Carlisle United Football Club

Midfielder Nicky Adams on the Wycombe victory

Midfielder Nicky Adams insisted that there is no secret formula to building a successful team as he looked back at a hard-earned win against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

“It was a massive three points for us,” he said. “There was a bit of frustration from last week, when we were 2-0 up and it ended at 2-2, but if you look at that now it’s a decent draw.

“We knew Wycombe would give us a tough game. They’re a hard team to play against because they put a lot of balls into the box. They’re very direct and they use their big lads very well.

“We had to show both sides of our game and I thought we were really good in the first half, without managing to get the goal. We opened them up every time we went forward and I’m so happy for Shaun [Miller] that he got his goal in the second half.

“He spoke to me about the chance he had in the first half and he said that he hadn’t seen the lad when he was about to shoot. That’s why I knew when it happened the second time he wasn’t going to make a mistake, because he’s an unbelievable finisher.”

“A one goal lead is always a difficult one and a team like Wycombe will keep putting balls into the area to try to peg you back,” he continued. “We coped with it and I thought we were more than good for the three points.

“We all know what the gaffer wants from us and that’s to play football whenever we can. It’s a joy to play in this team and I’m really enjoying my football. It’s a great team spirit but with that you also have to be able to work hard if teams are closing the space down.

“There’s no secret to success – it’s down to hard work. It’s a given that you’ll get that from this squad because we don’t even have to be told we need to do it. We give everything for each other and I think we saw that again at the weekend.”

Speaking about the unbeaten run, he said: “We’ve been frustrated these last few weeks because we’ve drawn games we felt we should have won. We were on top for most of this game and they couldn’t get near us for a lot of the first half. They’ll turn some decent teams over so it’s good to get three points from them.

“It’s brilliant to be on a run like this. Everyone talks about it and it creates excitement. If you’re breaking records it means you’re doing something right, and hopefully we’ll make it ten unbeaten against a very good Doncaster side on Tuesday.

“Personally I haven’t lost a league game since December and it’s unreal to have been involved with two clubs who’ve been able to do that. I want that to continue so I’ll be doing everything I can to keep it going.”

Looking ahead to the Tuesday night trip to Doncaster, he said: “I think they will have a go at us where other teams have been happy to sit off recently. That could work in our favour. They have good players there, but so have we.

“There are a lot of big teams in this league but I think we’re one of them. We’re right in the mix but we’re not shouting from the rooftops. We’ll go about our business quietly and we’ll keep working to get the results.”