Simmo's Reaction To The Blackpool LDV Game

Last updated : 23 November 2005 By Thetashkentterror

Simmo speaks
United player-manager Paul Simpson spoke exclusively to BBC Radio Cumbria last night as he gave his thoughts on Carlisle's 2-1 comeback win that takes the Blues through to the Northern Section Quarter-Final of the LDV Trophy :


" I thought the second-half was much better, I felt it was a little bit flat in the first-half. We said at half-time we had to just step it up a bit, close down quicker, be more decisive and a bit crisper with our passing and we did that in the second-half.

" It was disappointing the way we gave the goal away, we could have been a little bit tighter defensively. The lad (Tommy Wright) has just come off the keeper (Keiren Westwood) but I thought the response after that was excellent and I think in the end we deserved to win it.

" Karl Hawley’s was a great finish, I thought both goals were. Derek Holmes had a chance just before half-time that was very similar to the one he scored and we’re going to use the term ‘blistering pace’ and it’s not often we can use that with Derek Holmes. He’s been aware of it though, he’s got on the end of it and it’s lovely finish just dinked over the top of the keeper.

" The competition soon gets serious. We’ve said this along, it’s amazing, you win a couple of games and you are very close to getting to a big final and we are in it to win it and we want to win it. We’ll be interested to look and see who we get on Saturday. "



" There are some decent sides who are still in the competition. I just quickly looked before I came out of the office at who is still left in but the main thing is that we are involved in it and we’ll look forward to seeing what comes next.

" The Wycombe game is more important though. It’s a big game for us and I think they are going to extra-time tonight, I think they were 2-2 at Gillingham *and we didn’t want extra-time tonight ourselves. We wanted to try and get it done in the 90 minutes and I’m pleased that is the way it is happened.

" We’ve got to make sure we look after ourselves now because Saturday is a hell of game to look forward to. I would expect our fans will respond in the way that they normally do and turn out in their numbers and it is a game that we can all look forward to.

" We’ll see where we are at because Wycombe are a very good side and we can see whether we are close to that level or whether we are better than the fifth place in the table and it’s all to look forward to.



" Paul Arnison had a bit of a tightness in his calf. We don’t know how serious it is yet but we’ll wait and see how he is in the morning but hopefully it’s not too bad.

" Simon Hackney got very close to a full 90 minutes. I could just see him pulling up with his calf muscles a little bit but he’s getting stronger. His physique is getting better and he’s putting a couple of pounds on which has taken about ten months to do, I wish it that was hard for me but he’s showing signs that he is getting stronger and fitter and that is good for everybody.

" It’s a fantastic atmosphere in the dressing-room. It’s easy for me because I just go in at the end and say ‘well done’ and ‘look after yourselves for the next one’ and that’s the way I’d like it to stay. We know we are going to get bad performances and bad results, we accept that, but at the moment we’re enjoying it because there is a good spirit there.

" There is a good belief in each other, they are working hard for each other and they are listening and improving all the time and if we keep doing that then we have got half a chance.



" Keiren’s been fairly quite tonight, he’s not had a lot to do and I think that has been the case in the last couple of games to be honest. He’s composed in the things he is doing, his kicking is a hell of a weapon for us and the longer that continues with him having no shots to save I’ll be happy.

" We’re already looking at long-range forecasts to see how the weather will be on Saturday. I think at the moment it looks like there could be snow towards the weekend. The way the groundstaff are working hard, you can see already now they are getting the covers on the Warwick Road End of the pitch to make sure that we give it as much chance as possible. We’ll be doing everything we possibly can to get this game on on Saturday because it is a game we are all looking forward to.

" I’m hoping to make one loan signing, the deadline is actually Thursday. I’m hoping to make one but we’ll just have to wait and see. The way that the squad is, everybody is fit and everybody is wanting to be involved, we are only waiting on Zigor (Aranalde) which hopefully in a week to ten days he should be back so we’ve got a strong enough squad to take us through the Christmas programme. Hopefully we’ll be lucky with injuries and hopefully we won’t need too many additions.

" Three points and a home draw (in the LDV) is what we would be looking for on Saturday. The draw is one thing but we want a performance and preferably a win on Saturday against Wycombe as well. "

* Editor's Footnote - Gillingham 2-2 Wycombe AET, Wycombe win 3-1 on penalties