United frontman Paddy Madden (PM) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) on Tuesday morning, Madden first talking about coming on as a second-half substitute in the 4-0 defeat at Hartlepool on Saturday :
PM
It was great to get the opportunity to come on, it is my first decent spell in the team for a while so I was happy to get out there and hopefully I showed the gaffer (Greg Abbott) that I can offer different things to the team.
JP
Albeit not ideal circumstances to come on with the team down to ten men and in a tricky match away from home but you ran around like a man who looked like he was trying to prove something out there?
PM
Yeah, well, you have to try to take every opportunity you get to impress, it wasn't ideal the situation at 2-0 down when I came on and down to ten men. But, you still come on and approach the game the same way as if you had eleven men and you are winning, and that is the way I treat every game, so I was just happy to get the run-out.
JP
It was around or about a year ago now, it was in this window wasn't it, that you actually arrived at Carlisle United I think I am right in saying, how has it been in that period?
PM
I have enjoyed myself, obviously the injury was a bit of a setback but I am past that now and I am just looking forward to the future and hopefully impressing and getting a decent run-out from now up to the end of the season for the team.
JP
In terms of the future do you feel that it is important that you get that opportunity sooner rather than later to get in and show a bit of what you can do and prove to people that you do have a future with Carlisle United and you can do the business for them?
PM
Yeah, absolutely, obviously when I was out injured the lads came in and to be fair to the lads the three upfront who play in my position have been fantastic. You have seen the team's results over the last few months have been immense, I think Saturday was our first defeat in about eight or nine games I think, that is very impressive. So, I have had to wait for my opportunity, I am not just going to go in the team, I have to wait and get my opportunity and it is up to me to take it when I get it.
JP
I know that we have talked about your injury already in the past but in terms of that when you had the pre-season with Carlisle, I mean of all the strikers that were there at the team you looked the sharpest, I mean how much of a blow was it to lose that opportunity to the injury that you got?
PM
Yeah, it was a massive blow, I felt my confidence was high and as you said there my sharpness, I was looking sharp. So, it was a big blow for me and it set me back, but I am going to put that behind me now and try to get that fitness and sharpness back. I am feeling sharp now and I am feeling confident, so I know personally myself that I can add different things to the team but it is just waiting on my chance because the lads have been fantastic upfront, so it is up to me to take my chance when I get it.
JP
Is it difficult as a young footballer to separate professional from personal, because I know professionally that you need to be playing football but personally I know you are very good friends with Rory Loy, and I am sure you are very good friends with Lee Miller, but them being out for one reason or another might just give you that opportunity now to show what you can do. But, is that a strange twist of emotions inside seeing your mates out but maybe sensing your own opportunity?
PM
Erm, it is, it kind of kills me a bit when I saw what happened to Rory because I am very close to Rory, he is probably my closest friend on the team. So, it kind of killed me in that sense to see him get injured and that because he was flying, but you have to look at yourself as well, you have to look at your own kind of situation and see the way you develop yourself.
So, I suppose someone's misfortune is your, how I am trying to put it, you get your opportunity obviously when someone else gets injured. It is obviously not nice seeing your friends but you just have to get the opportunity somehow, and it was just unfortunate that Rory hurt his leg. But, Rory will be back stronger, he is a great player and I have confidence in him to come back fully strong and showing people what he was doing in the last few months.
JP
Do you think you have been able to be sympathetic with him given the injury that you had that you have been able to be a good person to be around him while he has had this injury, and I hear cooking him all sorts of salmon delights according to your manager Greg Abbott?
PM
Yeah, I cooked him a nice meal during the week, he has to get his feet up and I don't want him walking around on a sore leg so I usually cook for him, my salmon and my vegetables, that is my speciality in the food department. So, I just look after him because to be fair to him, him and the other lads sitting in the house like J-P (Jon-Paul McGovern), Lee (Miller), Tom (Taiwo) and Rory, they were tops at looking after me when I was injured so I am just returning the favour looking after things. He was brilliant with me so it is no big deal, that is what friends are for I suppose.
JP
Where do you think your role lies in the team, and in particular over the next few games?
PM
I think I could personally play in any one of the three upfront, but Lee's red card was a joke I thought, I thought it was never a sending-off, so personally I wouldn't like to see him get suspended over something I don't think was a red card. So, hopefully we will win the appeal because Lee is a big player for us, he is different and he is the kind of player that we need for down the middle, someone to hold the ball up and play off his flicks, so I think he is a big part of the team. So, I am hoping that the appeal goes well for him and we can have him back for next week.
