Keith Curle ahead of the Morecambe away game
Manager Keith Curle spoke to us about the relatively short weekend trip to Morecambe as over 2,000 fans prepare to make the journey to cheer on the Blues.“I think every team will want to end our unbeaten run,” he said. “The more it gathers momentum the more we will be seen as a scalp. Ultimately every game we go into we want to get three points, and it doesn’t matter to us who we’re playing against.
“We also know the opposition will be of the same mindset, because we all want to win games. The good thing about what we’re doing now is that we’ve changed how other teams look at us. This club was seen as an easy three points not so long ago but we now have opposition managers who are setting up to make sure they don’t get beat.
“A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to help us get to that. We know what we want and what we’re about now, and I have to say that the players have responded excellently to the information they’ve been given.”
Looking at tomorrow’s game, he told us: “Morecambe are a good side and they had a fantastic start to the season. New ownership coming in will hopefully give Jim [Bentley] a chance to progress because he’s already done well on very limited resources, a bit like us.
“He sends his teams out to be very competitive and he always has a game plan. He’s a young manager who has brought a modicum of success to Morecambe, and long may that continue for him. He utilises everything at his disposal to gain any kind of advantage because he knows that’s what you have to do at lower league level.
“We know he’s lost a few players to injury recently but he still has a group that needs to be respected. We’ve done our homework but we’ve also maintained a focus on what we need to do to get a result. They have players who can come in and do a good job, so they’ll definitely give us a test.”
On the number of United fans expected to make the trip, he commented: “It’s wonderful to see that when we travel, we travel as a football club. We’re very proud of our away fans because they’re always there and always very vocal. They’re enjoying the experience at the moment because they’re seeing committed performances.
“What we need to start to do is to make sure we get everyone coming to the home games as well. The more people who come and watch us at Brunton Park the more we can push on as a club. Hartlepool is our next home game and I’ll be bitterly disappointed if we don’t top 6,500 for that.
“We’ve had some fantastic away support right across the country. The London Branch always turns out in force when we’re down south, and you just have to look at what we do at stadiums like Blackpool and Morecambe. There are clubs in the Championship who don’t take that many fans with them and that’s why I honestly believe there is something we can create at this club. Part of my job now is to get them to come to Brunton Park on a regular basis.”
Speaking about the midweek injury to Charlie Wyke, he said: “The good news is that it doesn’t appear to be as bad as was first anticipated. It was a very heavy knock to the knee but it will improve daily from here onwards.
“It’s been good to see him up, about and mobile, and hopefully he’ll start doing more and more as we get into next week. He’s in the good hands of our medical team and I’ll leave it to them to tell me when he’s ready for me again. I certainly won’t be putting any pressure on them because we want all of our players to be at their maximum.
“The good thing is that yet again on Tuesday night we saw that we have a squad of players who are ready to step up. Shaun Brisley and Mark Ellis played well together in the middle of the defence and it means we have four centre backs at this club now who could easily start in any team.
“Jabo Ibehre and Shaun Miller complemented each other really well up front and Jamie Devitt played an effective role coming in from the left wing. There are different options and it shows we have a lot up our sleeve. I’d probably like to add one more striker to the squad but we do have players already who are very attack-minded.”
And on the ongoing unbeaten run, he said: “The players are aware they’ve just broken a record and that another one is in sight. They enjoy things like that, as they should, but they are very much of a mind that it’s the next game that matters. Do that right and things tend to go your way by default.”
United PlayerHD subscribers can see an interview with Keith Curle now. Click HERE to go to the PlayerHD platform. Follow the same link for more information on United PlayerHD, and to subscribe.
