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" Everyone told me that the run had to come to an end, I didn't want it to but it has done. If it is has to do that then you do it in the way that we've done it tonight, you go down fighting with all guns blazing and you have a go. I've just said that to the team, we've had a tremendous run, and a fantastic effort and even tonight they have done exactly that. They've stood toe-to-toe with a good team and produced a good game of football.
" It's not gone our way but we've got to pick that up and start again on Saturday and see if we can enter that again. If we can enter that game on Saturday in the same frame of mind as we've done tonight, and play our football, then we give ourselves the best chance of winning that game and putting this one to bed.
" I thought that we were a wee bit wasteful at the front end, sometimes with our crossing and our shooting. We were a bit slow now and again in terms of trying to move the ball but I'm probably picking a little bit there. It sounds like I'm criticising, I'm not particularly because it was a good team that we were playing and we had to shift the ball a bit quicker than perhaps normally.
" When we got into good positions, in a tight game like this you need to make it pay. I'm a wee bit disappointed with the way that we gave the free-kick away in the first place that Nottingham (Forest) scored their first goal from, but then it is a good free-kick. We get a similar position at the other end, a terrific free-kick off Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) and we hit the bar with it. That's how tight games go, I cast your mind back to Leyton Orient at 0-0 and we score off a corner, and that is the difference in a tight match there.
" It's just not gone our way tonight but I can't ask any more from the team, and to be fair the supporters have recognised that. It's not often you lose 2-0 at home and get a standing ovation from the crowd. The Forest boys were talking about it in the tunnel, they couldn't believe the way that we got the support, so really good. I'm pleased with that and if we can all maintain that for Saturday then we'll have another go. "
" Both Sean O'Driscoll (Doncaster manager) and myself will be thinking it was a chance missed somewhere along the line. If it is a chance missed then we're in the better position of the two, so I don't know how it is going to end. It's difficult to win these games, we've seen tough games here against Port Vale where we were 2-0 down and things like that.
" We've stood our ground really, really strongly here and we've just got to keep doing that. I said that to the team there, if you don't have the same approach to Saturday then I'll be asking why. Because if they do then they have got a good chance of winning that game and that's all that I've ever asked from them. We'll put this one to bed if we can get the right result at the weekend.
" There was a doubt about Danny Graham on Saturday night when he was limping down the airport lounge trying to catch the plane and it was sore. Everytime you spoke to him though he always said that he would be fine, and on Monday morning when I spoke to him he said that it was a bit sore but that he would be fine. Him and Chris Lumsdon were the two, and even Simon Hackney had one as well, Simon didn't train yesterday, we had three of them sat there.
" Each and every one of them said that they would be fine and you've seen what they've done tonight. I just can't speak highly enough of them, they've had a fantastic run, and even in defeat they've not let anybody down. They've been excellent and their attitude is spot on, and we'll keep trying to persevere with what we are doing.
" These guys, you asked me about how you deal with trying to get promotion, they know perhaps a bit more than me because they've had, in the last two or three years they have done it themselves. They'll have had a few setbacks in that when they sit and think about it, and how they dealt with it and how they came through it. "
" We've got to work hard, use our experience, keep the support of the crowd, which I'm sure we will, keep the support of each other in the dressing-room and just see if we can keep going. If that leaves us in the top couple at the end of it, then fantastic, if not then it's still a terrific effort and that's what we've got to try to do.
" I've had defeats with these guys before and I've always seen a response afterwards from them. I just told them that, tomorrow they will still be disappointed, they'll read the paper and it will be going through their minds. I want some smiling faces on Thursday morning though, some "good morning's gaffer" and "how are you doing?", and they'll get it back off me and we start again, for me it's quite simple.
" What I have said to them, and I'll tell you as well, it's not a problem to me, I take the second goal, because I've thrown everything at them to try to get a 1-1 if we can. I'm disappointed with them with the first one with the way that we gave it away, but the second one is down to me. I've thrown everybody up the top end trying to, thinking that we might as well lose 2-0 as get to 1-1 if we can. It's a gamble I took and we've lost a goal on it, it's not lost us any ground but I'm prepared to do that again if I need to.
" The one that hit the bar is football isn't it, the difference between tight games of football, we could have been here at 1-1 and saying how well everybody has done. So you get a bit swayed by the result, of course you do, but you mustn't let that affect your judgement of the game and the performance. That's my job as the manager not to get too swayed by that, and too upset and think that there are so many things not right. There are so many things right about this team, and not just the boys that start, there is a really top squad here and we are trying to make it better.
" The crowd enjoyed it, they have seen a cracking good game. They've applauded the teams off and quite rightly so, Nottingham Forest are a good team, we said that prior to the game, we know that but they have got a good team here at Carlisle. I think they are very proud of what they are seeing at the minute and it's our job, my job as the manager, and the players' job to get out there and make sure that they stay proud of us. "