The manager on the weekend friendlies
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us shortly after full time at Kendal on Saturday evening.
“I didn’t particularly enjoy the first half if I’m being honest,” he said. “We didn’t really get to grips with the game at all. I think we have to give credit to Kendal because they were terrific.
“The boys have been training every day this week morning and afternoon and it might just have caught up with them a little bit. We don’t want to offer too many excuses though because we know we should be better than that.”
“As much as I was disappointed with the first half, I was very enthused by the second,” he told us. “I went into the Kendal dressing room to compliment them on the way they played because they really gave us a test. That’s exactly what we need from these games.
“It’s shown us that we have a few players who still have a bit to do and we’ve been able to talk about that with them after the game.”
“Our lads all had their moments and you can see they all need games to go with the fitness work they have to do at this stage of the season,” he said.
“Matt [Robson] eased his way back into it, and we were pleased for him, because he had a couple of days off following some injections to try to prevent these back problems he gets. Paul Thirlwell looked really calm and composed and he was a fantastic example to the young players.
“We got exactly what we expected from Sean [O’Hanlon] – he was tough and determined with no frills – but it was a good run-out for everyone. We got the same on Friday night from players like Lee Miller and Mike Edwards so everyone will be just that little bit more focused in on what they have to do.”
“We’ll probably use two more senior squads for the first half and then the second half at Workington on Tuesday night,” he confirmed. “It’s always a tough game down there and they do things the right way.
“It’s an important part of their pre-season programme as well, so we have to go there in the right frame of mind.”
