Greg Abbott On The Swindon Draw

Last updated : 19 April 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after Carlisle's 1-1 draw at home to Swindon, Abbott unhappy with the awarding of the free-kick that led to Town's injury-time equaliser :


" It is cruel enough to know that your dressing-room is literally on its knees. I think that they have put in a fantastic shift, they have given us everything they have got haven't they. The crowd have been brilliant with us all the way through the game and even when we came under some attacks, which is always going to happen here, they have stayed with us and the players have stayed with it.

" To get done like that, was it four minutes of injury time, is a cruel blow, but that is the game. These things, you have to deal with them, and you have to lift yourself up and dust yourself down and go again. I told them to come in on Monday ready for another tough week and we just have to kick on going forward.

" We didn't think that it was a free-kick for their goal, we think that he has nicked the ball, but again there are good and bad decisions in every game. You know that I don't come up here and start criticising referees or blaming them for the result. It has got a deflection in as well which makes it even worse but these things happen.

" In terms of how many times can we ask them to have a go for us? It is another twice, another twice, because that is what we are in there to do and that is what we have got to do. Two wins might see us, could see us OK, and two wins isn't out of reach. People think that it is a big, big ask and am I talking silly, but no I am not talking silly. "



" Results happen like that at this stage of the season, we go to Cheltenham who are already down, we know that they had a terrific result today but we have to go there and win and then we have to see what happens after that. We have just got to take whatever we can out of it, we have actually gone up a place so people there, I know that they have got games in hand but they have still got to get the points.

" They have got to win the game or draw the game to catch us up so we have got to hope that they have some slip-ups and we can get three points next week. We have to take the positives out of it, I can't come up here and talk negative, nobody wants to hear me do that, but it is a big task at the moment.

" You get forced deep, we were deep but that happens in the games without intentionally doing it. We are trying to get them up, but you need to keep hold of the ball. We had Scott (Dobie), who I thought has been terrific in terms of his energy and effort, he has been fantastic, running out of steam with 15 minutes to go. Michael (Bridges) looked a little bit jaded with maybe 10 or 15 minutes to go, but both put in exceptional shifts for us.

" The ball kept coming back at us and then you do get forced back and you have to defend deeper than you would like. We thought that we had done enough in the game to nick the points and when it gets to 1-0 we are happy enough. At 1-0 obviously we get three points, we dust ourselves down and say for our spirit and our determination we move on with three more points, but it is a cruel game and it wasn't to be. "



" Credit where credit is due, the lad (Ben Williams) has improved beyond all recognition since the early part of the season. It is just an emotional game, a passionate game, we are winning, we are losing, we are drawing, we are making saves, we are having shots at the other end, you just kick every ball down there.

" I tried to head that ball away but it has come off David Raven's head I think and gone into the net, you just want to head it out yourself but unfortunately you can't. You take what is thrown at you and it is sometimes hard to do, but we take that one, we will have a look at it on Monday and bounce back hopefully. Get the players, we have got to lift the players there, the ones that get across that white line and do the business for us.

" It is not about individuals at this moment in time, it is about a collective effort. All the players that were playing and all the players that weren't playing were together. We said listen, let's put issues about in the team or out of the team to one side from here. Let's just have a dressing-room that is united and it was, and they went out there and then everybody that is on the pitch has absolutely given their all. We are disappointed for them that we haven't got the win that we so badly needed.

" We saw a win today coming, we literally, it is a silly question isn't it really. There is a win coming today, we were 30 seconds off winning the game. We get a free-kick given against us that we don't think was one and the ball gets popped in our net right at the death, that is where our win was coming from but it wasn't to be. I can't tell you where a win is going to come from, we have just got to keep working like we have done today and hopefully next week we don't get that cruel hammer blow late on in the game. "



" If we get our noses in front, a second goal would help us all obviously but we can't seem to do that. In the first-half we got down the sides with Lewis (Neal) and Cleve (Cleveland Taylor) and just couldn't find that pass in the middle. Bridges has had another couple of chances that the keeper (Phil Smith) has done well to save. It is crossing the white line, it is not easy, nobody gives you anything and you have just got to keep fighting away. We are probably as close as we are going to get in a long, long time without actually winning a game to getting a point today.

" You wonder what you have done to deserve it but we have all been in football a long, long time. Didn't Jimmy Glass not come up and score a goal from a corner not so long ago, so you are used to things that are not supposed to happen in football, they happen don't they. That is why everybody loves the game and it creates interest at whatever level you are with.

" So there will be more twists and turns in every division and every league before the end of the season. Today was a cruel twist for us but you never know what is round the corner, you didn't expect us to get the equaliser at Leicester when we went 2-1 down, but we did. I am sure that there will be some more turns in this story before the end of the road.

" The supporters have been brilliant, absolutely brilliant. They have got behind us and when Swindon did have their forays forward in the second-half, the lift from the crowd has been enormous. It has been something that the players really appreciate and it is an unbelievable help to them. We made bad passes and there weren't many groans, it was just get on with it lads, keep just fighting and keep playing and keep scrapping away.

" I think that the players did that and the supporters certainly played their part, we are just disappointed for everybody that we haven't got the win. That is why it is such a great game for everybody, it is not such a great game for us but a nice game for Swindon I have no doubt, but certainly at the minute not for us. "





Meanwhile, before the game Abbott had commented :

" We are at a stage now where we are running out of games. The talking has to stop, I can offer encouragment, I can offer support and say the right things. What I need is my players to go out there and really believe that they can win the two next football matches and give us a chance of staying in this division. They have got to believe, they are the ones that have got the hard work, but there is courage and bravery and determination. They are the words, and unity, that we need to show on Saturday. "