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" I was disappointed with the trialists in two different ways. I think that Ashley-Paul Robinson, we said he wasn't fit and he wasn't right and it was massively apparent. I couldn't have the time to work with the guy and get him going, he has got some ability but he didn't seem to have the right approach to me, so we made the change at half-time and then we made the decision this morning.
" The other young man Tyrone Cameron was a smashing kid but I think that is what he was. He looked a little boy, a young boy, fighting to cope with the physical side of it. While I think that there is a decent little footballer in there, he was a very quiet boy who needed a bit more outgoing. So they were two different characters but I've got to look at the future, even the next 12 months or the immediate future of Carlisle United, and I didn't think that either of them would help us unfortunately.
" I've got to try to make the right decisions for Carlisle obviously. What we have also got is that underneath those two we have got a very good youth policy and some very good youth players that I have got to bring through as well. I think that is important, you saw Jonny Blake come on in the second-half. Jonny is in his second year at youth traineeship and is a little bit younger than Tyrone, but we think that Jonny has got a chance of improving and pushing on.
" They are things that we have got to take into consideration as well, that these young fellas need their opportunities too. So the decision was made to try to look after the guys that we have got and say cheerio to the other two unfortunately.
" I think the players had a kick up the backside last night if that can be a positive, we have used it very strongly in training today. Workington deserved to win, let's make that clear from the start, they had got eight or nine young men who had been at Carlisle and had found something to prove in that game and treated it extremely seriously for themselves. "
" I wanted my boys to do the same but we didn't, we didn't compete in the same manner as Workington. I think that they looked a very good side and I hope they do well. I like Darren (Edmondson) and I think that his team played some good football. So from our point of view we've used that in saying that we need to be ready.
" We have two games now at Morecambe on Saturday and obviously last night where we have conceded early goals. Whatever you do, even when we picked up after half-time, in both those games we did pick up a bit and manage to win the second-halves. The game itself though was lost in the first period, and when you are not ready it's really difficult to get yourselves right whoever you are and whoever you are playing against.
" I was the same as the Carlisle fans in being embarrassed. I spoke to five or six people after the game, there were some people there just wandering past as I came out and I spoke to them and they said that to me. I said that I felt exactly the same as them, or probably even more because I have got the responsibility for that. I accept that responsibility in full, that is the team I send out to play, and I want better and I want more from them.
" So I said that personally to those five people last night, and they accepted that from me. It was meant and I said the same publically, I am not going to kid people, I can't, they see exactly the same as myself. A week ago though we were praising people after the Middlesbrough and Preston games in saying that we have got a good squad and everything. I just say to people to keep it in perspective, one game or two games doesn't make a massive area where you suddenly start panicking.
" Likewise, I said at the time when people were praising us that we shouldn't get too carried away. What we will be judged upon, quite rightly, is how we get on in the first four or five games of the season. That is when we all stand up to be counted and we will see if the effect I have wanted from the two defeats is working in a positive way for us. "
" You are concerned because you don't want the two games to happen. I have been at football clubs though where you have gone through pre-season and won everything and lost the first two or three. Or you have lost everything in pre-season and managed to win things. So you have to look at them because that is the only thing you can judge people by at this particular time.
" I would say to people though that we didn't shout from the rooftops, I certainly didn't when we had good performances and people were saying that we looked a good team. In the same way that I am not going to go into the basement and say that we are in big trouble now, because that is not the case.
" I have got a very honest group of people who have let their standards drop considerably over the last two games. We've talked about that with the group this morning, they have trained very, very hard today and we've said that we need to get this back on and back on now. I think that everybody has bought into that so hopefully on Saturday we will see the kick up the backside have a positive effect on the team.
" I probably learned more about the squad from those two games because Preston and Middlesbrough, I'm not going to say that they are going to let you have the ball, but there is a bit more room to play. The football is nice and it was comfortable wasn't it, against the other two, with Morecambe and Workington, they are going to compete. That's what I think we will get at Bristol Rovers, at Shrewsbury, Crewe, Leyton Orient, that type of football in Leagues One and Two.
" That is something that we planned the pre-season round, to say that going to Morecambe was going to be very much like going to Bristol Rovers. Where the home team presses and pushes at you and the first thing you have to do is compete. We didn't compete well enough and that is something that we have to do at Bristol Rovers right from the off. "
" Hopefully we can use that, the two games that we have disappointed in, as the yardstick for the performance on Saturday. Then you can come and moan at me or tell me that we have got a good side after the one game. We have got to wait and see but I'm not happy with it, with what I have seen at the moment in the last couple of games. I'm happy with the previous three weeks but we have got to get back to that quickly.
" I am not telling you anything that I have not told my players, and I think that whether I am right or wrong that is just what I will do. I can't kid those people that support Carlisle and have gone home disappointed, and say to them that everything is alright, because they won't believe me. Quite rightly they shouldn't believe me, and I won't try to fool them because I won't do that.
" I'm as disappointed as them if not more so because it is my responsibility as the manager. I get wrapped up in that, Greg (Abbott), Dennis (Booth) and I have had a tough night and a difficult heart-to-heart this morning about what we are going to do next. We feel it considerably, and I'd just like them to know that in exactly the same way as they do.
" So we want to do something about it, we have the opportunity that they don't to get into the team in the dressing-room and on the training pitch. I'm confident, and I hope that I'm right, but I'm confident that on Saturday you will see a stronger performance, we have to do that.
" It was opportunity time, we said that to the team, they were in that dressing-room at Morecambe on Saturday when they knew my disappointment at that type of effort. Last night we said it was their turn, I was there, all my staff were there, we've not treated that as anything other than what I call a first-team game. I'm there, Greg is doing the warm-ups, Dennis is there, everybody is there, and a lot of supporters obviously are there. "