Carlisle United Football Club

“The players are a little bit frustrated because we didn't manage the game well in the closing stages,” he said. “The pitch made it difficult to play the way we wanted to play, but after 15 or 20 minutes we got a better understanding of how we needed to do things. 

“When you take the lead twice you think you should be able to see the game out, especially when you're 2-1 up and going into the last five minutes. Lately we've seen games out but we didn't do that today. We seemed to put the ball in the wrong areas and we didn't have a full understanding of what was required when we got into those areas.”

“There is some disappointment in the dressing room because we felt we did enough to win the game,” he added. “The fact is that ultimately we didn’t do that. If you don’t manage the game a team with Yeovil's qualities is going to punish you. They had threats and they were trying to catch us on the counter attack all day long. 

“Their goals were pretty basic. One was a turn and shot on the edge of the box and one was a ball into the box where our centre back got out-jumped. The other was where they kicked the ball out so their player could get some treatment, and we gave the ball back to them to go back to the goalkeeper. Giving the ball back is the sporting thing to do but ideally we would have liked to have put it out for a throw inside their half.

“So there's disappointment and I think there was a bit of naivety as well. There were passages of play where we could have cleared the ball bigger and further. With every goal there are things we can improve on but we’re a work in progress. We’ll make sure we learn from it.”

“We had chances and on another day it would have been more comfortable for us,” he said. “The chance off the rebound for Charlie Wyke is an example of where you are talking about a matter of millimetres. There were other openings as well, but it’s ended up as one of those frustrating days for us.”

“Selection wise, we lost Jason Kennedy with a spasm in his back when he pulled out of training on Friday, so he was unavailable” he explained. “We trained on the Astroturf pitch last week and I think that could have had a bit of an impact. He was desperate to play, so he was sent to see a chiropractor, but he just couldn’t get enough movement through the affected area and it became a risk we weren’t prepared to take. 

“We’ll wait and see if the back comes out of spasm this week and take it from there. I did think about changing the shape but Jabo [Ibehre] was back in the fold and I wanted to go with two up top. I think it gave everybody a lift to have Jabo back and in training. His daughter is getting better and it was nice for everybody to see him here with a smile on his face. 

“We brought Bastien [Hery] and Derek [Asamoah] on towards the end because we wanted people with a bit of pace and guile to take the game to Yeovil. If it works out as you think it will it means you’re keeping the ball away from your goal.”

“The pleasing thing is that we're still in the hat for the fourth round,” he commented. "We've had a lot of distractions recently so that is good thing for us. I've got to say the ground staff at Blackpool, and our own, have done fantastically well to get the playing surface in the condition it was in. It was difficult, but it made it a level playing field and it made it feel like a proper cup tie.

“The weather has been horrible so there was a lot of good work done to get the game on. The conditions meant there was always something going on and there were occasions when we would rather our players had made different decisions, but the effort was there.

“We're looking forward to the replay now,” he insisted. “We're disappointed, but overall we've put in a performance that was worthy of a cup tie. The trip to Yeovil is a challenge but it's one we'll face because it's a fantastic place to go and play cup football. We've had some great results there in the past so it will be a spectacle for anyone to come and watch. We’re a club that travels really well so we have no fear of that.

“We’ll go there to make sure we give a performance worthy of the fans who will go down with us and, for those who can’t travel, we’ll give them something they can enjoy listening to back at home. It’s a competition we enjoy and we all want to get through it and into the next round.”

And his final word, yet again, was for the fans: “The fans were phenomenal. They came in good voice and we thank them for that. Blackpool have been very welcoming and accommodating and it’s another club who have gone out of their way to become our friends. Our supporters have helped us to make a lot of new friends down here and, like I say, we’re just disappointed we didn’t give them the right result.”