John Ward On Another Cup Exit

Last updated : 21 November 2007 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after the 1-0 FA Cup replay defeat at Grimsby tonight, Ward suggesting that his players need to get back to the standards they were at, starting at Brighton this coming Saturday :


" What's gone wrong, certainly at the moment, is that we are finding goals hard to come by and we are conceding at the other end so that's like a double problem in a sense. We've not defended as well as I would like, we've had three let-offs in the early part of the game where (Gary) Jones has got three free headers and hit the posts a couple of times, and the other one is a save off my keeper (Keiren Westwood).

" That's a worry because we have defended generally well up until these last two or three games. Then at the other end we have fired another blank. There are decent things happening at times but we're not looking too confident with our football at the moment. That in itself comes from difficult results that we have had and it's something that we have got to sort out very, very quickly and certainly before Saturday, which I've just talked to the team about.

" They have given me problems in terms of the fact that it has been comfortable for me so far in terms of saying 'same team again'. They have given me some problems in terms of my team selection for the weekend. I won't make those decisions now as you wouldn't expect but they'll certainly be given a lot of thought over the next two or three days prior to the game.

" It's a strange one really because it's how the change has come over a short period of time where we have been extremely confident when I came into the football club. Results were good and obviously beating Leeds was a big, big lift for everybody but we can't live on that. We've got to go and live better on these types of games and results and we haven't done it. If we think we've made it then everything has turned upside-down for us.

" We've got 30-odd games to play in the league now, we've nothing in the cups which is a huge disappointment. These league games now though become absolutely vital to certainly the next two or three or four in this period of games now to make sure that our season improves dramatically. I've just said to the boys that it is now another one where we don't have a game, where we want a game and we are not going to have one.

" It's not particularly good for keeping things going, we were happy enough to have the break last week to see if it would lift us up. It hadn't done that enough, I'm saying all this but Grimsby Town have done well, it's important that you mention the opposition. They have lifted their game and done extremely well tonight but we've not lifted ours enough to compete with them enough times.

" I'm not denying them that, you are asking me about my team, it's played in fits and starts has our team. I suppose in a way you could say that Grimsby have done that and sometimes the results hide certain things but they have obviously lifted their football match tonight and given us a very tough evening. I can't deny them winning the game. "



" We need to lift our game back up to where we were, we need to make better decisions and we need to be perhaps a little bit tougher in some of our play a little bit. We got bumped around a wee bit tonight, (Gary) Jones particularly has won too many headers for me liking in the back-four. We've got to be stronger in those positions, both physically and mentally in just getting those decisions better and more consistent. We've been a little bit fits and starts tonight and it has cost us dearly.

" People use that phrase '(they wanted it more)' but it is a ridiculous phrase to use because that assumes that people don't care and don't try. That is absolutely not the case, I've got a team that is trying very hard and working very hard but getting certain things misconstrued. When you are working hard and it's not going quite so well for you then decision making becomes a big part of it, that's a mental side as well as physical.

" Fitness-wise these guys are fine, mentally we've just got rattled a little bit and then sometimes that affects what we should be doing correctly. We haven't done enough of that over the last two or three games, it's not just tonight, there have been little signs creeping in and we've got to eradicate it immediately and that comes on Saturday.

" It's difficult to be on a positive note after a run of four games where we haven't had a win. So we only know if it is a slight bad run if we get a good result at the weekend. I can't answer that until I see what happens on Saturday but certainly there is going to be a demand off everybody in the football club for a little bit better than we have had in recent times.

" He (Richard Keogh) is playing in an under-21 international tonight, hopefully he has come through that unscathed and he'll be joining us on Thursday morning for training and he'll be in the squad for Saturday. He's a defender, I've said before, you are asking me where I need players and we've got five players for four positions in the back-four.

" Richard comes and gives us that option, he gives me another one to play in there, he can also play a little bit in midfield if required. He's got some versatility to his game, he is young, he is hungry and for a young player he has got some experience as well so we'll welcome him in and we'll see what we do with him on Saturday.

" If I was thinking of signing someone now it would be a knee-jerk reaction but I'm not, I've been thinking about it for some time and I've been trying to do that. We have tried to get another one player in if we can and we've got a couple of phone calls in and around on Wednesday and we'll see if we can do that. That's not a knee-jerk though, that's something that we've been looking at for the last fortnight or so. "