John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 15 February 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Tuesday morning, Ward looking back at the Port Vale draw last weekend while also looking ahead to the home match with Huddersfield Town tonight :


" It was pretty poor because your standards are high. We want to do better and yet we said earlier in the season that if you can win at home and draw away then you are getting decent results. Port Vale are fighting for their lives, they played alright themselves in terms of what they were after. I felt that they weren't going to score in free play and we've given a silly penalty away with six minutes to go when if we'd won the game we'd have been coming home saying that we'd dug that one out.

" We wouldn't accept that we'd played well, and we hadn't done, but we've at least stopped the rot of getting five straight defeats. We can do better, but I think it's important that you, or I certainly, look on the positive side of things, we go into another game on Tuesday night and I don't want negatives swimming around the heads of my players here.

" We weren't happy with the performance, I've said that after the game that we wanted to be better. Hopefully we can do that on Tuesday evening against Huddersfield but we are working hard at trying to do that. It is a strange one, people expect me, as I've said before to explain why is that, what does that, what happens, what makes that happen. It's the same team, the same players and I don't know the exact answer to that but we're working hard.

" Maybe it's a confidence factor in terms of going away as opposed to being at home. We're trying hard to try to rectify that because there is nobody telling them to shift the ball quickly and aimlessly, we are trying to pass it and we are trying to play it. We are trying to vary the game, we've got wingers in there that can try to get the ball into the penalty box and things like that but they all need good service. "



" That's the case I think that people are complaining about it but I can assure them that I am complaining about it as well. The one thing that I do is to get on the training pitch on Monday morning, which I will do, and say that this is the area that we have got to work at. That's the passing of our football and making sure that it is a bit better.

" I can't help but feel that had we not conceded the penalty then we wouldn't have been having to answer these questions. The result would have changed people's views somewhat although I would have still been disappointed with the performance because I am always looking to try to make things better. If we can win the game against Huddersfield on Tuesday night, and I'd rather look forward to that now, then we can make amends a little bit for that result.

" We think that (Joe) Garner is looking a little bit tired at the moment, he'd got his goal for us which was terrific, substituting him was something we were considering prior to him getting his goal. Looking at Joe he looked a little bit leggy in the game against Walsall we felt, and a little bit again on Saturday. Knowing that we have got a lot of football to come in the next few weeks we thought that that was a decent move to make and just get that little change done.

" A record of home wins would always be a nice one for players and management and people alike that are involved with the team. To get something that is a first at a football club, and to be able to even get nine wins at home is fantastic. I think I watched Chelsea yesterday and they said that they had 12 wins and just managed a draw yesterday so they will be disappointed, but they'd had 12 straight wins. Manchester United obviously came a cropper with their fantastic home record as well. "



" It's a big achievement at any level and for us to even get close to it is special but if we could beat it then this group of players will have that record to themselves. I'm sure that whilst that is not the be-all and end-all for us, winning the game is and it would all come together.

" People are expected to win at home anyway, it doesn't always work that way as you well know but we're looking to win at home and we've made this a tough place for people to come. Not only are they (Huddersfield) in good form at the moment but they are not letting goals away and we've got to find our way into that. So that passing that we were talking about earlier has got to be better and got to be some quality to get through this defence.

" It's a good test, we faced up to Walsall's unbeaten record of 17 games and managed to pip them 2-1 at home. So we have got another challenge ahead of us now with Huddersfield who not only have just gone four games without conceding but they visit Chelsea on Saturday and they are going to be really buoyed by that wanting to get into that team. This is a team that is going to come to try to upset us obviously but our home record has got to be stood up and we have to defend that and make sure that we try to take it another win further.

" I can't get many more grey hairs, I think the supporters get them more than me because at least I feel that I can do something about it. I can get working with the players on the pitch, on the training ground and that kind of thing and pick up the mood. They can only really come, watch and get frustrated or excited on what they see on the afternoon or the evening. "



" I don't get uptight about it, if you are going to achieve anything then it is never going to be achieved easily, it is going to be tight. Just look what happened in the Premier League yesterday, you were thinking that Chelsea and Manchester United were going to take home wins and they don't, they both play below levels that they have been used to playing at. So it happens everywhere but it is the team that stands strong and when we've had a little bit of adversity we've always stood stronger the next time around and I'm looking for that on Tuesday.

" I think players are fine with playing on a Tuesday after a disappointing result, you tend to feel that, there is always a positive view to football people. I think if you won on Saturday then you want to play again on Tuesday because you are feeling good, if you get beat on Saturday then you want to play on Tuesday because is stops the disappointment lasting too long.

" I think whatever though they prefer playing to training and that kind of routine anyway. Whatever you say about resting players, and this and that, they all want to play and they all want to be involved in football. So I think that they will enjoy the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday, for myself the only difficulty you get is if someone picks up an injury on the Saturday then there is very little time to recover between games now. So the importance of having a decent squad, which I believe we now have, comes to the fore.

" The players are very much aware of bookings and suspensions because there is a notice on the board in the dressing-room informing players of their position, so they know where they stand on that type of thing. I can't stand here though and say don't tackle, don't do this or that, I thought that (Chris) Lumsdon was exceptionally unfortunate to get booked at Port Vale. It does seem the case that good strong tackling is getting outlawed by referees who see it as reckless I think.

" They use that word now because it certainly wasn't dangerous, it was Chris Lumsdon and the other player determined to go for the ball and it is seen as a foul by the referee. We have to acknowledge that, we can't even complain about that because a yellow card is untouchable, there is no appeal procedure, which is absolutely amazing, so we have to take that on the chin but everyone is aware of it. "