Greg Abbott On The Wycombe Draw

Last updated : 06 March 2010 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) after Carlisle's dour 0-0 draw at Wycombe, Abbott saying it was another point gained at a tough venue to go to :



JP

You have moved up into the top half of League One again with the point you have earned today. Is that a silver lining on a funny old day?

GA

It is another point gained, it is always going to be tough down here, you have got a team fighting for their lives. You are always going to come across a frantic helter-skelter sort of situation and you need a goal probably to settle everything down and take home more than we have got.

But whoever comes here over the next few weeks is going to find it difficult because you have got a team there that knows they have a chance of staying up and every game is a cup final. They have played like that today, not in terms of quality but in terms of endeavour and commitment.

JP

I am sure it didn't help you as well losing one of your own strikers very early on, what is the latest with Darryl Duffy?

GA

He has got a hamstring/back problem and he was not comfortable in the warm-up and it never released itself through the first half. So we had to take him out, which was a shame because after last week we thought if we could get round the sides and right into the back four here then we would cause them problems.

But Darryl just couldn't get that start, he couldn't get off the mark and get his pace and speed. So we pulled him off and Ben (Marshall) has gone on and to be fair has done a really good job for us.

JP

It has become apparent today that the club were trying or were certainly in negotiations with letting Richard Offiong go to Rotherham on loan which hasn't happened yet. Do you reconsider that now with Darryl Duffy having a potential injury there?

GA

Yeah, it has not happened has it, there was a complication so it didn't go through. But now he is back and maybe it is a bit of a good thing.





JP

What was your overall feeling of the game? It was an attritious game wasn't it, it was quite tough to see how either side was going to get something out of it in a way?

GA

How long have you been watching League One football? We are on the back end of the season on pitches like that against teams fighting for their lives and that is what you are going to get. Sometimes it doesn't happen and as a spectacle it didn't happen today. But we have to grind out stuff and maybe 12 months ago we wouldn't have got what we have got.

We have got a point, we have had our goal, really apart from one outstanding save from Adam Collin, protected reasonably well. We thought that we had the best chance of the game with Adam Clayton and a couple of free-kicks with Hartey (Ian Harte) but I don't suppose in the game ratings the game is going to reach the pinnacle.

But we have got a point out of it and the lads are saying about the clean sheet and it is a game unbeaten and you are telling me that now we are in the top half. So there are always positives if you don't get beat and you keep your clean sheet and they are them. We haven't played magical football today but sometimes the situation and the occasion won't allow you to, and that was the case today.

JP

Man of the match here at Wycombe went to (Adam) Hinshelwood at the back but it could easily have gone to Adam Collin just for that save alone, because it was truly something else.

GA

Yeah, it was a fantastic save, people who call the man of the matches - I am not sure where they get them from. But if that is what they came up with, Hinshelwood didn't do a lot wrong, he didn't do a lot right but he didn't do a lot wrong. Certainly I am not going to criticise anybody for that, but his side has kept a clean sheet and all well and good with that.





JP

We talked about Darryl Duffy of course with his injury, Tom Taiwo also seemed to pick up what looked like a nasty injury, what is the latest with him?

GA

Tom has had five stitches over his eye which we are thinking it is another elbow. But the referee (Phil Crossley) chooses not to see that one and then chooses to book two players (Hinshelwood and Julian Kelly) for something and nothing after that. But the disappointing thing is he that he has got a cut and we had to take him out of the game and he was playing very, very well.

He was getting around it, it is his type of game, and I wouldn't say we missed him because to be fair, and I don't want to raise this debate, Paul Thirlwell has come on and done terrific today, absolutely outstanding he was when he came on for Tom.

JP

Yeah, he did very well Paul Thirlwell, Tom Taiwo also looked a bit dizzy, the referee actually seemingly stopped him falling over. Is he a bit of a concern now for the next outing?

GA

Well he is not dizzy any more, he is eating his cheese butties so he is getting a bit of something back in him, so he will be fine.

JP

What about the fans who have listened to this one today, it wasn't an inspiring game as you have said but sometimes they are at this level. What would you like to say to them ahead of getting a bit geed up for the next game?

GA

Well it is your fault, if they are bored then it is your fault, you do the commentary, you have got to try to make it interesting for them. But no, the fans again today were fantastic, our fans who have travelled down have been absolutely brilliant. Listen, the next four or five games here, anybody that plays, it won't be pretty, look at the pitch, they play rugby on it, it is dry, it is bobbly, it is not conducive.

We will play better but we have got a point and I think the fans will know that it is another point creeping nearer to our 50 target and then let's see what we can get after that. But we have moved up into the top twelve with a clean sheet and a point away from home so it is not a major disaster.





JP

We give you stats and we can't argue with those. I must ask you though with another striker looking like he has picked up a bit of an injury and one who clearly his form is not quite there for you yet, are you looking to maybe add to the squad at this stage?

GA

Yeah, I have been hammering the chairman (Andrew Jenkins) to get Wayne Rooney in for the last three months and I am going to go back to him and say that he is going to make all the difference. So I will ask him the same question again on the bus going home and I am sure I will get the same answer.

JP

How about somebody that is not Wayne Rooney though?

GA

Possibly.

JP

You are possibly looking?

GA

Yeah, yeah, possibly, but I do really like Rooney, he is not bad.

JP

He is a good player. Short or long term or is it just looking at this stage?

GA

I would take Rooney long term no problem.

JP

But the other signing, come on, the fans deserve an answer of sorts.

GA

No, they will get an answer, if we can make one happen we will try. Like I say, I keep asking the chairman the question, he sits next to me on the bus going home, I keep asking him questions and he keeps giving me good answers. Hunting one out at the minute is difficult, nobody wants to release anybody. Obviously you can't buy one, nobody in League One will give us one, you couldn't loan one from League Two because they aren't going to let their best strikers go.

So you are looking basically at people that are not playing in the Championship and not playing in the Premier League and to be fair nobody wants to give you one of them either. But we have got a couple of people that we are trying to make happen, but if we can we will to give us that bit of depth and strength and if we can we certainly will. There is a good answer for you.