United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-1 League One defeat away to Swindon, Kavanagh saying that Town deserved their victory:
JP
Plenty I am sure you will be happy about today, but ultimately a defeat, what have you made of it all?
GK
I think the better team won in fairness, I think they controlled the game for long periods, a lot longer than we did. When we had our opportunities I don’t think we threatened their goal enough, so disappointed but the better team won today so we have got to take our hats off to them.
JP
Listening to you talking just moments ago, you clearly felt that the penalty with David Amoo should have been given as a penalty and not happy perhaps with what you were told about it?
GK
No, I think the referee [Steve Bratt] has just made an excuse up, he was absolutely useless today, dress it up however you want , myself and Mark Cooper agreed the same. Some of the decisions he made for us and against us were absolutely abysmal, and whether it was a penalty or it wasn’t a penalty it was definitely a foul, I wasn’t sure whether it was inside or outside the box.
I think you from up here believe it was inside. He has definitely clipped him, David Amoo was running at full tilt, can’t do anything other than actually look like he is going to take a touch on the ball, and if he does take that touch on the ball he is actually going to be one on one with the keeper [Wes Foderingham]. He gets wiped out and the referee tells me that he slipped over and made a meal of it.
So, I don’t know, it is just very frustrating but in terms of the game, from 1-0 to get back at 1-1 you think you are going to get something out of it, but then we make a silly mistake. Liam Noble sells himself ahead of the play, everything we keep talking about in terms of the intelligence, but he has a rush of blood and it was a great free-kick from the kid.
JP
They have got real quality haven’t they, they are almost a benchmark for Carlisle, a team like Swindon?
GK
Well, they are, they have got a lot of money and they have got a few good resources and they have certainly got a lot of players. Coming off the bench, Nile Ranger and Danny N’Guessan and what have you, they have got real quality. But, I am really pleased with the business we have done this week, I feel that we can change games from the bench now. It didn’t obviously happen today but it is going to be a slow burning process, but the lads are buying into it and they have given their all again today. They have really sort of put a right shift in, but we just came up short.
JP
Obviously, there is only so little time you have got to work with your new lads when you have only brought them in ahead of the loan deadline, what sort of players have you brought in there and what we can expect over the coming weeks?
GK
Well, we can expect a lot of energy and a lot of honesty. They have got quality, Josh Morris is a left-sided player and likes to get at people, he can deliver in front and he can run beyond and deliver from the by-line and put very good balls in, he can also play as a number ten. Tom Lawrence who can play as an out and out number nine and go up against the centre-halves or play in the ten role also.
But, he handles the ball well, he wants to run to people, he wants to commit people and slide balls through, he likes also to get shots off, I mean he had a shot today which was miles over the bar. But, it was a difficult one today, especially for the new lads because we didn’t train yesterday, we didn’t have anywhere to train. I didn’t want to commit the lads to a journey up to Carlisle and then a five and a half hour journey down the motorway.
A lot of the lads live obviously in Leeds and Manchester and what have you so we decided we were going to have a little bit of a later day. We would travel down and have a walk and a swim and that is what we did. I thought the lads showed a good bit of freshness, but in terms of the new lads coming in they didn’t know or appreciate obviously what our lads can do. They do now today but we will certainly be doing an awful lot of work the next week.
JP
This game here last year, 4-0 probably flattered Carlisle on that day, there was a massive gulf inbetween, with the quality they have got they are still a good side Swindon, but it was differences between the two sides today. Do you feel that there is growth and there are positives despite another defeat here?
GK
Well, I mean I didn’t think we played anywhere near the level we have done over recent weeks and yet we were still in the game for long periods. It was 1-0, a mistake by Chris Chantler, I have told Chants that if he is not sure to not take a chance, just send the ball up the line, obviously quite clearly a little bit of rustiness today on his part. That is going to come I am sure, hopefully that comes out of his game.
But, yeah, we go 1-0 down, we huff and puff and we created one or two chances, none really clear-cut. But, I felt we were becoming in the ascendancy, we were getting stronger, we get the goal and once we get the goal, a great ball in, a great header by Sean O’Hanlon. Straight away after that, I keep talking about intelligence and game understanding and also game related situations, the management of the game.
When we score a goal we have got to be extremely difficult to break down and I felt we were far too easy straight after the goal. Nobza sells himself ahead of the ball and causes Pascal Chimbonda a real problem with the two v one. Pascal takes him down and then the kid [Alex Pritchard] puts a great ball over the wall, great pace, great power, a lot of dip on it, and Ben Amos couldn’t do anything.
Then to be fair on the third goal, I actually said, because there was four minutes left or whatever it was, I said to Max Ehmer, go up top, see if we could get a break of the ball and maybe go three at the back and see if you can play alongside Lee Miller, and we got done on the counter. So, the third goal came and went, but it was at no real cost other than the fact it was an extra goal.
JP
What do you learn then from a defeat to take forward at the end of what has been a good run for you, or a better run?
GK
Well, I think we have got be braver in possession, I think I believe ever so much in the group, I wish they would believe as much as I do. I keep saying to them, especially when we are getting beat and the game gets longer, I don’t want us to become a long ball team, I don’t want us to ship balls into the box. I want us to continue to pass, and to do that you need movement and you need bravery to get on the ball and to actually want the ball.
