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" I'm disappointed to be honest with you, I thought that we deserved something out of the game. I thought we were well worthy of a point and a decision that a linesman actually over-ruled the referee when the referee was closer to the action has cost us a point here today. If I'm going to be ultra-critical of my team then I just think in the final third the quality of the final ball could have been better.
" I can't understand the referee, he has not gone and spoken to his linesman and said to the linesman that he was closer to the action and he didn't see a foul. I don't know if he thought the linesman had put his flag up for offside but it wasn't the case and I have had a look back on the video. We've got video analysis and we looked at it on the laptop at half-time and it was a definite goal.
" Adam Chambers doesn't touch the keeper (Keiren Westwood), he just mistimes it and JJ (Melligan) scores so I think that they have got it wrong through the three of them, or between the two of them on that occasion. That is disappointing because that would have given us a 1-0 lead just before half-time and something to hang onto.
" Had that counted, we could well have gone on to win the game. If you get your noses in front and have something to hold on to, it gives you necessary ingredients to go on and get victories. We had that taken away from us and it's disappointing, but we'll take it on the chin and move on.
" They are saying the goal has been ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper but, as I say, the referee has got a perfect view of it, didn't see it as a foul and he was a lot closer to the action. So between them they have not come up with the right decision, if the referee goes over and speaks to the linesman and the linesman then overrules him because he was absolutely sure that it was a foul then I can live with that. As I say though, they didn't even talk to each other.
" I just think the game went into four periods, in the first part of the first-half I thought that they were the better side and then we took it to them and moved it up a gear and then we became the better side. Then the same in the second-half really, I thought that they had the best of it at the start of the second-half but then we finished really, really strongly. We were the ones more likely to go on and score, they were playing on the break really. "
" It looked like we were going to get something but it never came, that final ball or that final finish, even with Adam Boyd's long shot there. I was screaming on the bench because I thought that Efe Echanomi was in a better position but Adam caught it superbly. That would have been just rewards for all the hard work and effort the players have put in.
" The pitch was OK at the end, I was surprised, when we travelled over from Newcastle, we stayed at Newcastle last night and when we were travelling over I could only see the game being off looking at the sides of the road. When we got over here though the pitch was perfectly playable, it crispened up a little bit but it wasn't getting difficult where the lads couldn't stand up.
" We're not the biggest of teams, but today's one has gone in from a position two feet off the floor, so it's not as if someone has come powering in for a header. It is a concern because set-pieces can prove to be defining moments in matches and in seasons. We haven't been great at defending them this year and there were a couple of little things we could have done to stop today's goal.
" As a manager you criticise when you think it is right but today won't be criticism from me. I feel that again we have come to a team in the top six and competed with them. We are in a lofty position with the company up there of big clubs, there were 6,800 here today at Carlisle, you've got Southend up there and then obviously the other ones in terms of Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Swansea.
" I just feel that the longer we can stay amongst it the more the belief will be that we can get into those play-offs which would be an absolutely massive achievement if we managed it. It's a league where everyone can beat everyone, I think John (Ward) would probably say the same, I think Carlisle will be there or thereabouts but it is tight and we're not even halfway through the season yet.
" It can change very quickly when it is that tight but there was a little bit of a gap developing to seventh place although I don't know how the results have gone today. It will be a long journey back as always from Carlisle but we'll make the most of it. "