Macca Talks About The Brentford Match

Last updated : 27 January 2007 By Thetashkentterror

Carlisle manager Neil McDonald
United boss Neil McDonald spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Saturday evening as he gave his opinion on the 0-0 draw against the rock-bottom Bees at Griffin Park. McDonald talking about the need for the team to start taking their chances :


" It was much better, a much better all-round performance, nice and solid, in my opinion it didn't look as though we were going to concede a goal and I was hoping that it was just a matter of time before we got a goal. Young Joe (Garner) had a chance and missed the target and I think that sums our season up really away from home. We do create chances, we do defend properly at times, I thought we won the battle on the majority of the game but when that chance comes along we're not sticking it in away from home.

" It kills you because we feel as though we've lost two points today definitely. I think we totally dominated the second half, they have hit us on the counter-attack but the first half was probably 50-50. We've had a couple of chances, I suppose we had a goal which I would like to see again when I get the video to see whether it was offside, it didn't look as though it was to me. In the second half I thought we passed the ball a lot better, but just in that final third we're not putting the ball right on the button. We work hard to get the chance for young Joe and he misses the target, overall I'm a lot more pleased than I was with the last away performance that's for sure.

" Nobody is going to make it easy for you whether you are at the bottom of the league or at the top of the league. We've created a couple of clear-cut chances and they are chances that we need to put away. Kevin (Gall) has missed one over the crossbar and young Joe has missed one almost at the end, if we score them then we win the game and I suppose that's the story of our away form so far. The chance for Joe was good build-up play, we do work hard on playing the ball to the man inside the box and that worked. It was a good lay-off, we expect a lot of Joe even though he is a young kid to be on target on those situations, and he is bitterly disappointed in the changing room, which he should be really.

" I went for pace at the back today, Peter (Murphy) hasn't done anything wrong, he's certainly not a contract rebel, he's leaving his options open which is up to him. He's been in outstanding form over the season and I had no qualms about bringing him back into the team. The back four were a little bit sloppy in the first half with diving in and letting them cross the ball but in the second half I thought they totally dominated their forwards.

" I thought he (Jeff Smith) was excellent as well, really good, he gives us good balance and good delivery, he received the ball in good areas as well and used it pretty well, and he'll only got better hopefully when he gets to know everybody. Jeff is probably alright, he just went over on his ankle but it was a nasty tackle on Chris (Lumsdon) so we'll see how that settles down over the next couple of days and see where he is.

" It's almost the deadline up now, if they (Karl Hawley and Peter Murphy) don't sign their contract they are still with us, if they go they go. There is no point in losing sleep over it, they haven't agreed but they haven't said no so if nothing happens before the deadline they'll be here until the end of the season. If they keep on playing well they'll stay in the team, if they don't then they'll be out because someone else will take their place.

" There is fantastic competition for places, we said – let's start a run – whether we get three points or one point. That is hopefully the start of a run where we're determined to go unbeaten for a while and go up the league. On transfers there are plenty of irons in the fire but whether they are going to get hot or not I don't know. If we just stick the ball in the back of the net, which we have been doing at home we'll be fine, because our all-round performance today was much, much better. "