United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-1 League One defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday, Abbott saying that despite a stoppage time winner from the Owls there is plenty of optimism going forward :
JP
You must be very disappointed but also very proud?
GA
Yeah, good words, they are words we have talked about, somebody said that you don't get nothing out of that game, well you do, you get a lot of optimism going forward. There is a big difference, there is a big gulf in resources and we are not going to go down that road of harping on about it too much.
But, it is a powerful club this and they have got a very powerful team, and everything we knew how, every nous we had of knowledge we used today to make sure we were always in the game. At one down we were always in the game and we had a nice little spell in the second-half where we never going to put them under a deluge of pressure but we caused them a few problems.
Then we got the goal that our spirit and our determination and our dogged defending probably deserved. Then the six minute board thing going up was probably a mental blow for everybody, I didn't have six more minutes in me and I hadn't moved out of the dugout, so God knows what the players had left, and we got found out with two minutes to go.
Absolute pride amongst the group and absolute devastation that they have got nothing out of the game. In terms of who was the better side I think Sheffield Wednesday were the better side, but in terms of who had unbelievably big hearts and who deserved something out of the game because of that, it was Carlisle United and I am so proud of those players.
JP
Looking at the run-in you have got now, Exeter and then Oldham, six points out of those I guess is the order of the day and then just hope things go your way?
GA
Yeah, at the minute I am just trying to digest this and digest the type of performance we have just produced and the pleasure it gave me, not the result, the performance. But, we will look at that on Monday or Tuesday, I have got an eye on it but it is not very much of one at the moment. Because, I am so disappointed for the group, but there is optimism for the future and if we don't quite make it this year then we have to build again and make it next year.
But, if we win two games then you never know. There will be twists and turns, you didn't expect Notts County to get beat today, they have, I think Sheffield United got beat today, you didn't expect it, they have. Wigan beat somebody, who was it, I can't remember, was it a small club, Manchester United or somebody the other week? So, they all get beat, so it happens to us all.
JP
How big of an effort did it take to keep this at 1-0 for so long before getting that equaliser?
GA
You don't even have to ask me that question, ask the 1,000 or 1,200 fans that we had, they will tell you how big an effort because every single one I think has clapped them all off. They know what effort, it needed an unbelievable............. We have seen Lubo (Lubomir Michalik) back to his best, we had Danny Livesey who was unbelievable, the keeper (Adam Collin) was as good as I have ever seen him, and they defended for their lives, and that is the only way we were going to get something out of the game.
I thought for that alone we probably deserved that point, but Lady Luck was against us today. Good luck to Sheffield Wednesday, they are powerful, a really powerful group and I wouldn't like to face them in the play-offs, but they have a chance of automatic now. I haven't seen the results so I don't know where it all pans out, but I wouldn't want to face them if I was anybody because they are a strong group.
JP
I bet you hope that is the last time you see Michail Antonio, unless you sign him?
GA
Erm, well I enjoy watching him, I would enjoy him in a blue and white shirt, our blue and white. But, listen, it is a great goal to finish the game but it hurts, he is a good player, he has got great pace and power and he is a good player, as simple as that. Probably he is a Championship player at the very least, but he will probably get that next year.
JP
In terms of what this does for you despite a defeat, is it another one that buoys you ahead of the next game, so the players and the group, is everyone still happy and ready for that? Not dejected after the way it finished?
GA
We are always dejected because we have got beat. But, I think you have got to look sometimes as a manager, you have got to look beyond dejection. But, listen, I was dejected at Hartlepool when we got beat 4-0 without getting out of the traps, I was dejected at Charlton when we had four individual errors and I thought we were abysmal, and at Chesterfield.
So, I am not dejected today because we have kept in the game right the way to the 94th minute, and you hear the reaction to their goal, they know they have probably got out of jail a little bit. They needed that goal and it was an unbelievable relief for them, so we have taken them right to the wire and for that you have to be sort of reasonably happy.
JP
Did you have to take Peter Murphy off on that booking with the way Antonio and (Jermaine) Johnson were running at him?
GA
He had already got in the shower Murph, I don't think it was a decision to be made, he didn't want to go out for the second-half. No, listen, we know what Matty (Robson) has got and we wanted Murph in the team initially because of the set-pieces with the size.
I mean you look at man for man size-wise we were well down and they are phenomenal, they throw everything into the box, their corners and free-kicks, we needed Murph's height for that but we needed Matty Robson's pace to handle Antonio. So, obviously we were alright with the set-pieces but we were struggling with the pace, so we said............. He took it great, he is a top man and a top pro, he knows that and we did it for the sake of the team, no problem with that.
JP
How is Jordan Cook's groin injury holding up? Is he just about sticking in there?
GA
He didn't look like he had an ounce of energy left at the end of the game, so he is probably going to need two days to get over this. But, he came here for games and he is getting his games now and he is finding out how difficult League One is, it is a really, really tough league.
JP
Essential week for you now?
GA
Yeah, listen, they are all essential, but we keep going. There is no question that my energy and my enthusiasm will be back on Monday, and on we go on, simple as that, there is no problem with that.
JP
And you have just mentioned them, but you went over to them, the whole team and you at the end there, the travelling fans, once again magnificent?
GA
Man of the match, nine and a half out of ten, because I saw one person leave before the final whistle, so for that they only get nine and a half. Sensational, brilliant, and we love them to bits and hopefully there is a little marriage there and they enjoy us as well as we enjoy them.