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"It was a striker's goal that won it, I think the only time we've really played poorly was in the first half against Portsmouth and I spoke to Darren (Bent) at the weekend because I thought he'd dipped below his standards on Saturday - three or four people were also told that.
"He wanted to play tonight, I could have rested him but his face lit up when he found out he was in the side - and he has certainly made amends. He takes criticism in a positive manner and tonight he chased and harried and I thought it was a terrific performance.
"The only other change I could have made was Kevin Lisbie for Darren Bent, I wanted to give Omar (Pouso) a few weeks to settle but he had to play against Portsmouth and now he feels like he's been run over by a double-decker bus because he's got very tight hamstrings.
"Matt (Holland) fell awkwardly on Saturday and hurt his ribs. He wanted to play with a jab tonight but we weren't sure if anything was broken and I thought that it would be remiss to do that, although we've since discovered it's just badly bruised.
" (Jonathan) Fortune also landed funny in tonight's game and he's already playing with a broken toe which he can't even have an injection for because he has an allergic reaction to it. We'll have to see how he is. But we do get Hermann Hreidarsson back for the Aston Villa game - he's a key player for us - and maybe Matt and Bryan Hughes, but Andy Reid is looking more like Arsenal.
"Sometimes people discredit the lower division teams, but Carlisle came here and played some good football and a huge amount of credit has to go to them. I felt it was a very important game for us tonight - I'd like to go all the way in this competition. We didn't pass the ball well enough but we created enough chances.
"Dennis Rommedahl did some great things, young Nathan (Ashton) came in and did great, Amady Faye was tremendous, (Darren) Ambrose hit the bar - so there were lots of positives. And the result was positive. It wasn't pretty at times and we gave away the ball boo much but it's a win and we're in the hat."