Simmo Reacts To Mansfield Town Win

Last updated : 16 October 2005 By Thetashkentterror

Simmo speaks
United player-manager Paul Simpson spoke exclusively to BBC Radio Cumbria yesterday evening as he gave his thoughts on a home win against Mansfield that ends United's run of four consecutive defeats :


" It was definitely a better second half performance. We had a better tempo to the game, in the first half there was such a nervousness about the players and about the whole of the ground.

" Everybody is nervous and you can feel it, it’s a relief for everybody that we’ve got that goal. We wanted a better tempo in the second half, we wanted them to get closer in midfield so that they could win the second balls.

" We were looking for them to go and try and get decent balls down the channels to try and drag their two centre-halves out who didn’t want to come out of the middle of the park and to get our strikers on it.

" The minute we get a decent ball over the top and the run is right and then it’s a tremendous finish from Karl (Hawley) and you could feel the relief just being lifted a little bit. We had a few hairy minutes towards the end hoping we were just going to hang on there.

" It’s a big three points for us. I said after last week’s game at Oxford where we had so much possession in the second half, we had so many attempts at goal and got nothing from it that I’ll take a game where we don’t play well and get a victory. We have to make sure it’s a springboard to moving on and hopefully that’s what it is."



" We know that the performance wasn’t good today, we know that particularly in the first half it wasn’t good and we have to improve on it. But this is a big three points, it’s stopped the rot that was there and we’ve got to make sure we build on that now.

" Raphael Nade absolutely worked himself into the ground today. The fact that Karl came into his own when Derek Holmes came on is no criticism of his partner because I thought Raphael, especially first half, was the only one who showed any real life about him. He worked, he chased and he got crosses in.

" We’ve had a game today where we’ve had 21 crosses that have gone into the box. Although we’ve played poorly you might not think we’ve had that much attacking possession but we have. We’ve had four shots on target and four off, we’ve had enough play going into their final third to have caused more problems.

" I don’t know why the referee disallowed the goal of Simon Hackney’s, it looked a fair challenge to me. On the other hand I don’t actually know why he gave that free-kick for us with the last kick of the game as well but I was delighted to see him give that one.

" I think the keeper (Kevin Pressman) did drop it. If we hadn’t won the game I’d probably have been a bit more angry about it but we’ve won and we’ve got through this ninety minutes."



" As I keep saying we’ve got to make sure we build on this now, we know there are things we need to improve on. The big thing today I felt was just the tempo that we played, we wanted to get off to a good start, we wanted to try and lift everybody because unfortunately on the run that we’re having we come out to start the game and it is flat.

" We’ve got to try and do something to lift the fans and unfortunately first half we didn’t do it but in the second half we gave them something else.

" I’m not really worried about the place we are in in the table, I’ll be honest with you. I’m more pleased that we’ve actually stopped a losing run. We’ve got a result today that will give the players confidence and belief and hopefully just keep everybody right and keep everybody concentrating on what we all want to do and if that’s what a 1-0 scrappy victory today does then it's great for everybody.

" I won’t be blooding the younger players in the LDV on Tuesday. I feel that we’ve got to make sure we keep things right. We’ve got a victory today, I don’t want to go changing and bringing six or seven new faces into it and then having to start all over again. We need to get some pattern and a bit of rhythm and we’ll be going to Oldham with the intention of putting our strongest side out and winning the game and keeping the confidence going.

" At half-time the players got a bit of a volley. Dennis (Booth) came in first and had a real go at them because we said after the Bristol Rovers game that if the players are working, tackling and going for balls that maybe they are not favourites for then the supporters will accept it."



" First half I didn’t feel they were doing that, we wanted somebody to go and stick their foot in there and get tackles going. The midfielders in the second half, I don’t know how many tackles they’ve won but they’ve thrown themselves in there and put blocks in and got forward better.

" The whole sort of style of play that we had in the second half was much better than the first half and we just asked for that from them. We wanted the strikers to get in front early and get hold of the ball for us so we could get support up to them. Although it wasn’t the best performance in the world we did it better in the second half and it gives us something to go off.

" We’ve been on the receiving end of games like Mansfield have had today and we’ve been at the bottom of the league like Mansfield are at the moment. When you go to places if the opposition give you a bit of a lift it gives you the confidence to go and play. Because we didn’t start the game right today Mansfield got a little bit of belief that they were going to get something out if it and they had a spring in their step and they were pushing forward and they were giving us a few problems.

" The minute we started to raise our own game and started to go and get tackles in and started to run past their midfielders and get ourselves into more advanced positions that’s when they realised they were in with a game. You could see in the last fifteen or twenty minutes that they were dropping like flies, they were all going down injured, that’s because we caused them those problems and we have to make sure we do that every game from the first whistle.

" It’s a relief for everybody, that’s all you get from today, there were some plusses that you can take out of it but it’s a victory that gives us something to go off. It stops the run that we were on which everybody was getting all screwed up about and isn’t enjoyable to be on the receiving end of."



" We’ve got a result today though and now we’ve got to go Oldham on Tuesday night, we’ve got to make sure we start the game right and take the forward play into that game and get something and then look forward to another league fixture next weekend.

" Today has to be a springboard. I said to the players before the game that I felt that these next three league fixtures that we have and the LDV and then you have the first round of the FA Cup, there are five games there which can really shape where your season is going to go.

" We got the first game today, we’ve got to make sure we improve on today and make it better. Because as I say we know that it wasn’t brilliant today and we had to take the flak at half-time again but we take a lot out of this today and hopefully build on it.

" Brendan McGill is close to coming back into contention, he’s trained all week, but if anybody speaks to Brendan he’s still limping and he’s still very sore. We’ve got to just get him right and make sure it goes. He’s got quite a bad knock on the side of his knee so we’ll keep building him up.

" Simon Hackney is the same, Simon has come back in today and we’ve had to bring him off again because he is getting cramp in his calves. As much as we’re working him and trying, everybody who was at the game can see that he is still a wafer-thin lad and he gets pushed off the ball. When he’s on it though and when he’s going at people he’s got fantastic ability and there really is something there that excites the crowd. We just need to get him to be able to complete ninety minutes without his calves cramping up. "