United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-0 League One win at home to MK Dons, Kavanagh saying he thought the performance of the Blues was excellent:
JP
You must be very pleased with that tonight?
GK
Extremely pleased, very much warranted the win, I thought the performance was excellent, some great individual performances. But, the team performance was the key tonight and we put our chances away and created a lot more than they did. So, coming away with three points against a very good team is hugely rewarding.
JP
You have clearly worked very hard with them in the spell that you have had since the Colchester game, what sort of period has it been like, you talked about wanting to put an arm round a few, a slightly different approach with them, clearly it all worked?
GK
Yeah, as Andy [Hall] just said to me there, sometimes performances don’t warrant results because I thought we actually played well against Colchester and we just couldn’t put the ball in the net and that is what the game is all about. We did tonight, but I thought all round you could see the confidence grow as it has been a difficult couple of weeks.
We have spoken as a staff how we are going to improve things and what we are going to try to change and how we are going to get into the mindsets again. What we have done has worked and to see what we implemented yesterday on the training ground come to fruition in the manner it did, it gives you a great pride and great pleasure.
JP
Looking at MK Dons, it reminded us a bit in commentary of Carlisle, because there are young lads in both teams and young lads will have really good games and really bad games, and a few of their stars that everyone is looking at, Carlisle made them not only not perform tonight, but one of Carlisle’s young stars is Brad Potts and arguably the best game he has played for Carlisle, and his first ever professional goal?
GK
Yeah, and he did his best to miss it as well. No, fair play to Pottsy, I had him in the office about seven or eight weeks ago and we had a chat and I told him he sort of needed to man up in terms of his match physical presence and physical power and match his mental preparation to his physical prowess.
Because, he has got all the tools, he is extremely big, powerful and quick, he can handle the ball, he just needs that little bit more belief. To be fair, he has taken it on board, he has got stronger and better as time has gone on, his confidence is growing and you just see it every day now in training. I hope that actually takes him to the next level in terms of his performances for what will be the next 19 games of the season.
JP
How much of an influence do you think you can have on his career as his manager, somebody who played a similar sort of role to what you are asking him to play, how much can he hopefully learn and develop as a player?
GK
Well, I don’t think he does an awful lot of what he does in training in games. Because, I think if he did what he did in training then you would see an outstanding performer. He doesn’t have that belief yet and that is understandable with a lack of experience and maybe an insecurity if you like.
But, to get your first goal, to perform the way he did tonight and be a key member of that team, that will stand him in really good stead and I Just hope that is the case for the remainder of the season. I think I was probably a different player to him, I certainly didn’t have Pottsy’s strength and power, I had to be more clever. If he can believe in himself he can really go a long way in the game.
JP
In terms of the points, the odd point in League One here and there can go unnoticed sometimes, every single point you have earned tonight has gone towards the gap between you and that bottom four, how crucial was the win in this game?
GK
It was huge, I mean we have set the lads a target, I am not going to divulge what it was because I have done this earlier in the season and you end up shooting yourself in the foot. But, we had a very good meeting with the players last week and they came up with some ideas and we said we have to start, we can’t keep having these chats because they become ineffective.
But, to be fair, the energy in the dressing room beforehand, the way we approached the game, the mindset of the players, it was tangible in the dressing room beforehand, you could really feel it. I don’t think it is a coincidence that when we prepare the way we have done, and nothing has changed really in terms of the training sessions and the detail we have put into it. But, certainly the approach and the application has been really rewarded tonight with a very good performance, and that is exactly where we need to be in the remainder of the season.
JP
Wall to wall positivity on twitter and on the texts as you can imagine, if there is one frustration that comes out of it a few fans have commented about why can’t we get this every week as clearly they are good enough to produce this sort of display?
