|
" It was a good response, but it wasn't only a good response, it was a good performance. I thought the boys put in a fantastic work-rate. We tweaked it a little bit to give Carlisle something else to think about, and I thought that little tweak worked wonders for us in the first-half.
" We got our goal but we had numerous chances and opportunities, and really we needed another one of those opportunities to go in, but it didn't. We knew obviously that a team at home, they are going to throw big bodies and big players and lots of bodies forward and that is what they did.
" But, we had enough to really keep them out of our box, they had a couple of headers that would have been wonder goals if they had gone in. But, we also had our little chances up the other end because of it. But, it wasn't just a good away performance, that was a good performance and we are happy to keep a nil against.
" We had felt that with three away games coming we had worked a lot on getting our team a little bit more compact than it has been. I thought they were fantastic as a team of defenders and I thought we were fantastic as a team attacking, and I thought everybody played their part. "
" Carlisle are not second or third for nothing, and you can see why they got a good result last week. They have got decent form now and again and they have got some decent players. We had to compete with that but then when we got it we had to keep it and not keep giving them the opportunity.
" I thought that up until maybe the last ten minutes when they threw bodies forward, and even then we saw it out, up until then we generally dictated the football of the game. You can see why Carlisle don't concede many, they work hard as well and they have got a couple of lads that are a bit lively upfront.
" But, our two centre-halves (Gaby Zakuani and Kelvin Langmead) matched them, our two full-backs (Mark Little and Tommy Rowe - then Nana Ofori-Twumasi) matched their two wingers (Matty Robson and Ben Marshall) when we didn't have it. We matched them all over the field when we didn't have it but I am not meaning to be rude but I thought that we were better when we had possession of the ball.
" Tommy Rowe got an injury so that is why he went off, he hurt his groin, he had had a bit of weak groin for a couple of weeks anyway. He came in at half-time and didn't want to let anybody down and Nana came on and played his part. He looks a bit uncompromising on occasions, but he did his job and you wouldn't want him marking you. "
" I thought he did OK, but I thought they all did well, I am not going to pick out anyone and it was a fantastic team performance and club performance. There were 300 fans over there which was fantastic, brilliant that is. That is a long way, we all know that it is four, five, six hours sometimes up the road but hopefully their journey back will be good. At least that 300 never lost faith in us and credit to them.
" I just felt that Arron (Davies) would be able to pick out that little pass for us, Arron is probably more comfortable in just retaining the ball and keeping the ball than running with it, and then stepping over it and coming out with it. I wanted to try to find a team, and Charlie (Lee) would be in that on occasions, that would keep possession more.
" When you have (Gavin) Tomlin, Arron Davies and Boydy (George Boyd) just behind Aaron (McLean) and (Craig) Mackail-Smith, you could see how many times we got into that final third in possession. Then a great little bit of play, Mackail-Smith gets in, and if he hadn't got in then it would have been a penalty anyway if the referee (Peter Quinn) had been nice enough to have given it to us.
" The Johnstone's Paint Trophy game on Tuesday is not one where you can just change the team anyway, you have got to play a certain amount of players. But, I will judge it, I will have a chat with everybody, we have still got to pick a team to win the game. Because, the club wants us to go further in this competition, we have got to be one of the favourites. So, I will pick the team that I think will win that game, but taking into consideration the league games coming thick and fast. "