United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 1-1 League One draw at home to Crawley, Kavanagh disappointed with the Blues giving away an 88th minute equaliser:
JP
It is a point on the board of course but you must be devastated about not getting the three in the end?
GK
Yeah, we are disappointed, especially to draw the game so late, I think there were two or three minutes on the clock. I thought it was an industrious performance, honest, hardworking, everything I had asked of the players. Obviously, we didn’t have the quality that I would have liked but I thought there were periods in the game where we did actually play very well in the first 20 minutes, and the first 25 minutes of the second-half. In terms of chances we probably had more opportunities to finish things off, but it wasn’t to be, so disappointed most definitely.
JP
You looked like a team who were doing the right things, trying to be brave, trying to try more things for so much of the game, that must have impressed you and it must have encouraged you?
GK
Well, it did, we had a very difficult night on Wednesday night and the lads got told after the game in very honest and no uncertain terms as to what we expected, and they didn’t deliver on Wednesday. We looked for a reaction, had a reaction on Thursday, had an even better reaction yesterday and I thought the performance as I say was full of honesty. It was a little difficult if I am going to be honest today because it is a home game, it is one where we haven’t performed away, we have been in a bit of a sticky patch at the moment and the pressure is starting to build.
You could sense a little bit of tension around the ground and you get the 1-0 lead at half-time, we come out for the second-half and we wanted to be in their faces, we were playing with the wind, conditions were a little bit difficult to really control good possession of the ball. But, that being said when you get a goal up you think you are going to get the three points and hopefully march on and get maybe a second or third goal. It didn’t happen today though and one mistake sort of costs us.
JP
Is that the risk that you take sometimes, I mean clearly a top goalkeeper in the making in Ben Amos, but not had a great deal of football and can that be the risk in bringing someone like that in on loan?
GK
Well, I didn’t think it was his fault to be honest, I thought it was Leon McSweeney’s fault. The ball was played into him and he has got to look forward, he has got to play the ball down the line and he takes too big a touch. I mean it is not a criticism of Leon because he has been rusty, he hasn’t played for four weeks so I can’t criticise him for it. It just is a mistake and then the lad [Billy Clarke] hits an incredibly clean strike, I haven’t actually seen it go through Ben’s hands or if he gets a hand to It or whatever, I am not even sure where it goes in the goal, all I know is that it goes in in the far-post.
Whether he tries to save it or not I don’t know but once he [Clarke] had already gone by the full-back we looked a little bit desperate in terms of the way we defended. That is always going to be the case because of the area of the pitch we lose the ball. So, I am going to look on it today as a point gained because I have asked from the very first day that I got the job that we try to get a point and a half out of every game. We have now got 15 out a possible 30, albeit the majority started early on in my reign.
But, it is still 15 out of 30 whatever way we look at it, so it is a point and a half and if we manage to get that we would end up with 62 points. So, we know there is a lot of work to do, the players know that, but the really pleasing part is that they are prepared to give us that honesty and the hard work. As long as they give us that then I won’t have any complaints.
JP
What sort of things have you had to do to get the reaction you got because you clearly got it, they were trying things, they were trying to play brave balls, at times almost risky balls but they were trying to do the right things, it must have taken some work to get that after Wednesday?
GK
Well, we had a meeting on Thursday morning and obviously explained in a much more calmer fashion because I think just after the game on Wednesday I was pretty het up. I was very disappointed, I felt we had let the club down and let ourselves down, the fact we were actually playing on such a big stage if you like with SKY being there and we certainly didn’t do ourselves any justice, certainly not in comparison to the way you saw us play against Wolves, which was only eight days previous.
So, to marry the two together is very difficult to weigh up and understand why we have that level and then play eight days later at the level we did. So, that was frustrating but on Thursday once I had a clearer head, I watched the video, I think I watched the video about half twelve on Wednesday night. That sort of cleared one or two things up for me and I explained to the players where I felt we went wrong and what we could have done better.
So, I just asked them to now say OK, right, we draw a line under it and we move forward, and everything we asked of them they were very genuine in their response. So, I came in yesterday with a gameplan, implemented it on the training ground, looked really effective, the energy levels and the intensity looked really good. So, I slept well last night thinking we will definitely get a response and we did, but we just lacked that little bit of quality to get the second goal.
JP
You have clearly said you are not sure whose the mistake was for the equaliser then, but aside from that how happy are you to have been able to get somebody of Ben’s potential pedigree into Carlisle United and another strong link with a big Premier League club?
GK
Well, he only trained with us yesterday morning for an hour and a quarter and was very, very cold obviously if you like in the sense that he hasn’t played a lot of football and was getting to know a whole new club with a brand new set of players. I thought he was fantastic today, I thought he came and caught crosses, I thought his kicking was good, his decision making to come off his line and sweep up behind the defence was good. He had a really good presence which gave the back four confidence, so there is obviously loads to work with there and he is a keeper of tremendous talent and one at the moment we are very fortunate to have considering the situation with Mark Gillespie.
JP
Given that he has come in on loan for an initial month is that one that you would look to extend if everything went well for both parties, because I would imagine Mark will be out for longer than that with the early prognosis?
GK
Well, it is too early to say because obviously there is cost involved, there is a situation with Mark of how quickly he will recover with his rehabilitation. I mean Mark has never had a serious injury, he is a young lad, the prognosis I think is six to eight weeks but because Mark has never really had any injury before we don’t really know what his healing powers are like. But, listen, we will assess it as and when and I am just pleased to have Ben in the building at the moment.
