there wasn’t anything between the sides. I thought we gave as good as we got, so it looks like we have scrambled a point, which we obviously have, but I think if you look at the 90 minutes play I think we were as good as them, there is not a great gulf between the two sides and they are a side that is right on the edge of the top six. So, I think it is a credit to the players that have not got beaten by a side that is in the right bit of the division.
JP
But, you will want to tighten up I am sure on another three goals conceded?
GA
I just want to score some more, if we had scored four goals then I wouldn’t be bothered, we have got three and I am delighted and I am only going to talk about the three. You might have to excuse me for being a little bit over-positive today, but I am going to enjoy the next couple of days rather than be beating myself up, which I could have been doing after 90 minutes.
JP
Speaking of enjoying, what about Manny’s other two efforts on goal, we enjoyed those?
GA
Yeah, you would, but I mean he should be hitting the target, he should be making the keeper work a bit harder than that. I think he should have caught the first one, got a bit of power hasn’t he. Never seen that, because his shooting in training has been that bad we have been fetching his balls all the time.
JP
He looks like he is a sort of a breath of fresh air player, what has he been like in the changing room, it looks like when he came on the players flocked to him?
GA
Yeah, he is a good guy, I think he has had his ups and downs in his own personal career. We just want to help him and I think he wants to help us, so it is a good situation. I think he likes us and we like him, and I like him even more than I did at three o’clock today, because he has proved that he can be a big asset to us. We just want to help him in his football career and if that helps us as well then it is a good situation for both clubs.
JP
And I must just finally end on Paddy Madden, inevitable as I think as Jon Colman has just put it that he was going to score today?
GA
Yeah, we have made a good save and it has just fallen to Paddy and I think that is Johnny on the Spot and I think that is what he has been doing for Yeovil. But, I thought Paddy was a credit today with his behaviour, the way he celebrated, he didn’t want to overdo things, he could have caused a stir but he was an absolute credit, fair play to him.
JP
A very good performance from him as well?
GA
He worked very, very hard, he puts you under pressure, that is what Paddy does. It is good for him now, he is playing at the top of his confidence and you can see what goals and confidence does for you. Listen, all I can do is wish him well and hope that he gets out a career which he obviously thought he could, and he has done ever so well today and we have been on the back end of that.
JP
Is he the one that got away or is he just sometimes do you think players just and clubs don’t always mix together?
GA
It sometimes happens, listen, he is doing really, really well where he is. He is loved at Yeovil and he is happy and it is like Manny, Manny has come from a situation where he wasn’t happy, he might be happy here. It does happen, and you don’t get every one right and if he proves us wrong then you have to big enough and bold enough to say got that one wrong.