Southend's Lee Barnard On His Late Winner

Last updated : 20 April 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Lee Barnard
Shrimpers goalscorer Lee Barnard spoke to BBC Radio Essex about scoring his side's last minute winner at Brunton Park yesterday, Barnard saying that it would be a dream come true to play at Wembley :


" It was a tough match, Carlisle are a good team at home but we played well and got the right result. I thought that in the first-half we were superb, obviously we wanted to carry that on into the second-half. At the beginning of the second-half I thought that Carlisle came back until the sending-off, and then obviously it went our way again.

" It was a good free-kick from Charlie Mulgrew for the first goal, he's got a fantastic delivery and thankfully for us it went all the way in. Obviously I was off celebrating when I hit the post, I thought that it was definitely in and to see it trickle along the line and come out, I was gutted. I got to the rebound and tried to cut it back but it got cut out.

" It was one of those were maybe you think that is late on and you think that it is not going to be your day, but I kept on and thankfully I got another chance. It was a great ball from Mark Gower, I was free at the back-post and I was screaming for it, thankfully he has seen me and just put it on my head, and I got a good connection and it hit the back of the net.

" It's great to be in the play-offs, obviously we knew that we needed another point. We came here, and Carlisle have got a fantastic home record, so we knew that it was going to be tough, but our confidence is so high we are in good shape for the play-offs. We can't sit back, if we get a bit complacent and a bit sloppy then it's not good going into the play-offs. We need to keep mentally sharp and go into the play-offs full of confidence.

" If I'm honest I don't think that anyone will want to play us at the moment, we are on such a good run that I think that people will be thinking not to play us rather than the other way round. Because there are big teams in those play-offs but we don't fear anyone and we are really confident. People keep on saying they are big clubs and who do you want, but we're not too bothered.

" We're just playing our own stuff, hopefully keep winning, and then see what position we are in and who we have got to play, and just do our own thing. It would be a dream come true to play at Wembley, hopefully we can do it and get promoted. "