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" It was a big performance from the boys, when you come into this sort of atmosphere, you are not doubting them, but you are asking if they can cope, they can play and they can deal with what is in front of them. The resilience and mental toughness of the team was absolutely terrific tonight. I was a bit disappointed with the last goal.
" I can't really deny Leeds a goal I suppose in terms of the context of the game. Maybe there is another goal in it for us as well though, so to take a goal lead back to Carlisle is very, very good, but nobody should expect that the job is done because this is a very good Leeds team that we are playing.
" I say about Leeds's goal but I think that we had other opportunities where a little bit more cohesion maybe or a bit more good fortune around the box would have seen another goal going for us. Because we were playing well at the time, so I've got to be absolutely delighted with the performance. The team now have got that standard to live up to on Thursday. The guys are just out on the pitch now having a warm-down.
" There is a bit of a tinge of disappointment in there obviously with the goal. If we had been celebrating a league game in September and had won 2-1 then we would have been thrilled to bits with that effort. So I think that we have got to do that as well tonight, and we'll need all the help of those Cumbrian people on Thursday to get us through it. They have got a team that they have seen tonight though that is having a real good go for it, so let's get together on Thursday and see if we can do it.
" Coming out onto the pitch after the Bournemouth game and seeing 10,000 Carlisle supporters staying in there to say well done to the team. When it was easy to nip off home and say that we are disappointed, we've failed and all those words, but they stayed with the team. Then on Sunday night we had the presentation evening and those people were very warm to the team, and I use that phrase and that's right. The team have responded with a little breather in terms of their preparation, the weather has been great, the training ground is in good condition. "
" We've got into them, Greg (Abbott), Dennis (Booth) and myself and the players have responded to the jobs we have asked them to do, and you've seen what they have done tonight. If the players don't do that though and are not comfortable with what they are doing then you don't get it, so great credit to the team and my back-room staff have been brilliant in these last few days. We're not there though are we, so we temper all of that praise by saying see you on Thursday.
" I've heard the Carlisle fans, we could hear them down and across in there. There was a lot of noise around the place but we've seen them and we've heard them and we've paid our respects to them at the end. It's good to have everything together and I've said that, even though we are not as big a ground as Leeds United, when you are together as a group of people, whether it be 1,400 or 40,000 it's a big thing. The team respect that and they have responded tonight with each other.
" We've got to do it again though, everything I say is tempered by saying that we have got to do it again on Thursday. That's exactly where I would hope the supporters will get with us and the team can reproduce some form as they have done tonight. We said after the 3-2 defeat here and the 3-1 win at our place that there were goals in both teams. People were asking me how I was going to deal with two legs, I said that we when we get the ball we are attacking and when we don't we are defending.
" We've done that tonight, we have attacked and that is the plus side of our game. We've attacked strongly and created chances, when we have to defend you have seen bodies get thrown in there and goalkeeping saves and everything. Both teams that is, not just Carlisle, both teams have provided a real spectacle. So we've got to quieten them down on Thursday and pick up our form again and see if we can finish the job off, but it won't be easy.
" The formation doesn't matter, it's a forward thinking formation that really only gets mentioned when you beat. The team have responded though to the job that we have asked of them and there is a lot of work going on to try to get that team forward and they have passed the ball extremely well. It relies on that, to pass it well and to pass it clean and we have done that very well tonight right through the team. Whatever formation or shape, it's only eleven players and they have got to try to play well, and tonight they have done that. "
" There were four minutes as he said, and we got into five minutes. There was then a free-kick that the referee gave, he delayed the game again and extended it again, but I'm not grumbling about that. You have to keep playing right to the end and we didn't quite make it in terms of keeping a clean sheet. We've got a goal lead though and if you had offered me that at six o'clock tonight then I would have said thank you and I'll take that with me and we'll see how we get on.
" We are OK though, disappointment is something that we have dealt with before at this club at the short time that I have been with it, and we'll deal with it again. It's tough for referees as well as players to cope with it all and I thought that he did OK. There are shouts for penalties that aren't penalties but the crowd can persuade people to do it. He (Anthony Bates) has been strong though, he has been a good referee throughout his career, I've known Mr Bates for a while and it was the right Mr Bates that was refereeing, so he did OK.
" I was looking forward to this tonight because it is a cracking game, and even though we are a goal up people will still put their money on Leeds as favourites. Fine, I can handle that, but my team have had a bit to say in that tonight. Hopefully we can reproduce it again, because if we don't then we run the risk of not going through. It's a challenge now for my team to put that form together at home when there will be a little bit more expectancy on us to win. So it's dealing with a lot of things in football, but tonight we can go home and say that we have dealt with a lot of things very well.
" I think that in the main we have had one or two poor performances, but in the main we have had a team for people to be proud of throughout the season. I think that tonight is one of those big nights where they can say that it was terrific, but I can't get all excited myself because I have still got to play them again. That's not an easy game as you know, but I'm very pleased that the Cumbrian people are happy, let's hope that we are still happy on Thursday night. We'll try hard on the pitch, and I know that everyone else will off it, so fingers crossed that we can do it together. "