Tranmere assistant manager John McMahon spoke to his club's official website after his side's 0-0 League One draw at home to Carlisle, McMahon saying Rovers started very well in the game:
“It was our aim to start well and try to obviously get them on the back foot, which we did. Then we had a couple of really good opportunities, it hits the post and doesn’t go in and the header from a corner gets cleared off the line. But, again, the lads have stuck at it and we had a great spell for 22 minutes I think it was where we penned them in. But, when you are having pressure like that you have to score in your good spells, and unfortunately we couldn’t.
“The nerves are natural, when you think you should be winning you start taking a few more chances and gambling a little bit, maybe you make runs when you shouldn’t make runs. So, you do get upset and anxious and the crowd get you that way which is good, that is what football is about. But, on the other side of it you need to get the professional head on and know when to make your runs and how to make your runs in the right areas. We got a little bit sloppy at times but I don’t think you can knock the lads for that.
“We need to threaten a bit more at set-pieces, we have got some good physical presence in there, so we do need to be a little better there, which we will address on the training ground because we had numerous corners and numerous chances to go ahead. The lads are a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get the three points but we have got to come away and we have got to start building from somewhere and why not from today?
“The crowd are willing us to go forward and do well, I can’t knock them, they got right behind the lads. You are going to get the minorities in crowds, that is their prerogative, I don’t mind that, I am ugly and bald enough so there are no problems with me, I will take that all day long. But, they need to know what is happening in the group, they need to know who is on form, who is affecting the group, how they affect the group and then leave those decisions to me. So, they are entitled to their opinion.
“You put Ian Goodison in any position and he would do well, fantastic and it shows what he is about, someone of that age at 41 to lead the way he does, to play the way he does, to pick up positions the way he does. He has got all that experience and he has brought everything he can to the cause, it is credit to him and the way he has gone about looking after himself and the whole thing surrounding the club, he has gone about it really professionally and it is absolutely fantastic.
“I have said to the players that you look at the positives from that game, more corners, more chances, we were the team most likely to score a goal. We looked fit, we looked strong, OK we do look a little bit anxious but we have got to take all those positives from the game. It is a clean sheet, they are rare to come by for us really, so we will take all those bits and we will keep working hard and we have got to keep building.
“But, we need points, if we can get three points on Saturday then brilliant. We will certainly be preparing right as we always do, we will certainly be focusing on three points and that is what we have got to do from now until the end of the season. I have not really looked at the table now though to be honest with you, I might do tomorrow sometime but at the minute I am just still concerned about us and whether we can go forward and improve. So, the table at the end of the day looks after itself.”