John Ward On Another Home Win

Last updated : 24 February 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Saturday evening as he talked about the 1-0 win at Brunton Park against promotion rivals Doncaster Rovers, Ward discussing a remarkable eleventh home league victory in a row for the Cumbrians :


" I'm really excited about it because we've had a lot of work to do prior to that performance to get the side right and to get it shaped up. My back-room staff and I spent a long time on Thursday afternoon discussing it, we knew that Paul Thirlwell was going to go out at that time and obviously we were missing Chris Lumsdon. So we needed to put ourselves in, people use the word gameplan don't they, but we had to think of that and give people jobs to do.

" The discipline of the team is the factor that has helped us to get the win today, we've been very disciplined and very organised and stuck rigidly to the jobs that were required of the players. So all the way through the club, my back-room staff and the players themselves, we've earned a very good result today against a very good side. Eleven home wins on the trot is brilliant, we've got three points at home today and I'm going to enjoy that.

" It's a really difficult day to get your football going because the win is all over the place, we've had three very windy days. Luckily it has dropped a bit today but it still doesn't help good football, but I think that both teams have tried to do that and tried to play that way. We've had our work cut out at times, we know that Doncaster are not going to come here and roll over.

" They are going to have time in the game, they are to going have passing movements that you have to be disciplined with and we've managed to work that. When we had to defend it we defended it strongly and very, very well and protected Keiren (Westwood) quite well in front of him. I think that all those factors put together have given us the opportunity to win the match. "



" It had draw written all over it I guess before the game didn't it because of the records of the two teams. We had a very tight match down at the Keepmoat Stadium decided by a free-kick in the last five minutes and we've had a very tight match today which we expected it to be. We asked the players in one or two areas where we thought we could get a wee bit of joy and we're delighted to score from a cross.

" Danny Graham is back in good form again finishing the things off in the box. He's been a little bit lonely at times at the top end of the pitch but you will not find anybody work harder than him in there. We've been really pleased with his contribution today. He's got the goals, you look at the combination of him and Joe Garner, add their two sets of goals together and that's why we are in top part of this division.

" I'm a member of the old strikers' union myself and I've been through a barren run many years ago as a player and you stick with people and you work hard with them. If they are prepared to do the same on the training ground then things will turn in their favour. You've seen that with Danny, there is no question of him not being a good player or not being a goalscorer.

" We've just had to get that little bit of confidence and that work into him and he's responded fantastically well. You saw the reception that he got from the crowd today, they've not gone away from him either I don't think. I think that in the main they appreciate the workload that he puts in every time he puts the shirt on.

" Both teams had gone two weeks without a game, players like to play and match fitness is something that I can't replicate in training at all. So it's good to get that in, hopefully it's just tiredness a little bit more than anything and the recovery now is absolutely vital for the boys to get them ready for Tuesday. They couldn't have given much more out there today though. "



" Grant Smith was where we had the decision making to do. We brought Grant in for a reason in January, he has been on the bench a little bit, not seen too much of him, certainly not seen him at all here at Brunton Park. I think what you have seen of him today though let's people know that there is a good footballer in there and the competition for midfield players is hotting up nicely.

" We asked him (Joe Garner) to play a little bit deeper, a job for the team today, talking about being disciplined and being rigid with what you are doing. You allow people to go and play, I'm not stopping people playing football but we've asked people to do a job. If you go very open against Doncaster Rovers then they will cut you apart and we didn't want that to happen to us.

" What we did feel though was that if we could get enough of the ball we could perhaps give them one or two problems. It was a cagey game wasn't it, you wondered where the second goal might come from and there was no conclusion that we were going to get it. We had to work hard to stop Doncaster getting it and fortunately it has gone our way today but both teams have played very, very good football.

" He (Cleveland Taylor) has got hard work about him, he's got that cheeky smile on his face but he has got it in his game as well. He works his line up and down, he's not just a tricky winger, he learns the other side of the game when he has got to do his defending. He's done both sides today and provided the goal for us which we are obviously delighted with.

" He (Evan Horwood) had cramp, he's a young man playing his football and we've just got to teach him the rudiments of how to look after himself away from the football club. Probably we need to get a bit more water in him and things like that but we've got a good player there, but he's 21 and he'll be fine. "