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JP
How are you feeling as a player after putting your team into a Wembley final?
KH
Ecstatic, I am speechless, I am pleased for all the boys, I am pleased for all the fans. It is going to be such a great occasion down at Wembley. It is just amazing, I am really speechless.
JP
The fans really went through the emotions tonight and what was it like for you players?
KH
Exactly the same, it was that up and down and as a player you don't know whether you are coming or going. It is just one of those games that if you come out on top then you can't believe the feeling that you get, and I am sure the fans are feeling the same way. It is just an amazing achievement from us.
JP
Carlisle United played well tonight, there is no doubt about it. Do you sometimes look at a game like that and think how did we manage to lose 3-2 in a game like that?
KH
I don't want to be negative or anything but we look at the goals and it is something we can improve on. But it doesn't take it away from the occasion for everything, for the fans, the hard work the lads put in and the gaffer (Greg Abbott) and all the work that we do on the training field. This is what it is made for, this is why we do it, because of these emotions.
JP
You scored one of the penalties that had taken Carlisle to Wembley, but in the 72nd minute it looked like you had scored the goal that had taken them in open play. Talk us through how that one went in?
KH
Basically I just made a run, the touch wasn't the greatest, he (Lubomir Michalik) made a mistake, I pounced on it and I just saw the open space. So I just slid it in, it was just an amazing feeling.
JP
You didn't snatch at it though, you bent it in on your left foot, your swinger as it were, it is not bad your left foot but you bent it in, and how do you have that cool a head in those situations?
KH
Yeah, my swinger, I don't know though, it is just one of those things, sometimes in other parts of the pitch I may not be that cool. But it is just one of those things, I just can't, I am speechless.
JP
You had a key role as well tonight, not just going forward but defensively, as you quite often do for Carlisle. I don't think some fans always appreciate that but you were marking some quality players and you worked tirelessly.
KH
Yeah, that is part and parcel of a winger, Matty (Robson) does the same on the other side you know. The tracking back is just as important as going forward, sometimes the play is out on the left and sometimes the play is out on the right in different games. But it is part and parcel and I am happy to put that shift in.
JP
But Matty Robson doesn't have Richard Keogh behind him, brilliant defender but he is kamikaze at times, you must not know what he is doing, I don't think he does always does he?
KH
What a lad, what a great lad, you can't knock him, his enthusiasm, I have never come across anyone so enthusiastic and obviously that is why the fans love him so much, he is a talented player. You look at Evan (Horwood) as well, what a talented player he is, you can't take it away from any of the back four really. It is just a great set of lads really.
JP
Did everyone reserve the biggest hug for Richard Keogh of course with his penalty miss?
KH
Oh definitely yeah, he was really emotional on the half-way line when he missed his penalty. You have just got to put your arm around him and he is a friend of mine, he is not just a team-mate, he is a friend of mine. I felt for him but we have done it now and he is all smiles so it is brilliant for him.
JP
Greg Abbott has always talked about the unity in the dressing-room through the harder times for Carlisle. The times are certainly looking up for the club right now and the league form is not so bad at the moment, games in hand, you could be right back up into the top half of the table. Is that the most important thing? Is that why Carlisle are doing well in the areas they are?
KH
Yeah, we want to be up the table and I think we have deserved to be up the table. Sometimes the results haven't quite gone for us but the unity in the changing rooms is phenomenal. I have been at quite a few clubs and this is up there with the best of them.
The lads get on like a house on fire and I think that is why we have turned the season round. We weren't so good at the start but we have turned it round and now we are doing well so it is just fair play to everyone. Fair play to the gaffer as well, he is a top man and he is a brilliant guy, it is good to be around here.
JP
And less than six months since your move into Carlisle United in the summer, did you expect to have all of this going on?
KH
No, I just want to be successful and I know Carlisle want to be successful and that is why I came here. I think we have got a great base to be successful so hopefully we can push on for more this season.
JP
And the fans will be just about be getting home now with their radios on, still on their way home as well some of them as well. What would you like to say for them for 9,000-odd of them coming here to support you tonight?
KH
Yeah, it is brilliant, I would just like to thank them for their support. They were the 12th man as you like, and that is what they are like most of the time really. It is brilliant from them and I just hope they have a great day at Wembley.
JP
And I think it is the last weekend in March isn't it the final will be, what an occasion that is going to be, are you pinching yourself?
KH
Yeah well, I went down last year (with Scunthorpe) and I was unsuccessful in the final. I want to be successful now so I just want to say well done to all the fans, all the lads and it is brilliant.