Town boss Graham Alexander spoke to his club’s official website following his side’s 2-0 home win over Carlisle in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy area quarter-finals, Alexander saying his players approached the game in the right way:
“It is a very pleasing night tonight, I thought the lads were fantastic, I really did. They approached the game in the right way, they played some great stuff but defended really well as well. I thought the energy that the lads showed from start to finish was fantastic. We deserved the win and we look forward to the next round. Carlisle are a good team too, we have got to be respectful of that, but I thought it was a good night for us.
“I thought we put them on the back foot and we played some great stuff, I thought some of the off the ball running from the players was fantastic tonight and made it easy for whoever had possession of the ball. But, we had to be aware of their threat as well because they have got goalscoring threats throughout the team, and I thought the lads did excellently to keep their chances down to a minimum as well. On another day we could have scored more than two but we are more than happy with a 2-0 win.
“The first goal was fantastic, I am really chuffed for David Ball, I can’t speak highly enough of him, he works so hard every single day in training. He is a great lad, anything you ask him he will do in a game or in training. He gets on with it, as do others, but we are really chuffed for him because he does a great job for the team and it can be a hard shift when you are the central striker on your own against two centre-halves. But, he gives more than he is given credit for, he gets stuck in as well and he has got class all through him.
“It was a great ball from Antoni Sarcevic as well and David was there to finish it off and it was really pleasing. But, I thought the whole team were excellent, it is hard to pick on individuals because David has got a goal, Antoni has got a goal, but the play from every one of them was fantastic. Everyone did what they were expected to do in their own jobs, so they have set the benchmark now for themselves and we will be expecting more performances like that throughout the season.
“Antoni has been frustrated of late with not getting on the scoresheet and maybe snatching at a couple of things, but it was a fantastic ball from Gareth Evans, he hit one of those on Saturday as well against Gloucester that put David Ball through, but you need someone on the end of it to score like that. It was a fantastic goal but I thought both goals were of the highest quality and, like I said, we could have scored another couple on another night but we are just happy to beat a good League One team 2-0.
“We will look for another high energy performance now at Northampton on Saturday and hopefully get a positive result. The lads are feeling good about themselves and it is always a good feeling when you are like that so we have to maintain that. We didn’t speak tonight about being on SKY either, but you know inside as a player that there is an extra bit in there that you want to show how good a player you are. I thought every single one of them did that tonight so it was really pleasing.”