United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 4-0 League One defeat away to Hartlepool, Abbott saying that it is hard to say where the scoreline has come from :
JP
Where on earth did that one come from today then?
GA
Erm, I am not sure, it is hard to say where the 4-0 scoreline has come from and where the performance in the first 15 minutes came from. After that I think we have had a right go at it, the two goals in the second-half are down to the fact that we are trying to get into the game with ten men and we are trying to claw back a deficit rather than sit back and hold on for anything really.
There is nothing to hold onto, we have got to come out and play because they are 2-0 up by the time the sending-off happens, and I think then we have just got done with an overload for the second two goals. But, I thought from the sending-off we were alright, it was up to the sending-off that we weren't very good.
JP
Always a chance to get back, and you have done it before from two goals down, but the sending-off, what was your view of it?
GA
Erm, it is not a sending-off, it is not anything, it is not even............ If anything it just a foul, it is not even a booking, it is not a sending-off, it is not a booking, it is not even a booking. It is just one of those decisions that you just................. I mean where does the performance come from, where did that decision come from, and that sort of puts paid to any chance I think that we have got of getting back into the game to be honest with you.
JP
Will you be appealing that, Carlisle United?
GA
I think by my reaction to is it a red card is an answer to that, I think we have to do. We have to do for Lee (Miller) to be fair, I mean he is horrified, he thinks it is a foul against him, he thinks it is a foul for him first.
JP
A few have said that.
GA
Yeah, first and foremost. Then we think, well alright he (referee Bobby Madley) has deemed it as a foul to them and then honest to God, before he has even stopped blowing his whistle he has got a red card out. I just think he has made a mistake with that.
JP
In terms of the goals though that led up to that, admittedly at 2-0 you can still and have got back, but they were sloppy goals that you haven't really been conceding that sort of goal?
GA
I think the key to today and for the rest of the season is that. If we are going to have any ambition about staying where we are then we are going to have start getting a clean sheet, we are going to have to start defending better than we have got. The first two, well the first three goals to be honest are absolutely, from a defensive point of view, are awful, and there is your answer to whether we will or we won't be where we are. Don't look at anything else.
But, unless we can tidy that up and be more resolute and start getting nils against our name the ambition of the top six is just purely a dream. But, if we can improve that with the rest of the play that we have got then we have a fighting chance, but certainly that is the area that is the key for us at the minute. The first two goals in the games like this, not very often, you are saying we have come back from two but not very often do you come back from two and win games, and certainly it is not the platform that I would like to go at if we want to be round where we are at the moment.
JP
In terms of life after the sending-off, the one fan that we have just spoken to just said that the fans at least appreciated you bringing on two strikers and trying to have a go, and I don't think you really have to look at the second two goals do you, that is against the run.......?
GA
Yeah, theirs are going to come if you are going to try to get back into the game, then they are going to come aren't they, or you are going to be susceptible for that. I am not saying I am not concerned about the second two but I am more concerned about the first two when we have got eleven men. Really we can blame whoever we want for this situation but I am going to blame us a team for not defending properly and giving a two goal start to a team that we don't think we should be doing that to.
JP
Both came from down the left-hand side and the second one as well was Frank Simek at the back-post two on one against him for the header, I mean they certainly tried to go at Carlisle in the wide areas today, a noticeable tactic from them early on?
GA
Yeah, I mean it is a throw-in though, it is a throw-in back to the thrower too easy and then Frank does his job on his man and he has got another man. We are on about tracking runners, we are on about stopping crosses to start with, we are on about don't concede the throw-in for a start off. It doesn't need to be conceded because the ball is going out for our throw and we end up heading it out, then we end up letting it go back to the thrower, then we end up not tracking a runner and there is a goal. It usually only takes one mistake for a goal, we have had about four there.
JP
You have been very honest and we must stress that it is one defeat in nine and the team is still seventh, still exactly where you were and it was a game in hand, so in a way you have lost no ground on Stevenage in that play-off spot. Is this stuff that you can sort out on the training ground though or if these problems persist do you have to maybe look back into the transfer market in this final week?
GA
No, I think there are enough personnel at the club to do better than we are doing, I really do. I appreciate the fact that you are offering me an excuse today because it is usually the other way round, I am actually upset that we can't defend better than that. I have told them, don't you start going round throwing accusations that the referee has cost us this game because let's be honest and let's take it on the chin, we were 2-0 down at that point and we have conceded two sloppy goals.
Now I think there is the personnel within the club, that is all I am going to say to you, that can defend better than we are. I have also said as well that our defending starts with Lee Miller upfront, that is where we start, if we can improve that and the two wide players and then the midfield three, and then our back four and then our goalkeeper then we are going to stop conceding goals.
I mean that, I mean that, I am not just going to say it is a back four and it is an individual mistake, it is the whole of our team that defends and it is the whole of our team attacks. We have just said that to them in there and to be fair, as I would expect, they are an unbelievably honest group and they are accepting responsibility as well defensively, and that is where we know the key lies to where we end up this season.
JP
Will it be a very important week then on the training ground for you and the players ahead of that Chesterfield game?
GA
Well, listen, it will be no more important than any other you know, seriously, it is no more important than any other. We haven't had the greatest facilities at the minute because of the rain or the frost, but we work exceptionally hard and it is an area that we think, well at the minute, is below par. Everything else we are doing I think is OK, but defensively it is not good enough because we are not keeping enough clean sheets.
JP
Just for us perhaps not in the know as you are, what will be the process now for appealing the red card for Lee Miller? When would you hope to know and should he, if you are appealing, be available for next weekend?
GA
You need to speak to the FA about that, they have got their own set of rules haven't they. But, we will speak to them and we might get............. I think the referee should just turn round now and say he has made a big mistake, which he has done, and just give us his three games back, that is all he should do. It doesn't need to be looked at on a DVD, I have seen it, I don't even need to see it again, I have seen it already. Like I said, we will be appealing, I don't know as and when but I am just.............
That is the one thing, the game is gone, we have not offered any excuses for the performance, not offered any excuses for the goals conceded. But, what we are saying is that we have got to go on and take our season forward, and Lee Miller is a massive part of that, and he is absolutely gutted now that he has missed the rest of this game for a start off, and he has missed three more if people don't see sense.
JP
In terms of the fans as well, you have served up such great spectacle in the last games that you got a brilliant away support, how disappointed are you for them tonight?
GA
Just tell them to come back next week, that is all, just tell them to turn up next week and let's try to put it right. We know what they are and we know how fantastic they have been, I am disappointed they have had to pay £25 here to buy their ticket because that is a disgrace as well. But, they have done it and they have not seen £25's worth from us, but they are going to get it back, and they have had it over the season and they are going to get it back next week.