Reaction From Gulls Boss Ian Atkins

Last updated : 29 April 2006 By Thetashkentterror

Ian Atkins
Torquay manager Ian Atkins spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Saturday evening as he gave his thoughts on the 2-1 victory over the Blues at Brunton Park. The win means the Devonians now have the chance to escape the drop to the Conference in their own hands :


" The Carlisle fans will have enjoyed their day, they are going to get the championship and that will happen on Tuesday night, so we've just held it up. By the same token though people said that we have spoilt the party, but we don't think like that. All you think of is maybe getting a point, if not three, for your own survival, it's as simple as that. It wasn't a case of coming here to try and spoil the party, it was doing what we had to do for ourselves.

" We said at half-time that the first ten minutes of the game are important, you know they are going to come out and get wound up and come into us, and we had a slow start. When it goes to 2-1 three minutes into the second-half my first thought was that I'll take a point. I'm not being negative but you knew that the whole house, never mind the kitchen sink, was going to come at you, and it did.

" We just ran out of steam a little bit. We had to change our shape basically and go five at the back and four across midfield, there was no chance of us getting a third goal because there wasn't enough there, and we didn't have enough on the bench. It was a matter really of keeping my fingers crossed when that ball came in, can we defend it and can we defend our goal, and we did it exceptionally well.

" Six games ago when the chairman at Torquay asked me if I would come and take over, if I didn't have the belief in the players then it was a lost cause. We were five points behind, everybody had two games in hand on us, but I had the belief in them, I'd seen that they were good enough, all that they needed was organising, a little bit of shape and to know how to win games of football. "



" They can play though, and they played well in the first-half, well I thought they were outstanding. They played like that for the full 90 minutes on Tuesday against Stockport and they did that against Wrexham. They can play, I've said before that they're not the worst side in the league.

" I'm delighted for everybody to be fair, the players and the chairman down there, because he is an Andrews Jenkins type. He is a lovely man, he is a football man and he'll give you as much help as he can to keep the football club going, and I'm pleased for him. The job still isn't finished though because we do need three points next week, we may only need a point, but our destiny is now in our own hands for the first time. It's the highest position we've been in all season, so you can say we're the strongest side because we hold everyone else up.

" Let's be fair, we're talking two different scenarios here. Carlisle United, with the potential to go and play in the Championship, if not the Premier League, and Torquay really who are looking to survive in the second and maybe go up a division. It will be a full house at home next week though, there will be 6,000 there, hopefully we can finish the task off. They deserve it because that haven't packed in at any stage while I've been there.

" I said this last week that we haven't had a run all season, and you always have a run, we've got the belief and we've got the confidence. You've seen the way that we play as well, we don't just lump it anywhere, we do take responsibility. Now is the time to go and hit a bit of form when you've got other people like Macclesfield and Oxford that are struggling, and they can't buy a win. At this stage of this season it's very hard, it's like getting into the play-offs or the top three, if you hit that little run like Wycombe have hit then you can soon drop out and other people will go and take your place. It's an awful time to be on one of those runs but fortunately for Torquay we've hit the positive side of it.

" Carlisle will polish the championship off on Tuesday, how ironic with the twists and turns that happen that Paul (Simpson) was treated awfully by Rochdale and he could go back there now and win the title, and have a big grin on his face as well. To be fair someone said to me that people like me, I said that they probably do because every time I come back I never win, that's the first win I've ever had at Carlisle. I wish everybody all the best, the supporters are fantastic, but they'll end up with the title. "