John Ward - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 25 August 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning as he talked about the 0-0 draw at Leyton Orient on Saturday, Ward also chatting about the upcoming matches away to QPR and home to Yeovil :


" I think that the QPR game is a good game, I said before that the journey is a tough one for everybody concerned. The game itself though away at Queens Park Rangers I think is a great experience for us. In a sense it is a nothing to lose game, go on down and give a good account of ourselves. We know that if we can and compete against QPR then we are not a bad side ourselves.

" Saturday was a hard earned point and it kept the run going, the unbeaten run to the start of the season. This game at QPR now is the fourth out of the first five away from home, so it is as if no-one wants us to play here in Carlisle. We've stood in there though and I think that is credit to the team and credit to my coaching staff that everybody has stood up strong.

" We hope that we can do it over this next week, obviously we would like to get a good result at QPR but it is very important that we put on a good show here on Saturday against Yeovil. We will look at those two games independently and see if we can get what we want at the both of them, but at the same time get people through it.

" Before it all started people were asking how people were and what they were feeling after last season, that type of thing. What we have done, last year was an achievement and I think that people forget that and talked about it being a disappointment, but it was actually an achievement. This football club has improved every season for the past four years. For us to do it again this season is going to be a massive effort but we are going to try to do that. "



" So what we've said is that that was great last year, everything was really good, we wanted to do a wee bit better but we learn our lessons from what happened and see if we can push on. We said to the team here that we wanted a good start and that is going to be very important, and we have got that, that has been good. The league position is good, we are sitting third in the table after three games whatever that means, but we are unbeaten with seven points. I think that shows that this group of players are looking to try to push on.

" I can understand why they say 10 or 12 games for the league to take shape because you are about a quarter of the way through aren't you then. I can go with that one, I would go slightly earlier at 8 to 10, I think that if we are in that top six or you are in the bottom six at that time then again it is a lot to do to get out of it.

" We are aiming to try to be there and stay around that top part of the league, it happened to us last year, the team had a very good start and we maintained it throughout and managed to stay in that top six all the way through. That is something that we would like to do again but I think that you can get some established form after 8 to 10 games of the season, and we are only talking about another five or six games aren't we to get that.

" Everybody has come out fine for Tuesday night, they are enjoying their football and that shows in the way that the team has gone out to play. People like Danny Livesey put himself on the block to stop shots coming in and defend his goal at all costs. It takes a few cuts and bruises to deal with that but at the end of it he is satisfied that his team haven't conceded a goal. "



" I think that is the way that this football team is trying to work. Everybody is in for everybody else, and we talk about Danny Livesey but someone like Chris Lumsdon who can't take part at the moment is also part of this squad that is unbeaten. I think that is really good for him too that when we get him fit and running again then he comes into a side that is doing well. So Danny Livesey at the moment is working hard for a lot of people as well as himself, but particularly for Carlisle United, and that is really good.

" Josh Gowling has a broken nose, he has had that fixed and straightened up last Wednesday, obviously it is not even a week yet since that has been done. So we have got to keep Josh out of all contact for at least another two or three weeks. Unfortunately that is going to be the case because QPR would have been a great opportunity really to throw him in there and tell him to go and have a game and get himself working, but obviously that is not going to be.

" Scott Dobie's ban kicks in straight away. I have had a look at the video and I think it is really harsh. The referee (Mike Jones) has explained to me what he saw happen, the lad (Brian Saah) stood over Scott, Scott feels that he has not stamped on him but he has caught him on the leg. He has then thrown an arm to get him which has gone across his shinpads. When that constitutes violent conduct when you are hitting somebody's shinpads, I find that is a little bit tough to take.

" I don't think that we are going to get away with an appeal though, I think that it will be not right for us to do that. Scott is going to just have to take it and we are as well, so he won't be able to play at QPR. It goes down as violent conduct which is really, really harsh when you see one or two other things that people get away with on television. It happened though and we have got to deal with it, but is three matches straight away. "



" I went to see the referee afterwards, I was late on the coach coming back and I went to see the referee. I just felt that we had had a different refereeing type on Saturday than we had had in our previous games. We were told that they are going to chat to the captains, he only did it once in the game when he talked to the Leyton Orient captain (Paul Terry) about one of his players.

" I just felt that he blew a whistle and put a hand in his pocket straight away without giving that thought and consideration about if he could avoid it. I just mentioned that to him as a referee, saying that I thought he could have avoided some of the cautions if he had really given it a bit longer to consider it. So that was just my view of it, you get different people see things slightly differently, I think that I have expressed my opinion normally, I am not ranting and raving and going over the top. Hopefully if it helps somebody else somewhere along the line then fine.

" There is a ruling that you can go in, you have to wait for half an hour or so after the game so that everyone has calmed down in that respect. I'm fine generally anyway and the referees are OK so I waited my time and just asked if I could put my views to him. He explained why he had administered the red card to Scott, which I hadn't actually seen, I had followed the flight of the ball. I just asked if I could offer an opinion of what I thought and we did it in that way. We both went home saying that we had said what we thought, we get on the bus and go home, but I don't see anything will change.

" We'll see Wednesday morning on the road for starters but hopefully we won't see to much of it later on. I think that everyone has just got to catch up and get ourselves back, obviously we will be a day away from everybody and just get ourselves back in. Wednesday is a bit of a lost day in terms of the football side of it but on Thursday and Friday we have got to be up and ready.

"Obviously Yeovil come in a top six position having a good little start to their league programme as well. When we have got QPR out of the way then we will concentrate very much on that on Thursday. Russell Slade will have the same as we have with going to Middlesbrough, do you stay there, do you travel or what do you do. Russell is an experienced manager though and he will sort out what is best for his team. It's alright me complaining about it here, Russell has got probably an even longer journey than us. He has got to go to Middlesbrough and then come up to us so it works all ways doesn't it. "