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JP
How do you feel about that one today then?
GA
We are pleased, we are pleased that we have kept a clean sheet and we are pleased that we have come to the side in our division with the best (fifth best - ed) home record in the league, and that counts Leeds United as well.
This has been a tough game today and we go away with a really well earned point. I think we are talking about the whole team and the whole club making progress because I think on other occasions I think we might not have stood up to what Gillingham threw at us.
Because they certainly have a lot of attacking options, a lot of pace through the team and they put us under pressure at times, but we defended very, very well. We worked very, very hard as a team and as a group and we go away with a well deserved point.
JP
They are a bizarre team aren't they, one point on the road all season, everything they pick up is here at Priestfield, Gillingham. But they are very tough at this ground.
GA
You would have thought they had a perfect set up for playing away as well with the pace they have and to sit back and to defend properly and to pop the ball over the top for (Simeon) Jackson who is an absolute threat and a half. I am surprised that they haven't done better away from home, there must be a reason for that but it is not my problem that.
We are just pleased that we have come and we have given a good account of ourselves again. We have a kept a bit of momentum going and we have not surrendered any impetus by gifting any goals away or gifting a result away and that is what we are really pleased about.
JP
You did want the three points going into the game, as you always will at this stage in the season. But are you very satisfied with that point that you have earned here?
GA
I think so looking at the home form of Gillingham that is facts there. They are a threat and they have come and they are tough, they are quick, they play at a great tempo. They are going to be tough down here, nobody likes coming to Gillingham as probably people don't like coming to Carlisle. Not many teams have come here, I think only three teams out of the ten that have come this season have taken points away.
So we have to be satisfied with that and if we can get the positive result next week against Wycombe then it has been a really good three game spell with seven points. If we can keep going like that through the season we are going to be in good shape. So sometimes you come and you take something rather than go away with nothing and be disappointed.
But we have got a trip home now, we have had a lot of games, it has been Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday for a number of weeks now. These players have given their all, we have carried another couple of injuries today but they get on with it. They have rolled their sleeves up and again to a man we have performed admirably.
JP
Talk about those injuries, coming off your captain Danny Livesey, what is his situation?
GA
He didn't look good did he coming off and there wasn't a stretcher big enough for him so the boys carried him off. He has got a hamstring problem and they can be tricky so we are fingers crossed with Danny. He has been getting better and better and he gives us that height and that bit of pace alongside of Ian (Harte).
We thought they were doing fine but to be fair Murph (Peter Murphy) has come in again and the true professional he is, he has gone in alongside of Ian and done very, very well defensively. So we kept a clean sheet and we are pleased, but Danny is a bit of a problem.
JP
Of all the areas in the team where you maybe could cover for an absence defence isn't really it. But I suppose Peter Murphy is a decent option to have.
GA
Well he is a centre-half so that is decent enough as far as I am concerned. He has gone in there and there is no problem. Him and Hartey have both got a lot of experience, both can play, the pace we thought would be a problem but they are not stupid, they sat off a little bit deeper and didn't get exposed too much.
But Jackson will cause quicker players than those two problems because he is lightning and he is a genuine threat that likes to play on the shoulder. So they have coped with him very well.
JP
From a manager's point of view how pleased were you by the performance of your team to make sure you did grind out that point?
GA
I am as pleased today as I was Tuesday night against Hartlepool where I thought we put ourselves in a bit of a predicament with five or six minutes to go conceding a really sloppy goal. Today there has been none of that, we have defended well, we have defended properly, we have put the ball in the corners when we have had to do.
We have put it into Vincent (Pericard's) feet when we have had to do, we have chased everything, we have tackled everything, we have covered ground and backtracked.
So we have earned a point today whereas Tuesday night we got a bit sloppy with some of our play, even though we ended up the winners in the end. But sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up and do the ugly things in the game and today the players have been terrific.
JP
And you have got a week off now, how important will that be for your team?
GA
I think it is vital because we have had a really tough go at it just lately. There has been pressure on us and the boys keep answering everybody out there and I think they will be welcome with a couple of days off, a couple of days breather before the pressure of Saturday builds up again. But we are looking forward to training and we are looking forward to games at the moment.
The crowd that have come down today have been absolutely outstanding, and got soaked wet through in an exposed stand. Which I think is dreadful when teams have to come so far that they should be sat out in the open. But they have cheered the boys off and we owe them one for sticking with everything and travelling such a long way in such awful conditions and having to sit in the rain.
JP
And you and the team have handled all sorts of different varieties of pressure in recent weeks. But next weekend you are probably, against one of the strugglers, expected to win that one at Brunton Park, are you up for that?
GA
Well I think we will be, do you?
JP
I expect so but will you be alright with that pressure though, being expected to win for once?
GA
Well listen, we have been expecting to win in the last few weeks and we have managed to do that apart from Swindon. So let's just take it all into context and we will prepare the team properly and I think the boys will be confident that they can go and win the game.
If we can produce the same determination and then the quality that we have been getting at home and the goals that we have been scoring then next Saturday could be a good one. But credit to Wycombe, they are going to come and not make life easy for us, so we never take anything for granted but we will be having a right go at it next week.
JP
And over this seven days, do we expect maybe the futures of those three players, (Tom) Taiwo, (Adam) Clayton and (Vincent) Pericard to be resolved.
GA}
Well we will have to see, I have just finished a football game and I have got to get into work and do my training and do my contract stuff and that. We hope to persuade them, there is ongoing work there, we don't just flip a coin and hopefully it comes down heads.
It is work ongoing and we are hopeful that we can manage to sort something out. I would rather do it as soon as I can but the players have agents and they have other situations and there is a lot to take into consideration. But we are desperately trying.
JP
But do you know if it should go one way or the other this week though?
GA
I don't know.