John Ward On The Middlesbrough Defeat

Last updated : 31 July 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United boss John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Tuesday evening as he talked about Carlisle's 2-1 pre-season defeat at home to Middlesbrough, Ward chatting about the strength in depth he thinks he is beginning to get in his squad :


" I think the positives are on the back of the previous games as well, I think it is not just tonight, but we've just expressed our pleasure really at the attitude and the approach of the players. Plus not least the ability they are showing and the awareness in our football, the flexibility of it. There is a willingness to go forward and try to hurt people when we have the ball, so we have been pretty pleased so far.

" He (Darren Campion) has had his test hasn't he in the first-team at the end of last year, and when you get a taste of it, as young boys do, then you don't want to go back into anything else, it's a big thing for them. The one thing about Darren Campion is that he is a real strong boy and a very determined young man who will keep going. In the last minute there he was running down to the corner flag trying to get a cross in.

" So the young guy is full of determination and he is now seen a first-team squad player, as everyone else is. I use the word squad in the right parlance because everybody is in that, and if we have a problem with Evan Horwood, who is a really good player in that position, then Darren is not a problem, he has done very well.

" His attitude will warm him to everybody, he does that within the squad and in the group. Some of these people don't come to the reserve games but we have seen that get better in his play through the reserve fixtures. He is a tough boy, which we temper in nicely to get his football right and his determination all in the right areas. He'll hopefully keep improving and keep working hard for this club.

" It's a good position to be in for me, I've just said to the boys actually that I am going to have the biggest problem if you like, in terms of getting my selection right. A big plus though is that the whole squad has got to work hard at sticking together. We have got 20 or 21 down there that can all now play first-team football, maybe that wasn't the case last year. "



" People have developed, and even at the moment you look at people like Luke Joyce and Darren Campion who are maturing as people and as players and are coming to grips with their football in this team. So hopefully that can continue but the season is ten months long and we have got to keep working at it, it's as simple as that.

" He (Michael Bridges) got a little bit of a knock on the calf, it wouldn't have stopped him, he wanted to carry on, but it was my decision to take him out of it. We have got Saturday again, I think that it just slowed him a little bit, he wasn't looking as sharp as perhaps he did on Saturday.

" That is understandable though, he has missed a fair bit of eleven v eleven football during his pre-season, and this is where he is getting it from us. So it would have been wrong for me I think to send him back out there even for 15 minutes if he was just a little bit sore. It won't stop him though, he'll be fit for Saturday and he'll be OK.

" The kid (Tyrone Cameron) is tired, the kid is only 18 and I have thrown him in at the deep end in the last two games and bringing him in this week. So it was wrong to throw him into this one tonight, he would have found that physically very difficult. We'll see how we go, maybe not Saturday but we hope that we might see a bit more of him as things wear on. He has trained today with the junior side, the youth boys, and he'll be back into it towards the end of the week and I'll chat to him then and see where we take it.

" I've done the Workington friendly last minute today because we have got all these boys getting their football and I have got everybody at the moment, touch-wood, fit and well. So we have fixed that up for Monday night at 7.30pm across at Workington and that will give us an extra game before we go to Bristol Rovers. One or two of the boys will need that so it's a good one for us, but last minute like I say, I just did it this afternoon. "



" He (Chris Lumsdon) is going to have a scan and have a look at that back. He is still a bit sore and he is feeling disappointed with everything at the minute because he is missing out on something that is pretty enjoyable. So we hope that we will get him fit and get him going again soon.

" I hope the supporters are pleased with what they have seen, I am and we are trying hard to do that and produce some good football along with good results. OK, we haven't won the game tonight but the football against a top quality team, you have seen Middlesbrough, probably when you see their first eleven on the opening Saturday they will probably have a good number of that starting group there.

" So it was a real test for our boys and we have stood our ground and I think that Gareth (Southgate) is pretty pleased with the game that he has had with our players. So I'm fine with my boys at the moment, we've got a long, long way to go and a lot to do but I can only talk about what I have seen at the minute, and what we are doing is pleasing to the eye.

" I was stood next to Greg (Abbott) when the winning goal went in and I said what a shot that was. They seem to whack it harder and catch it better and cleaner, these top boys you can match them for so long and then suddenly somebody somewhere has got that little bit extra and pulls it out, whether it be a free-kick or whatever. That was good play from them, it was a good game and it was a good test four our boys to see these top players against them.

" He (Kevin Gall) goes there (Lincoln) to early January, and he had better do well because I am from Lincoln and my mum will be keeping an eye on him for me, I will be getting the reports regularly. You just said what a good group of players we have got here, we have got 20 or 21 all at the moment, touch-wood, fit and well. "



" I have got enough on my plate trying to pick a good side out of this lot. When I say that though I think that any side I pick will be a good side so that is not a major problem for me. My problem, or difficulty, is getting players to fit into this group, and they have to be better than what we have got at our level. We are working to hard to try to do that though, if it happens we'll see if we can do it.

" I asked the question about Joe Anyinsah when we played Preston and they are pretty pleased with Joe at the moment. I didn't ask if we could buy him or have him or whatever, but they are satisfied with the way that he has started his pre-season. So it was just that sort of question, so I think that Preston are pleased at the minute and that maybe answers no at the moment.

" Nothing is fixed, nothing is set, but we like Joe, and I had a chat with him on Saturday, he is enjoying his football at Preston as he did here. I think the highlight on Saturday was him and Simon Hackney having a 50-50 block tackle and then getting up and saying sorry to each other, two wingers. Joe is a good kid though, and we think of him very highly here at Carlisle but they do at Preston also.

" People will read things into my first eleven for the Morecambe game and even my players will do. They'll see that and maybe look at the Workington one as a pointer as well, but I can't say yes at this moment to it being my first eleven. Because if was to say to you to pick your starting eleven out of what you have seen, or anyone else who has seen all our pre-season games, then we might not be far away.

" You could pick any eleven though in those right areas and positions and say thank you. Not long ago you were telling me that Joyce was a good right-back and then out wide right and things like that, and that's absolutely right. So what we are doing is developing a squad that can cope with, hopefully, a ten month season where we are going to need everybody.

" We've picked Morecambe away on purpose, this pre-season takes a while to organise and set up and it has happened through from the end of last season. We have tried to do it in a way that is giving us the tough games as we are getting into Bristol Rovers. We've fixed it that way, although to be fair, I think that Partick Thistle and Kendal were tough games as well. So I've been happy with the opposition, they have been good matches for us and Morecambe promises to be another one. "