United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Thursday's open press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about Carlisle's current away form in League One:
GA
I don't think there are too many teams in League One that have got better than the last four games and ten points. So, we are in a good situation there, this will be another tough game, different, completely different game, but it will be just as tough, but tough in a different way. Colchester have got again three terrific signings, (Jabo) Ibehre, (Craig) Eastmond and Sanchez Watt two days after Joe Dunne went in.
I mean we tried to bring Sanchez to the club, three days of negotiations, it was very close and personal reasons didn't make that happen. But, he has gone there and I think he has scored a couple of goals and he has been impressive, he has got pace, he is a left-sider, he is comfortable on the ball, he gives them good energy, he has got them playing. A terrific result against Stevenage who seemed to be competing against everybody, so they are going into it with a bit of form and a bit of belief, and a nice stadium, a nice pitch, a nice environment, it will be a different game completely.
PN
I guess what you carry into your away games at the moment is something you are not carrying into your home games because there is a difference in the respective form home and away?
GA
Well, I am going to steer clear of this debate because the more I ignite it the more it will flower on. But, it is out there, we have just got to play each game as it is and try to get as many points in every game as we can. We are going tomorrow to play Colchester knowing that we are capable of getting something out of it.
PN
Is there a bit more pressure at home?
GA
I am going to steer away from it. I am going to talk about Colchester, we are away on Saturday and we are going to win that game and I think we are at home on Tuesday and we will see. But, I am not going to try to put anything into my players's heads that needs to be there. We have got to think that hang on we can beat Colchester, or we can get a result against Colchester, we can get a result against Oldham.
Whether it be at home or away I am not going to join this debate at the minute because it doesn't do any good to anybody to have ulterior things going in the background. What I tell them and the way we play is important, and I know we can beat most teams on our day.
PN
How is your squad looking ahead of the weekend?
GA
Yeah, it is looking depleted to be honest, even Tuesday night, people don't realise we have been without our best player, or one of our most influential players for the whole of the season. Without Rory Loy for the whole of the season, we are missing Jon-Paul McGovern now and obviously Danny Cadamarteri was unfit. So, there is four attacking minding players there that are causing us a concern because numbers wise we haven't got as much as we would like. You looked at the bench and the bench was a pretty inexperienced young looking bench. So, we don't want too many more problems in that front.
PN
Just one clean sheet so far this season, how much of a concern is that for you at the moment?
GA
It is when you are not scoring yourself, it is not so much when you are getting goals but we are not a free-scoring side, we are a side that has to do better defensively. But, we think and I thought Tuesday night our defending was a lot more resolved, it was one of them where everybody had to dig in. I thought Peter (Murphy) and Mike (Edwards) did very well, tough games for the two of them, I thought Frank (Simek) was excellent, typical Frank, does his job, stops people doing their threats down there and I thought in front of them we gave them more protection and that is a key that they get protection. It is not just singled out that it is the back four or the goalkeeper, it is a team effort.
PN
You can resolve the defensive problems with the players currently in the squad rather than looking elsewhere?
GA
Yeah, there is no question we can resolve it but we have got to score goals as well. So, we have got to find the balance of attacking play and defending play, we stuck another man in there on Tuesday night, we are not going to do that on Saturday. We are going to change again probably the way we play, the style of football. We have to take the game to the opposition but keep ourselves compact, and sometimes that means giving your defence a bit more protection. That might mean not so much attacking play, but I am not going to keep going conceding goals like we did against Notts County, that cannot happen.
PN
Speaking of goals, Joe Garner got his second in three games now, it is good to see him hopefully building up a bit of confidence and a bit of momentum as well?
GA
Yeah, Joe is like one of us now, he has settled in, he is enjoying his time, he has got his goal. It was a terrific goal, he took it really well, it wasn't easy and infact I thought he took another touch too many, I just wanted him to put it in, I thought the time was going to go for full-time before he actually decided to pop it in the net. But, he got it and it was important for him and for us and it gives him confidence as well, goalscorers scoring goals is great, and that is two in three so he is getting there.
PN
And Kallum Higginbotham, would it be fair to say we are probably yet to see the best of Kallum?
GA
Yeah, we have seen fits and starts from Kallum, he is that type of player, he is one of those that can set things alight. But, if it happens he can look ordinary if it doesn't because he tries things that are difficult. But, we need more consistency out of Kal, he will be the first to admit that. We brought him off because we hadn't had many crosses from that area from Kallum, and David (Symington) went on and got two or three, which is what he is there for. So, he knows he is under a bit of pressure from Dave and Andy Welsh, Welshy came on and showed that he wants to be part of it, so that is great. But, we are definitely looking to get more quality out of Kallum and more consistency.
PN
Speaking of forward players, it would be remiss of me not to ask you about Ryan Lowe who has been made available for loan. Would he be of interest? Could he benefit a side like Carlisle at the moment?
GA
He would be of interest, I would doubt it very much if we could do it. Financially it would be a big one, he has gone there for decent money. There will be a queue for Ryan, and listen, we have got Paddy (Madden) out there scoring goals at Yeovil and it would be remiss to not take notice of what he is doing, and the effort he is putting in to try to prove that he is worthy of a place with us. So, we have got Paddy to look forward to, we have got Rory not a million miles away and obviously we have got Lee there, so he is probably something we wouldn't be able to do.