John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 24 September 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Tuesday morning as he talked about Carlisle's 2-0 defeat at home to Leeds at the weekend, Ward also giving the latest news on Peter Murphy's knee injury :


" We weren't clinical enough, I keep using that word, in the last 30 yards of the pitch really. I think that we got into good positions, even early on in the game. Simon (Hackney) got down the left-hand side and he has clipped a ball on top of the crossbar instead of back into the penalty area where we can get a finish to it.

" So we got into those good positions a number of times, but against the better teams if you like, teams like Leeds United, you are not going to get there as many times and you have got to make them pay when you do that. One every three or four is not quite good enough against the top teams, you will maybe get away with it in other matches sometimes. On Saturday we didn't though and that was really the difference in the two teams.

" Their break for the second goal was when we pushed everybody on, I take my responsibility for that, we had put our three substitutes on, we had kept four up, we were just trying to pull that game back in. To be fair it is a great break, if we had scored it we would have been thrilled to bits with it, it was a really quality break against us and that is what Leeds United can do.

" We are not a million miles away though, we will keep plugging away and see if we can close that gap. I think that we would certainly like the goals against column to be lower. I think that again the top teams at the end of the season are going to be well in credit with goals scored. We are not quite so much, we have conceded probably too many for my liking at the moment. "



" I think that it is a better league to be fair than last season, we have got another one coming up this week I think, we are level on points aren't we with Walsall. So it is another one in terms of the top part of the division. So I just think that I said right at the beginning of the season prior to the games, that the teams that have come down and the teams that have come up have added to this league.

" Stockport have got a great away record, and I think that Peterborough and MK Dons have got real financial clouts in terms of being able to improve their groups, teams and football clubs. You see the Scunthorpe's come down with the knowledge of the Championship, and the players that can play in there. Obviously we have got Leeds and Leicester in there, I can keep rolling on a little bit can't I.

" So I think that it is a better league and I think that all games will be very tight and tough. It's the case that we have played some of the teams up at the top end so we have had a very good start to be sixth in the table against those tough teams. If we can keep working hard at it and get the rub of the green sometimes, which we obviously need now and again in tight matches, then we have got to try very hard to stay there. It will be a big achievement though for anybody to make the top six when you are behind clubs like that.

" We know that we have got a tough league and we know that we are right in the mix, it was very complimentary of Gary McAllister afterwards to say that he felt he had just beaten one of his main rivals in terms of this division. So people are thinking probably similar things about ourselves, that we are a tough team to beat as well, and that is what we have got to be. "



" He (Peter Murphy) is having a scan today at midday and we will probably get those results either later this afternoon or early on Wednesday morning just to let us know the extent of the injury. I spoke to him yesterday and he has still got the same pain in the knee around the ligament area and that it is a concern for us, which is why we are taking the scan information. The scan will take into the soft tissue injuries, an X-ray obviously just looks at the bones but a scan goes deeper and further and gives you the full extent of any injury and how we can treat it and what we have got to deal with.

" We knew probably from Wednesday that Peter would be doubtful, we left him until Friday and he made the final decision when he tried to train on Friday with us and said that he couldn't do it. So it was always in the back of my mind that Richard (Keogh) was there because Josh Gowling had been unwell earlier in the week. He had missed out on a couple of days of training so Richard was the obvious choice in a sense. Not that you have to make things justified but it made sure that we had got the right people in to cover these situations.

" For me it's time we had goal-line technology, there was one in the Hull v Everton game as well as the Watford game, it came down off the crossbar and we are seeing it more often now. Only for a goal though, nothing else, decisions on penalties, free-kicks, corners, all those types of things these days should be left to the individual and the referee.

" I'm all for that but goals yes, because that would have cleared that up within ten seconds. What is ten seconds in a game that is so important to a lot of people, when you have got thousands watching and that result hinges on that whatever happens, the future hinges on that result, so I think that it is important. "