JP
I don't think I am speaking out of turn when their opposition manager (Neale Cooper) says that when the whistle went he thought Andy Monkhouse was getting booked, and then to see Lee Miller sent off he was very surprised and thought it was very harsh?
PM
Yeah, I think everyone, well most people in the stand got a shock, they didn't see that coming. I saw the referee (Bobby Madley) and I thought it was going to be a yellow card to who I don't know, but to show a red card I think everyone was shocked you know, I think it was just a bad decision.
JP
Do you think that you can, more specifically though, play that actual role seeing how important he is to the way that the team works, do you think that is something you could do, be that man down the middle, stay a bit closer to the penalty area, almost curtail some of your own energy to actually keep you in the middle where the goals need to be scored or at least set up?
PM
I think I could play in any of the three positions, my natural position is upfront in a two but I don't mind, I will play right-back if you want me to play there, I don't mind playing anywhere once I am in the team. So, I suppose I could play there but obviously I wouldn't have the physical presence that Lee would have. But, I am trying to improve my game and work on my game so I can have that as well, so I am working on different aspects of my game to improve me all round.
JP
And in terms of the mood that it has been like, I know that you have getting back around the squad after your injury, what has it been like on this run? You have said yourself, it was the first defeat in nine at the weekend, it is an incredible run, still just where you were going into that match as well because it was a game in hand over the likes of Stevenage above you, so still right there round and about the play-offs?
PM
Yeah, well just because we got a defeat at the weekend it doesn't mean we are out of it, not at all. We have a great chance and everyone has great belief in the squad that we can get into the play-offs and I think personally we can. We have a brilliant squad, we just have to put that defeat behind us and get back on the winning trail now on Saturday, put that defeat behind us and just keep kicking on. Because, we have had a brilliant season so far so I have confidence that we will continue that and personally I think that we can get into the top six.
JP
And I know that you weren't physically involved at the time with your injury but one of the most surprising results of the season was the (4-1) defeat down at Chesterfield earlier in the season, has there been a talk in the dressing room about a bit of revenge this weekend? Does that sort of thing get out? Does the manager even allow that sort of chat or is it just focusing on winning the next match?
PM
We just take each game as it comes you know, obviously the defeat down there wasn't expected but those kinds of games happen. But, we all know ourselves, we don't need the gaffer to tell us, we are all good professionals so we know what it takes, we won't forget the defeat down there so we will be all looking forward to the game and hopefully get a bit of revenge from the last defeat.
JP
What is it like having Francois Zoko in the squad and training with him? Is he someone who you can learn off or are you almost as sort of bamboozled by what he does as us in the media and the fans are?
PM
Francois is a great character to have around, personally I have a good joke and that with him in the dressing room. Personally I try to learn off, I am only over in England, this is my first time over in England so I try to learn off Lee with his physical presence and hold the ball up and try to learn off him. Francois has an amazing bit of magic where he can just go by people like that. So, obviously all the young lads watch them in training and try to learn different things off each striker, so personally it is great for me and Lee is great as well and you have Rory and Craig (Curran). We all add different things to it so I just try to learn stuff off them and obviously improve my game the best I can.
JP
We had Tommy Cassidy as a Belfast lad who was part of the commentary team on Carlisle for a good 18 months and one of the things he talked about when he first moved over from, albeit Northern Ireland, was how difficult it was being away from the family for such sustained periods of time. What has that been like for you as a young lad away from Ireland for the first time?
PM
It is obviously not nice being away from your family, I am very close to my family, you do miss your family now and again but that is what it takes. I want to play football over here so you can't let that affect you, I am on the phone to my family nearly every day so it is no biggie, they do come over every so often. So, I just want to play football over here and do the best I can, so it has not really affected me that much because all I want to do is play football over here, so you just have to live with it I suppose.
JP
Do they get the opportunity to come over and see you play then? Have they seen you in action with United?
PM
Yeah, they have come over a few times, my brother was a big part of my football when we grew up, so he always comes over with his family and then most of my family come over as well. So, it is nice to get them over for a while and I can go home to Dublin a bit so it is not too bad. I suppose it is closer to Carlisle than if you want to drive down to the country somewhere in Ireland, so it is not too bad.