Carlisle United Football Club

"That was exactly the type of result we needed," he agreed. "It finishes off a decent week of games for us and we're all looking forward to Swindon now.

"We wanted to start quickly and get a hold on the game. I thought we did that in the first half and we were camped in their half for a lot of the first period of the game. 

"We knew they'd come out in the second half and try and get back into it but we still had chances to extend our lead. We couldn't quite get the third goal, which probably would have put the game to bed, but the lads at the back, especially Ben Amos, were all magnificent in defending our goal. He made a couple of point blank saves and kept them out for the majority of the game."

"If you can get a good run of results at home then pick up a few on your travels you generally tend to be at the right end of the table," he continued. "That's something we all want to do. Our home form hasn't been where we've wanted it to be for the past couple of seasons but it's something we're always looking to improve."

"The two quickfire goals just before half time in this one really settled the nerves around the whole ground," he said. "We were in control throughout the whole of the first half and it was just a matter of time before we scored. The two goals did give us a huge lift going into half time but we all know that 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline.

"We knew there was still work to be done because we've had two goal leads before and ended up losing games. We couldn't afford to let that happen again so we wanted to make sure we started the second half brightly, and we had a few chances. Bez [James Berrett] hit the bar and Lee [Miller] had one that went just over, Lewis Guy and Dave Symington had some chances as well, so we did have plenty of opportunities to put the game to bed."

"It can get frustrating when you're putting balls into the box and nothing is coming from them," he told us. "On the other hand, when the ball is coming in from the other side I'm expected to be in the box and it's very easy to find yourself in the wrong place. If you decided to go to the near post and the ball goes over your head then there isn't much you can do.

"I don't think we ever looked like we weren't going to score though. The first one did come from a set piece - Dave [Symington] is still trying to claim it but Sean [O'Hanlon] is also claiming he got a touch. The important thing was that we got the goal and it relieved a lot of the pressure."

"I had plenty of time to think about my goal and they can sometimes be the most difficult ones," he admitted. "I had a look round and I seemed to be in acres of space. The keeper came out and tried to narrow the angle but he left a lot of space to the right. I suppose I was quite composed in the end and I managed to stick it away.

"It has been a few weeks since I scored so it's nice to get back on the score sheet. It would be good to get a couple more before the turn of the year and that should put me on track to reach my target of double figures."

"I had a quick look at the table this morning and it's remarkable how tight it is," he said. "I think we're about six points off eighth and two points off eleventh, so it's all very close. We're also four unbeaten in the league now, which is encouraging.

"Swindon will be a tough game but their form has been indifferent over the last couple of weeks. There's no reason why we can't go down there and get a result. We're looking very solid at the back at the moment and if we can keep a clean sheet we'll always create chances going forward. If we can go down there and get a positive result it will put a good month to bed and we can kick on into the Christmas period.

"We haven't had the best of times at Swindon in recent seasons but that doesn't come into play on the day. There's been a lot of changes in both camps since we last played them so there's no reason why we can't do to them as they did to us last year."