Paul Thirlwell - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 22 February 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Blues midfielder Paul Thirlwell
United skipper Paul Thirlwell spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria on Tuesday evening, Thirlwell talking about the disappointment of two postponed matches in a row at Crewe on Saturday and at home to Nottingham Forest tonight :


" It's good in one way and not so much the other because it's been a long time coming waiting to get back into action. So it's been a bit disappointing I think for everybody concerned when we went down to Crewe at the weekend. To physically turn up there at 1.30pm and walk on the pitch at 1.35pm, we all looked at each other and thought about if we should be here because I couldn't for the life of me see why they thought the game was going to go ahead.

" That was disappointing, and then to get the call early this afternoon that was the same. So it's good in one way for me, the longer the better for myself in terms of match fitness to be involved but I think that we all want a game sooner rather than later.

" I think the disappointment was not so much today because being at the ground yesterday and training we all had an inkling that it might struggle today. Maybe not so much today but definitely Saturday, with turning up there and seeing the fans and you prepare Friday and you wake up and you are ready to play. So that was disappointing but again we look to Saturday which is another massive game and we are all looking forward to it.

" We had no inkling that Crewe might be off, I spoke to Dennis Booth after we found out that the game wasn't going to be on. He went down with the kit-man (Andy Horn) and Dolly (Neil Dalton) as they do normally on a Saturday morning to get everything prepared. I think that he had come back and mentioned it to the gaffer (John Ward) and Greg (Abbott) that it might be a little bit in doubt.

" That never comes to the players though because obviously they want us 100% focused on going out and playing the game. So when we turned up it was obviously a surprise for the lads, I don't think everybody is too happy with the fact of the way it was handled, to turn up at 1.30pm and find out at such a late stage."



" It's just disappointing, I don't think you look at how you prepare because obviously for away games we do the same at home, we always eat the right things and get ready for games. It's purely the football side of things, come Saturday afternoon at 3pm you want to be playing football.

" It's just disappointing, especially to turn up so late, today it wasn't so much of a surprise but when you turn up fully expecting to have a game of football and you don't then it is disappointing. Like the gaffer said on Saturday though, we just have to forget that and fully concentrate on the next game, albeit it should have been tonight but now it's Saturday.

" I think everybody would rather have the points in the bag. I think when you look at the league now, I just glanced at it before and we're in a tidy position. We wouldn't want a bigger backlog of games, we don't want to be sitting with four or five games to play over everybody else but I don't think that will happen. Whilst it's down to two over most teams we are looking in a healthy position.

" We can't do anything about weather or conditions, all that we can do is that when the games come around we prepare well and we produce when they come. That's what we are looking to do starting against Doncaster at the weekend.

" It has been a frustrating season for me, last week sums up my season really. When you get an inkling that obviously you are going to have a chance of playing a game and then, for it to be postponed is bad but for it to be postponed twice in the space of a few days is frustrating. It's just one of those things though and we move on. "



" Personally it's just a matter of looking to keep myself fit now until the end of the season, albeit it's the most important part of the season in the position that we are in. We're in a fantastic position and we are just looking to maintain the form obviously at home and look to pick up a few more points away and who knows what can happen.

" It is frustrating away from home, if we could put our finger on the reason why we are not picking up regularly three points away from home, or points for that matter of fact, obviously we would be sat at the top of the league. I think that if you look overall and you take Swansea out of the equation who are about 12 points clear of us then everybody must be having similar problems one way or the other. Whether it's home form or away form because no-one else is flying ahead.

" I think that you can put it down to obviously certain bad days away from home as far as we are concerned. We are very much still in the mix and we have to look forward now to the seven or eight away games left and just go out there and pick up as many points as we can.

" It's quite a while now until Saturday, four or five days until the game so I've treated the wife to a lavish curry, we've just been out. She fancied the a la carte but I didn't want to loosen the purse strings too much. We were just out for a curry and we're back home now so no doubt I'll be watching Liverpool v Inter Milan if I can wangle it now I've treated her to that curry.

" I can't speak for everyone but you come in and flick around the channels and pretend that you didn't realise that the Champions League was on. Then say that you'll watch that for 20 minutes and maybe hope she nods off, I'll probably watch that for the rest of the night. I'd rather watch Sunderland, I'm a Sunderland fan so I'd rather be watching Sunderland but we're not on the TV too much these days. I'll watch anything and everything which is a bit annoying for Mrs Thirlwell but never mind. "