Town Boss John Ward On A Late Defeat

Last updated : 01 September 2007 By Thetashkentterror
John Ward
Cheltenham manager John Ward spoke to the official Town website about his side's 1-0 loss against Carlisle at Brunton Park today, Ward commenting on how well his charges frustrated the Blues throughout the game :


"The result was harsh on us at the end. We've probably not troubled their goalkeeper enough times to lay claim to winning the game but we certainly made life very difficult. I thought we played very well in the first half with breaking and using the pace of our wide players to give them big problems.

"Carlisle came into it second half as you would expect them to do becuase they are a good side, but we held them at bay and frustrated them. There were probably 6,000 Carlisle fans who wanted to lynch their players five minutes from the end but finished up applauding them off. That's how the game is sometimes. They will go home pleased to have seen their team win and I will go home pleased to have seen my team compete well with another side that is expected to do well in this league.

"We'd seen Carlisle's previous games so we knew a lot about them and knew how they'd play. We thought that if we matched them up and went tight on people we would break up their passing game and we certainly did that. Perhaps our best chances were in the first half but for long periods we were frustrating them. It's a pity for us that we've come away with nothing but I'm sure Carlisle will finish around the top six and they'll need wins like that to achieve it.

"We grumbled at half-time that we put too many crosses close to their goalkeeper but we didn't get too many opportunities to cross in the second period. But last week Shane Higgs kept us in the game with some great saves and this week he has not had to do that. Shane only had a couple of saves to make in the whole game and I think even their bench accepted it would be a 0-0 draw at the end. Credit to Carlisle because they kept going and got the break at the end.

"Our results this year have been a 1-0 win, 1-1 draw over 90 minutes at Southend, 1-0 defeat at Millwall, 1-1 draw last week and 1-0 defeat today. People might say we are boring but I'm not going to come and open up my team at Carlisle because they will take advantage. My boys work exceptionally hard and they frustrated Carlisle for a long time. We've been in five extremely tight football matches, some of them against teams that I think will finish near the top of the league so we are not too far away.

"Sometimes when you come to a place like this and you quieten the home crowd and team you are able to get a goal and win it. We were not able to do that today. Paul Connor worked extremely hard for the team but like all strikers needs a goal. Damian Spencer and Ashley Vincent are coming back from injury as well and when they get a bit stronger and fitter they will give me that goal threat.

"I've no problem with the attitude and commitment of my players and they will bounce back from this setback. We play Swansea next Friday and that's a great game for us so you will see these boys having another good go."