Simmo Reacts To Peterborough Draw

Last updated : 12 December 2005 By Thetashkentterror

Simmo speaks
United player-manager Paul Simpson spoke exclusively to BBC Radio Cumbria on Saturday evening as he gave his thoughts on the 1-1 draw at Peterborough that takes the Blues up to a heady third in the League Two table :



" I think it’s probably a fair result. I thought towards the end we were pushing and looking as if we were going to get a winner out of it. Their goalkeeper claims that he has made a save from Michael Bridges and tipped it onto the bar and if he did it’s a hell of a save.

" We knew today was always going to be a real scrappy game. You just have to look at the surface, it isn’t a pitch for playing nice football on, it was a day for just rolling up your sleeves and scrapping and we showed some real character there in the second-half in particular.

" We were under the cosh for long periods of the first-half and we couldn’t really get our game together. We kept making wrong decisions and the quality of our passing wasn’t quite right but in the second-half we got the reward. Four points out of this week is a very good return I think and we are delighted with that.

" I believe we are up to third which is wonderful, we’d have all taken it if we had been offered it at the start of the season. We’ve got to make sure we make it count now, we’ve got a good home fixture against Wrexham which will be a tough game because they are a very good footballing side. "



" We’ve got to make sure though that we get ourselves freshened up this week ready to have a right good go in front of what I think will be a good home crowd. We looked as though we might get the winner. I think that is the plus of having a strong bench because it was the lads who had to come on who freshened it up a little bit.

" Adam Murray had to quickly get himself ready after Chris Billy had taken a kick on the side of his shin that needed 12 stitches in a cut. Raphael Nade came on and showed his pace down that far-side and we were maybe a little bit unfortunate that we didn’t get the winner from the ball across the box. Simon Hackney came on down the left and caused problems and forced them into giving us free-kicks down this near-side which eventually resulted in us getting the goal.

" The quality on Chris Lumsdon’s free-kick in was excellent and it is something that we have wanted all season from the free-kick takers and the ball was right today. Karl Hawley has got the first touch and it was a hell of a reaction from Michael Bridges, he has shown that predatory instinct to get his head on it and guide it into the corner.

" He maybe could have had another one, the goalkeeper claims he tipped it onto the bar. However, the things were right, especially towards the end of the game, and that’s what is pleasing. "



" We didn’t set out to play 4-3-3, that’s where people get confused by it. The idea was for Bridgey to play down the left-hand side and to come in off the line and get involved when we were going forward.

" It was just one of those games today where it wasn’t a game for getting balls into the strikers feet and for making moves off it. It was a case of just flipping things over the top of their back four, getting people chasing and, maybe, as ugly as it might sound, getting throw-ins, getting corners and getting free-kicks and that is what happened towards the end.

" We did turn them and we worked them and we got good possession in their final third. We forced them into mistakes in bringing us down and, like I say, that was the way to do it today.

" Danny Livesey was a rock at the back again today. I thought today, for the first time in a few weeks, him and Kevin Gray caused us a few problems with decisions to try and play offside and it wasn’t a day for that. We had to just defend, it was a disciplined performance and it had to be ugly defending at times. "



" That is what we will have to do at times though as the season goes on. The pitches will get more and more into the state that the Peterborough pitch was in today and you’ve got to be able to deal with the conditions. Good sides can deal with all conditions, today in the second-half we showed that we can deal with it better than we did in the first-half.

" It’s a big point for us today as other teams around us have lost and we’ve moved up to third. When we come up in our two home games now we’ve got to make sure we make it count. The away points are bonuses when you have done your home job right. In this run we have been on we had the disappointment of losing out against Wycombe but in the main we’ve been really pleased with the commitment we have had and the discipline that the players have shown.

" That has been emphasised in the whole of the week that we have been away. They have all been very professional about the way they have looked after themselves, there has been no messing about and that is really pleasing for me as manager that we have got a good professional bunch. We need them all to stick with that kind of attitude and stick together right through this second-half of the season.

" The supporters are superb, they really are, to make the journey down that they did on Tuesday night and then come back again today they are tremendous. Hopefully we can all keep performing like we are, the fans are doing their job, the players are doing their job and if we all keep going then hopefully we will all have something to celebrate. "



" The more the merrier in the crowd next Saturday is what we are saying. Obviously our finances are dictated by the supporters coming in and backing us. Fred Story is backing the way that we are trying to do things and the supporters are backing us so far.

" The more we can get in at Brunton Park next weekend the better the noise that they can make for the players and also for the financial side of the club which is improving all the time. We are wanting more though, I’m greedy and I want to be successful and the more people who come in the more money I will be given to go and get players who can improve the squad and take us forward and keep building. "


Speaking about the prospective FA Youth Cup tie against Chipstead played on Sunday lunchtime which United’s youngsters coasted to a 5-1 victory in Simmo said :

" They have done tremendously to get to the stage they are at now. They have got what will be a difficult game tomorrow against Chipstead who I believe are mainly 18 year-olds and a little bit older than our lads. They have shown though the levels they can get to, particularly in the Macclesfield game when they played some good football and showed some real character.

" It would be great if we could get a good crowd down for those lads at 12 o’clock on Sunday and get them through to the next round. We’ve got another home draw after that if we can win tomorrow and who knows where the team can go. It’s a big competition for the lads and they will be all very nervous, they have worked this hard week and hopefully they can put on a performance tomorrow in front of a good crowd. "