Greg Abbott On The Leicester Defeat

Last updated : 14 December 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after Carlisle's 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester, Abbott understandably suggesting that the missed chance by Michael Bridges was the turning point in the match :


" It's the small difference in the game between success and failure isn't it. We have just said that in the dressing-room, if Bridgey (Michael Bridges) puts that one away with a fantastic bit of skill, at 2-0 you think that we might have put up with what they had to throw at us. Because I thought that we coped quite well defensively with it for most of the afternoon. I thought that we defended very, very well, there was a lot of spirit there.

" If Bridgey puts that one in then I think that it would have knocked the stuffing out of them and we probably would have ended up going on to win the game. That's football though isn't it, it is very, very quick, they go up the other end and score and it puts you on the back-foot a little bit, but that's the way it goes.

" They are a tough side, they are not the best side in terms of playing football, but they are powerful and they are tough. Their frontline of (Steve) Howard and (Matty) Fryatt are very good and hard to deal with. I don't think that they outpassed us, I don't think that they outplayed us, they got the ball forward quickly and they possibly outmuscled us at times up the top end.

" They are a tough side and a good side, tougher than a lot of the other teams and that is probably why they will go on and be right up amongst the thing at the end of the season. Because there are prettier sides but there are not many tougher ones and they have got good players in good positions, and they showed that today. "



" He (Danny Graham) has got us off to a good start, it gave us something to be encouraged by and I actually felt that we caused them probably more problems in the second-half. Cleveland (Taylor) got into gear in the second-half and asked a lot of question of the left-back (Chris Powell then Bruno Berner), he fired in a few crosses.

" We probably didn't get the same amount on the left side but Jeff (Smith) has done a good job defensively in helping out Michael (Liddle) and stopping that. We needed more from him though in terms of crosses and bits and pieces like that. When the ball has been fired into the box we have got to get people on the end of it and we have got to be brave to go in those areas and get bodies into the box, and unfortunately today we didn't do that.

" Graham (Kavanagh) has got a terrific right foot, his passing and part of his game is set-pieces. If you talk to anybody in football they will tell you how good he is and today he has not really got on top of his deliveries. The best one that he put in was probably the last one and it caused all sorts of problems, I think that Michael Bridges ended up having a shot that went just wide of the far-post there.

" So we have got to get that delivery in and it is something that we work on every day, so don't think that we don't because we do. On the day he has not produced but that will be different I hope in other games.

" I think that there a lot of things good out there, I am not downhearted. A defeat is hard to take but we have got to take a bit of encouragement out of the fact that we have performed very well. We pushed Leicester all the way you know today. Nigel (Pearson) has just said absolutely brilliant and that we have caused them lots of problems today and that we have got them playing. "



" Which is nice but we are just upset with the result, but the spirit, the determination and I think the fire that is coming out of their bellies is fine. We will keep working away and against lesser sides today it might have been enough to get a result You are talking about the team that is at the top of our league though and they are a tough side.

" Murph (Peter Murphy) is still not happy with his thigh, the knee is OK but he is not happy with his thigh. We just had to decide that with all the games coming up, if he does anything drastic with that and we lose him for a month, a month at this time of the year is a lot of games. We just couldn't afford to take that chance and I was guided again by Dolly (Neil Dalton) the physiotherapist and that was a decision that we made this morning.

" He (Paul Thirlwell) is a big disappointment because he gives us that platform defensively to build from and attack from. He is having problems with his calf and it is frustrating for him and it is frustrating for me. It is one of those again, if you carry him on then we miss a lot of games and at the minute we need those sort of players. They are our big players and without making too many excuses you miss players of that quality.

" He (Danny Graham) has got a kick on the arm, I think that his arm has gone dead. Again though it is probably one of them that it will be sore for 24 hours and then it would hopefully react, hopefully there are no cracks in it or anything in there, but he was in a bit of a pain and he was carrying his arm. So we threw Gary (Madine) on and we needed a fit player up there to ruffle the feathers of the two centre-backs.

" I would hope that extending Graham Kavanagh's loan will be sorted out on Monday. The paperwork is going from club to club I think at the moment, so we need to get that sorted out and then Kav will calm down and settle down and see his loan through to sometime in January. "