JP
We were talking about you wanting to potentially bring in another forward within due course, has this injury to Mark and the cost of bringing in Ben Amos, has that restricted your opportunity to do that now?
GK
I don’t know is the answer, I am going to see where we are on Wednesday after the game on Tuesday, obviously it is the FA Cup and it brings some money into the building. So, it is a big game for us, there are no two ways about it, it is a real opportunity for us to get some money into the coffers. It is probably the only avenue at the moment because the fans haven’t come back today, for whatever reason the attendance was low so a little bit disappointed with that.
I do think at this stage it is going to be a slow process, I do, I genuinely think that now. I think we have come to the point where everybody has seen what each other is about and we have just ever so slightly sort of plateaued. But, again, there was a good response today and we will go again. If we can freshen it up we will certainly look to do so, I will keep asking the question but it is something for another day.
JP
Is it an ideal game for you to have a game on Tuesday but also to have that game against Boreham Wood here and hopefully manage to put on a bit of a display for those perhaps slightly disillusioned Carlisle fans?
GK
Well, I hope they are not disillusioned, I mean God, it is early in the campaign and it is early in the transition period if you like. So, I certainly wouldn’t think that they are being disillusioned………
JP
I am not making a judgement there, just more that they are not here at the moment, hopefully this is an opportunity to impress them and get them back is maybe more what I meant.
GK
Yeah, that is probably a fairer way of putting it really. Yeah, listen, we want more people through the gate, of course we do, I think we have to earn that in our performance and our results. But, I would say today I thought the fans for the first time were just that little bit anxious and, a little bit of tension crept in, there were one or two comments which we are probably going to get you know.
You understand it but it does affect what goes on on the pitch and the more they can get behind us and support us and sing songs and really affect the opposition in a negative way then it is more effective for us. But, that being said, we have to give them a platform to be able to shout about and shout us on. That is not a criticism by the way, I hope nobody takes that as a criticism, but it is just a reflection on the game. A little bit disappointed but it is a point that I would have probably taken, certainly early in the campaign when I was looking at six games, four defeats and two draws.
JP
Do you think in that first-half when the tone for the match is set, you needed to do something else. I think midfielders like yourself, Chris Lumsdon, they loved the old get in a big tackle, even if you can’t get the shot on goal just get something to get the fans going. There was very little happening in that first 45 minutes?
GK
Well, I would disagree, I kept saying about winning the first ball and then we have to win the second ball and I think we did that. I think we were in all the right areas, I thought the two centre-backs competed well, I thought the three midfield players played very well. I thought the full-backs were very honest about their work, Conor [Townsend] showed a lot of quality. Lewis Guy had a tremendous amount of work-rate, David Amoo we probably didn’t get him the ball enough.
Matty Robson got on the ball and worked extremely hard, but we didn’t really have that quality. Then second-half we put Prince Buaben further up the pitch and right from the off he got people on the edge of their seats with running at them. He committed a few people, beat one or two and got his shot away and then the resulting corner we get the penalty off.
So, I felt there was quite a bit today that we can work on and I was pleased about, so it is not something I am going to be critical of. As I have said already, I think there was probably a false impression made very early when we took over with three wins and a draw. Everyone thought I was some sort of messiah and all the staff were, but I was pretty clear in my own mind as to where we were and I felt we would have the inconsistent patch with the sort of group that we have and that has been the case.
It is going to be a slow process to build that belief and build the way we want to play and keep working at it and keep chipping away at it. We are doing it on a daily basis on the training ground, and they are able to do it on the training ground, which is a great sign, it is transferring it now to games.
JP
I know managers don’t like to individualise too much, but the performances that you are getting from Conor Townsend at the moment have been absolutely tremendous for a young man looking to make his way in the game, and the applause that Lewis Guy got when he came off showed the appreciation at Brunton Park for what he had contributed as well?
GK
Well, I think it is the opposite ends of the spectrum. I think fans love honest, hardworking endeavour and Lewis gives you all that, plus as well his experience and his knowledge of how to play the role as a number nine. Because, he is not the biggest but he is very mobile and he is very industrious, he wants to do the work and he has a great appetite for it.
You look at Conor who is 19 years of age and he looks like he is 25 or 26 the way he plays with his experience and his composure and his quality, and the fans obviously appreciate that as well. There is a time and a place where we need to send the ball but more often than not he makes the right choices and he looks to start the attacks from the back. So, yeah, it is very pleasing, we are fortunate to have him and as long as he is here we will try to utilise him and make the most of him.
JP
Ahead of that cup match just finally from me, if there is one thing you could say to the fans who had chosen not to come today, what would it be to get them here for that game?
GK
Well, listen, it is the FA Cup, lots of strange things happen in it. We need all the support we can get, we need all the belief, we want to make the environment as difficult for a non-league team as it can possibly be, and the hostility that the home fans can create would be magnificent if we could get numbers through the gate.
We will definitely try to put on a performance, give a very honest and hardworking account of ourselves and hopefully we show more quality than we showed today. If we do then hopefully that will be enough and then if we can add that on top of that with that goal threat then we might have some goals. So, hopefully they will see some goals in our favour on Tuesday.