Youth Boss Eric Kinder spoke to us about the important 3-0 victory over Walsall on Saturday:

"We played the game at Birmingham's headquarters and that is a fantastic facility. It's one of the best that we will play on this season.

We never really got out of the blocks in the first half. We seemed to be affected by the distance of the trip, we were very sluggish and we just couldn't get the ball moving.

We weren't really in any trouble ourselves, but we couldn't get our game going. We were going long far too early, and the front lads weren't holding the ball up for us at all.

It was patchy and very frustrating, but I suppose that happens sometimes. Andy Cook hit the bar with a 20-yard half volley, but that's probably the only thing that can be said about that whole opening 45 minutes.

To be brutally honest it was very poor, but I do accept that it is difficult when you have to travel from Carlisle to Walsall and then play a game right away.

So, I wasn't happy at half time at all. We had a few words and to be fair to them they responded by going out and controlling the game from that moment on.

Once we got that first goal the result was pretty much set. That came when Conor Tinnion cut in from the right and bent a left foot shot towards the keeper. He was unsighted and he saw it late, and all he could do was help it over the line.

Conor is the type of player who will score goals for fun in training and it's amazing that we aren't reporting on him getting more at this level. However, that settled us down and Ryan Bowman put us two up on 69 minutes when he volleyed it in. John Seaton did alot of the early work for that and it was a good goal.

Conor Tinnion got his second in the 78th minute when he cut in from the right again, ran across the face of the goal and then smashed it in to the bottom corner.

Andy Cook hit the post and then Conor Tinnion was put through one-on-one with the keeper for his hat-trick but he never really got control of the ball. The save was an easy one for the keeper in the end.

Chris McDougall flashed a header wide and there were other half chances, so there were a few positives for us to take from the second half.

Walsall is a hard place to come, because they always turn out decent players, and they won this league last year. It's strange because I am feeling really frustrated about the way that we've played, and yet we've beaten a very good team.

That shows us that we're setting very high standards and, if we don't perform to them, we'll still be disappointed, whatever the result of the game happens to be. The players themselves demand more than what we saw today, and that has to be a good mental attitude to have.

It was nice for the lads because John Ward came along to watch us play. He was very supportive and he came in to say hello to everybody, and that shows just how good a bloke he is. We really appreciated the fact that he was prepared to come and see us and give us his support.

I gave myself 30 minutes to think about the game afterwards and, looking back, I have to accept that this is a very good win against a very good team. It didn't seem like that at the time, so it needed that period of reflection.

It was good to see the goals coming from other areas today, because Andy Cook will tell you himself that he was below par. I haven't had to say that on too many occasions this season, and he accepts it as fair criticism.

The case with any team is that you have to be able to get goals from sources other than your strikers. I made a change in the second half to put Chris McDougall up front with Ryan Bowman, and that gave me a chance to look at the pairing we will have for next season.

With ten games to go we have given ourselves a real chance, and that's something to be very pleased about. We're well on track, especially with Burnley not playing today. Yes, that gives them another game in hand, but they are now seven points behind and it puts the pressure on to them. They are in a position where they have to win those games in hand - and they probably will, but at least we have thrown a real challenge down.

When you are in the position that they are in it becomes clear that you can't afford to drop points. If you do, it starts to eat away at you that you aren't going to catch the team in front of you.

It's going to be interesting because it isn't all easy pickings for us either. We have Wigan next week, and they are from the top level of the game, so we have to approach that one properly. We tend to struggle against Wigan, they are a bit of a bogey team, so it will be tough.

If we can get through our next three home games then we are really giving ourselves a chance. The other team involved here is Wrexham, and I am being slightly disrespectful to them by not mentioning them enough. They are well in amongst all this and, if they keep picking up their wins, then they could easily take the title.

We keep talking about us and Burnley, but we have to keep an eye on them. We still have them to play at their place, and that could be a vital game. They are our next away game, and they don't come much tougher."

Team - Mitchell, Lakeland, Aldred, Cleary (Sloan 80), Swinglehurst, Law (Seaton 60), Blake, Davison, Tinnion, Cook (McDougall 79), Bowman. Subs - Gillespie, Wood.

Injury news from Eric - It was nice to see James Wood back and involved with the squad. He has trained two or three times this week and, although he needs a bit more fitness work, he is part of the squad again. He's probably about three weeks training away from full fitness, but he's a young lad who is very keen, so it's looking good for him. Matt Duffy is carrying an injury, so I left him out of it completely, and we'll get an assessment on him on Monday.