John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 07 November 2007 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning as he talked about the excellent win at home to Leeds on Saturday while also looking forward to the next match coming up at Luton Town tonight :


" In a way it is a pity that we have not got the full week to just reminisce about it but with football being what it is there is another football game. It's a big one away at Luton but yes it was a terrific day and it's one of those games that whatever you'll remember it for a very long time simply because it was a special day. The biggest crowd for 30 years, an unbeaten team with a big name manager coming in and we've managed to beat them. It wasn't easy obviously but we managed to get the right result and send a big Cumbrian crowd home happy, so hopefully we can get one or two of those people back into the stadium as the season unfolds.

" We didn't play very well at all in the first-half, whether that was as much down to Leeds as it was to us I think in a way. We perhaps wanted to play and have a little bit more time on the ball than we were allowed to have and play our football the way that we like to do it. We could do that at Southend, it was a similar type of performance from both teams there but Leeds were right in your face. They didn't want us to pass the ball obviously, broke us up and we had to deal with that.

" In a way I was probably quite pleased that it was only 1-0 at half-time. Keiren (Westwood) had made a couple of really good saves for us, kept us in the game, and we couldn't get any cohesive football together. We talked about it at half-time though and threw one or two ideas at the team. The nice thing for me was that the team responded to what we'd asked them to do and they got some success from it so hopefully they'll believe me again another day.

" I think bringing on an attacking substitute sends a message to your own team that you are going to stick with it because they (Leeds) made changes to their side as did Southend the previous week. We've got one or two of our players looking across and asking what we wanted to do as they had gone to three at the back. We told them to just get on with it and do what we are doing and stick with our beliefs, to be fair the boys shrugged their shoulders and said that they'd do that. "



" I think that from my point of view if I'm taking a striker off and putting another defender on you are looking at defending obviously and shoring up the game when you really want to keep the other team on the back-foot. If they are taking one out of their back four then there is some grass and some room to attack, people like Kevin Gall and Danny Carlton, Joe (Garner) and Danny Graham, whichever way round it is have got the ability to exploit that. So I think it was important that the message we sent to our team was that we were being very positive on the bench the same way as you are on the pitch. We got a good goal to finish it off, we finished the afternoon off with real purpose.

" I was saying to keep it in the corner but when you see the third goal again as well it's a very clever bit of play from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and very positive. So I think that I'm not in a position to stop that, not that I want too, but you think well done. I'll tell you now there is even a shout that Danny Carlton got a touch on the ball, he came to me after the game, or in the evening, saying that he thought he was going to have a conversation from Danny today trying to claim that.

" So I'm just trying to look at the video again this morning and be ready for what might come my way in the office today. Whatever, it was a fantastic finish, to get a goal at the end, then totally convince everybody that we were going to win. At 2-1 there is still a chance that Leeds can find something and they are good enough to do that, but at 3-1 with perhaps two minutes to go you can then, not relax, but you can imagine that you are going to win the game.

" Players being what they are going to talk about it and certainly Danny Carlton being a striker is going to want it. He'll want that big-time if it is his first goal so I'll have to have a close look at it and we'll have to see what the conservation is. No doubt it will take the whole trip to Luton to decide what we are going to do with it but I have to say that my first view is that it was Marc's goal. When you do see it again though Danny is in there somewhere. "



" I like to pass and play and move the ball. We managed to get our goals in the position when we were going forward and the energy to get there. In some ways it doesn't matter how you play, I said that to my team at half-time, it doesn't matter how you do it, if we win this game then no-one will care.

" We haven't got time to dwell on it, and I think because of the geography and the position of the city we've got to be travelling down on Monday. So the whole thing, once you get on the bus you know that you are going back to work and that is really important that you deal with it that way. We'll have them in the training ground, we'll get their feet down and we'll talk about Luton.

" Luton have got one of the best home records in the division, five wins, one draw and a defeat, fifteen goals they have got - which only Leeds United have got the same sort of goals at home. So in effect they are better than us at home and we are pretty proud of our record, so if you want to just to say to people what is this game like? Then that just tells you it is pretty enormous and we've got to work very hard to get a result at Luton Town on Tuesday.

" They are obviously very comfortable on their own ground and they'll be shouting up the odds that the league leaders are coming. It's something that we've got to deal with, if we want to stay there people will be looking to knock us off. As we lifted our game against Leeds a little bit then people will lift their game against us. That's something that we have to be ready for but quite rightly they have got a very good home record, don't ask me why it's different home and away. "



" I'm sure that is something that Kevin Blackwell is puzzling over just now but he'll know that if he can beat us on Tuesday night then his defeat at Brighton on Saturday will get forgotten a little bit and they'll be on the up. So it's funny that it changes so quickly, the three points alters things very, very quickly. Again I've said that it's no good us going to Luton and sitting back on what we have just done in beating Leeds United and not getting something from the game down at Kenilworth Road, so we've got to work hard to do it.

" Two or three defeats will put us mid-table, it's something that again we've got to deal with and be strong about, not just physically but mentally as well. Now I'm sure the boys will say that they were tired on Saturday coming off after the game, just when they settle down and say that there is not a lot left. Being footballers though they'll get their stuff back in the tank, back up again Sunday and Monday and we'll go in for a big game on Tuesday night.

" The onus is on us to work very hard to get the result and get the right win for ourselves if we can, if we can't win then we don't want to lose it. That's equally as important that the losses column in your league table stays as low as possible. I've had a bit of worrying in the past about how many points we need to stay up and I'd rather look just ahead of that if I can. I don't get that far away with my thinking, if we are still in the top six come the end of November then that will be a good achievement.

" Then we can push into the final month of this year and see what happens after that but at the moment we are on course for doing that. We've got two cup ties to come as well, there is a heck of a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks. We've just got to stay fortunate with injuries, and stay in as best form as we can. We've said all along that we are looking short-term incase we need to get a quick fix with an emergency loan. We've brought young Joe (Anyinsah) in and he has done very well, but they are going to have to be good players.

" Certainly we'll have a little look in the transfer window and see if we can increase the squad but again I'm looking at a high level player and they are a bit more difficult to find. Then we've got to persuade them to come here in the first place so there is a lot going on. Fingers crossed at the moment we can keep this squad fit because it is a good squad as I've said before. Like everybody though we will need a little bit of help and a little bit of purpose maybe come January to see if we can push it on. "