GK
Well, that is the million dollar question. We had key performers with really encouraging signs tonight and every one of them played well. The problem we have had and we have had for a number of seasons now is the inconsistency. Trying to get that consistency is difficult, but we keep chipping away, we keep working, we work on the mind, the body, the technical and tactical side. It does become frustrating as a coaching staff and as a manager that you wonder why you can’t get it every game, but that is just the nature of how we are at the moment.
JP
What did you make of Greg Fleming’s performance now that he has got another number two coming in if you like in Dean Bouzanis to challenge him. It looked to me like the performance of someone who is saying, well, oust me if you are good enough?
GK
Well, Greg has sort of had a patient time if you like because Mark Gillespie has been the number one and Mark was out of the team and then we brought Ben Amos in who did very, very well. He played in the cup games and as I said all along he has been extremely professional , he has not caused me an ounce of trouble and I just thought with the window being what it was that we couldn’t continue to gamble in having Lewis Brass as a second choice goalkeeper because he is not ready.
So, we brought Dean in, he has not played for a while so he was looking a bit rusty but I think it has spurred both of them on. I think Dean wants to be number one and Greg certainly wants to be number one and they have got Mark on the horizon still trying to get fit and get back in the team. So, there is definitely competition for places and it bodes well for the remainder of the games that they are both available for. Because, I am going to pick the keeper who is in form and that goes for the rest of the squad.
JP
Any timescale on Mark Gillespie at the moment, any hope for when he might be back?
GK
Well, Mark keeps telling me two or three weeks but he has been telling me that for about four weeks now. He is just desperately keen to get back you know, I think he realises he is missing a lot of games. But, I have told him to be patient, I would rather he came back 100% than trying to push himself and then cause himself a problem long-term.
So, I think it is probably four or five or six weeks before he will actually be ready for first team action because he is going to need a game before he comes back. But, when we get wins like we did tonight it is pleasing that we can buy ourselves that bit of time.
JP
Any timescale on Paul Thirlwell yet, he was very careful not to say, I just wondered if you might volunteer anything?
GK
He is always going to be two weeks, he is the exact same. But, as I say, the more performances we can get like tonight and the fact we can get some points on the board puts less pressure on the senior players who we would obviously love to have around the team. But, there are a few stepping up and I have asked for that all along, Pottsy being one as I have already mentioned and they are putting in a real stake to be a regular in the team.
JP
Bristol City now coming up at the weekend, they are really struggling but of course they were when they came here, do you fancy a little bit of revenge against them or does that not really enter your mind?
GK
No, it doesn’t enter my mind at all. I am learning very quickly in this game to not look too far ahead. We will face the next three or four days and see what comes in terms of signings and in terms of goings. We have got to try to get Tom Lawrence signed up, but I am not sure where that is at the minute, I am going to speak to Manchester United tomorrow who have been absolutely excellent with us. Warren Joyce and his staff have been absolutely top drawer and I will have to say a big thank you to them because, as I say, they have been so supportive.
But, I just hope we can get Tom back and if we can we can maybe add one or two more to it. Come Saturday it is about having that same energy before the game, preparing well as we will do over the next few days to hopefully have a good performance. I think that we have shown that it doesn’t matter who we play against, if we approach the game in the manner we did tonight than we are a match for any team.
JP
What was the more pleasing thing tonight, a first clean sheet in 12 games or being able to give a youth team lad his first ever bit of football in the professional game?
GK
I wouldn’t say one was more pleasing than the other, I think before the game I would have taken any sort of a win, the fact that we get a clean sheet and we play in the performance in which we do is most pleasing without a shadow of a doubt. But, I have to say that Kyle has been somebody who has been on the radar for a while with me, he is made of the right stuff, he is a man or he is a kid with a man’s mindset in a man’s body, although he should only be a kid really.
But, you look at his body and his physique and the way he dedicates himself to his profession, he puts himself under real pressure to be the best he can. So, it is a reward tonight for all that effort, so I was pleased to give him the chance, I knew the game was probably won at that stage so there was less pressure on him. But, it is something he can build on and something he can look forward to and hopefully he has a big future in the game as well.