I am not saying the lads didn’t have that today, but they took the easy option at times, especially late on, just to hump it in. Their two centre-halves against Lee Miller were big strong boys, Darren Ward and Grant Hall, and they gave every bit as good as they got. Going back to the referee, I don’t think he helped us and protected Lee one little bit, there was a free-kick incident in the first-half that was a nailed-on free-kick.
David Symington was on the pitch at that stage and at about 18 yards out you would certainly expect him to either hurt somebody in the wall or cause the keeper a problem, and the referee gives a free-kick against and you are scratching your head. So, a lot of frustration but it is a little bit of disappointment because we have been on a very good run and the lads have really committed their bodies to every sort of physicality that has been placed upon them. But, that being said, we get beat and then we go again next week.
JP
Is there a bit of a hangover from the struggles that there were before, do some of the players, you have talked about them, they should know what their limitations are, but do some of them perhaps sometimes play a bit inside themselves because they are worried about might go wrong?
GK
No, well, I hope not, I don’t think so. I mean, it is individual mistakes, Chants for the first one and it is just a simple error, he should have put the ball up the line, he checks back on himself and causes himself a problem. Then Nobza gets sold ahead of the ball when we have just scored, I mean, straight after that we have a ball in an identical area for a free-kick and Nobza decides he is going to play it short for some reason.
We had put in a very good delivery fro, James Berrett and Nobs decides to take the free-kick, I can’t get my head around it. I have just said to Nobza there, he is going to have to start learning otherwise he is going to start costing himself a place in the team. Because, as much as he gives us honesty and endeavour and work-rate there has to be intelligence with it, and if there is no intelligence then it is a pointless exercise because we will get picked off.
JP
And how important will a week be now to sort of really work with your players, especially your new guys, and try to get them all involved and thinking the things that you want them to out there?
GK
Yeah, well I might give the boys two days off this week, I am going to give them tomorrow and Monday because they have been on the road a lot. We have done Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Wednesday now for a number of weeks and the same players have played. I think it is vitally important going into, especially the Christmas period, that we are fresh.
But, we will have three days with the boys on the grass, we will do a lot of work with them, we will do a lot of team-shape, we will do a lot of penetrating passing and we will show the new players the commitment and the intensity that we expect of them. To be fair to them though they are really good lads, Craig Roddan has come in and he has trained with us on Thursday, I am not sure if he was surprised, I haven’t asked him if he was surprised at the level of intensity. It was a lot higher than he will be used to with the under-21s but he will be a really good player for us, I have no doubt about it.
JP
And your run has come to an end with this defeat here today, but what a place to try to get it started again next time out?
GK
Very much, I mean it is the FA Cup, it is a home tie, Brentford are a very good side but we have shown down there we can draw with them away from home. We can certainly compete against the better teams in the league, I think I had heard today that they had won today so I am sure they will come full of confidence.
But, from our point of view we will crack on, we will go again, I told the boys it was a 3-1 scoreline but it probably wasn’t reflective because I put the man up top and it could have been a 2-1 and we still could have got something from the game. So, there are lots of positives, and although I am a little bit disappointed with the result, going forward I think there is plenty to work with.
JP
Your new guys, what is the situation with them and the FA Cup?
GK
One or two are still up in the air, we are hoping that Tom Lawrence can play, I am going to speak to Manchester United next week, I have spoken to Warren Joyce and Warren seems to think he might be able to convince David Moyes, whether that be the case or not I am not sure. Josh Morris doesn’t seem to be, Blackburn aren’t particularly keen on letting him play. Craig is good to go so we have got options.
I mean Max looks as though he is going to go back, I am going to have to have a conversation but they seem keen on getting him back, which I am very disappointed about. But, Ben obviously can’t play, but that will be a question we will ask next week, again I think we are knocking on a door that is never going to open there to be fair. We will ask the question anyway and then we will see where we go. So, there will be changes next week but I will decide in training what the right selection will be.
JP
And then with a bit of luck from those clubs, hopefully a bit of an unknown quantity for Brentford to deal with?
GK
Yeah, hopefully yeah, I mean to be fair if the lads give us their maximum in terms of work-rate and honesty and we go off a very good team shape then I think we will cause Brentford one or two problems. They will come to us, I am hoping it is a horrible journey they have on Friday, it is a long arduous tiring journey and maybe they won’t be in the best frame of mind.
But, as I have said all along and I will continue to say, I don’t really concern myself with the opposition, I respect all the teams we play and I have got a hell of a lot of respect for the manager and the staff of Brentford. Uwe [Rösler] is a great lad, he is an absolutely great lad, but I will be definitely looking to get in the next round of the FA Cup next week.
It is a big financial gain if we can, it is something that we can then look forward to and hopefully build momentum for the forthcoming weeks and look forward to a third round offering of whoever that may be. You have the Premier League boys coming in so there is a hell of a lot to play for and it is very exciting.
JP
Safe trip back to you and all the fans then and unfortunate today.
GK
Yeah, brilliant, the fans were great again today.