United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 1-1 League One draw away to Colchester, Abbott saying that he is pleased with his players at the moment :
JP
Excellent point, you must be very satisfied with that today?
GA
I am just pleased with the players at the minute, just with the way they are approaching the games, the performance, the way they are playing the game, the defending side of it. Then when we got it we were brave enough to try to keep passing it. But, the cohesion and the unity throughout the club is the key to what is keeping us going and keeping us right up there in the mix. To a man they travelled together, we ate together last night, we walked together this morning, and there is a fantastic togetherness.
I hope it doesn't happen but we didn't look like a team that has had a few heavy defeats on their travels, we looked a team, not in complete control of the game, but that wasn't going to get too hurt in this, and that we could win it. It could go either way, I thought the first goal was massive and then we actually played very, very well after they scored their goal and I think deservedly got the equaliser.
JP
In terms of the goal that did get you the equaliser, it was one of the pieces of football of the match, in fairness both goals were actually?
GA
I thought their goal was terrific as well to be honest, Nobs (Liam Noble) is saying he has lost his man for the goal but (Martin) Rowlands is a good player, give and go football always hurts you. Give credit where credit is due to them but I thought our goal was a fantastic move and possibly the move of the game, I have to say that don't I.
JP
In terms of it you were probably in a similar position to us, the second it left James Berrett's foot, tight angle, difficult one on one, forced through, never any doubt?
GA
No, it was always in from where I am stood, I am in a great position right behind his right foot so terrific. I think our performance more than deserved at least a point out of the game and it is a difficult place to come to. They are on a really good run, they don't get beat very often and they are a powerful club. Again, we have come and we have competed and made life difficult for them.
JP
Five unbeaten for you now overall, but also you go to MK Dons looking for a third match without defeat on the road. Has it been important to sort of make sure you are stopping teams getting cheap points off you?
GA
Yeah, well I think if you are losing games at Bournemouth and you are losing games at Colchester then you are bringing everybody closer to you. We might just have done enough today to keep Colchester away from us and certainly Bournemouth last week. So, they are the important things and it is the confidence thing, and it is winning games and not losing games breeds confidence. We are in a good frame in the dressing room at the moment and the boys are happy and they are comfortable with the point they have got. They are looking forward to going to MK Dons and hopefully ending the week with a cracker at home against Huddersfield next Saturday.
JP
Yeah, that is a great match to look forward to, hopefully another positive result on Tuesday night just to tee that up and maybe tee up that big gate again?
GA
Yeah, I mean we have sort of drained the gate thing haven't we, we have said what we have said, we have done what we have done. Our performances I think are deserving now of fans coming through the door, we know the times are hard, we won't dwell on that one at the moment. But, let's see if we can get this performance in on Tuesday and see if we can get our rewards with the gate on Saturday.
JP
Jordan Cook looked like he was on, then off, then on, then off, then on because of when your equaliser went in, got a few minutes though, great to have him back?
GA
Yeah, it was one of those that we might have needed him to throw on to force a goal. But, I was reluctant to do it anyway because we were playing that well and we were looking that capable of getting back into the game that it was a change that we might not have needed to make. Then when we got the goal we thought, well, we can go on and win the game playing like we were. We didn't quite do that but we have certainly pushed Colchester to the wire.
JP
One or two of your players took a couple of hefty knocks out there ahead of a game quickly coming up on Tuesday night, anyone reporting any issues?
GA
Players don't get injured when they are winning, when they are in such a situation like this. So, I would expect them all to ring up tomorrow and report in absolutely fine.
JP
And nine games to go now, still in that very strong position, still in the top six going into that game, do you start to look ahead or is it still one game at a time?
GA
We have half a chance haven't we, if we keep playing like we are and we keep the performance levels and the determination throughout the squad we will keep upsetting people, and that is all we want to do.
JP
Final question on those 300 fans over there who came to support you today, they had a good day in the sunshine although I'm not sure how much of the game they were seeing because it was in their eyes all the match?
GA
Yeah, well they were better in the sunshine than they were in the shade because it has gone pretty cold now hasn't it. But, brilliant, a lot of them are from down this end but there will be five or six coaches certainly from, or three or four coaches from our end. So, fantastic, fair play to you, I hope you have enjoyed the journey, I hope it has been worthwhile and we have owed you a couple on the road.