Simmo Talks About Home Win Over Oxford

Last updated : 20 November 2005 By Thetashkentterror

Simmo speaks
United player-manager Paul Simpson spoke exclusively to BBC Radio Cumbria yesterday evening as he gave his thoughts on Carlisle's 2-1 victory that takes the Cumbrians within four points of the top of the League Two table :


" It was a good win for us, it was a tough game. They are a good side, they played the game very well and they passed the ball well. Their wide play and particularly Hackett, caused a lot of problems with his directness and his pace.

" We had to grind it out to be honest, we made it a little bit hard for ourselves though. I thought we took too many chances when we were 2-0 up. We tried little tippy-tappy balls instead of turning them, it was a difficult surface to play on towards the end because it was very slippy and it was freezing over.

" All-in-all it’s a big three points for us, it‘s a good win and we move on to the next one. It keeps the the momentum going and the players were playing with confidence today.

" I felt as though we sat a little bit too deep, we were screaming to try and get them to push out and to get the midfielders pushing on because unfortunately they were dropping in and everything was getting picked up by their midfield.



" They’ve all worked and battled though, the work-rate was definitely there and it keeps the unbeaten run going in the League to five and now we’ve to keep going and make it even more.

" Karl Hawley’s goal was a great finish. That is the sort of thing that he wasn’t doing earlier on in the season, he was getting his touch right but then he was wanting to have a little check and another turn but there he’s just hit it and it’s a great finish.

" Raphael Nade’s was a good finish as well, I’m delighted for him, I thought in the first-half he caused them a hell of a lot of problems. I think he twisted his ankle and we got told he was struggling and he was disappointed to come off because he said he wanted to carry on.

" He just got a little twist on his ankle, I think he got it in the first-half in a tackle but he’ll be OK for Tuesday. He wants to play and he wants to be involved so hopefully there won’t be too many problems. There is no point taking risks though when we’ve got players who can come in and slot into those positions when somebody has to come out of it.

" We were solid, we had to block and throw bodies in the way to stop shots from the edge of the box but all-in-all I was pleased. I have to say that (Steve) Basham is a difficult player to play against, (Chris) Hackett is a difficult player and little (Adam) Griffin on the left-hand side has got quality so it was always going to be a tough test for us today.

" We’ve stood up to it well though. Keiren’s handling when he was called upon was excellent, he came and took crosses and was comfortable and composed and hopefully we’ll continue that way.



" There is no sentiment today just because it’s Oxford. There is no sentiment when I come up against anybody, I don’t care about where I’ve been before. I always say I never really look in the past but I’ve got some real good memories of my time there but that never comes into it.

" I don’t care who we are playing against. We have to just make sure we are right, we have to make sure we are professional and I thought today we were very professional about the way we went about it.

" It has to be the way that everybody plays their part in a win. You get games where you’ll get one individual who’ll get the plaudits, Karl has had that for a couple of games because he’s got his hat-tricks.

" It’s all about a team performance though. Any club, any team won’t have success with just one individual. You have to all work for each other, you’ve got to have trust and belief in each other and we’ve got that. We knew today that if one person was closing in then the next one would be there to back them up.

" Defensively I thought we were excellent, the thing that we’ve just got to do better when we come round again on Tuesday is that we’re better going forward.

" Michael Bridges was keen to get involved and he’s had a good run out today. I think he’s shown everybody he’s got good awareness and he’s got good feet. He’ll get stronger and fitter as he stays with us and hopefully he’ll improve on what we’ve seen today. "