Assistant manager Gav Skelton gave us his reaction to the Tuesday afternoon 5-0 away victory at Rochdale in the second of this season’s Central League Cup group games.
“It was a great result in the end,” he said. “It’s always nice to win games and we went on to dominate it.
“The first 20 minutes or so saw them have a lot of possession in their own half, but they never really hurt us. It looked pretty but I don’t think they really got into our half and I don’t think Magnus [Norman] had a save to make.
“We didn’t really seem troubled by their possession and once we got to grips with it we looked sharp. Some of the lads hadn’t played for a while but we found our game legs and I thought we looked physically strong.
“The first goal got us in front and in the second half we scored our goals, and we could probably have had more.”
With reserve games having been proven in the recent past as a great opportunity for players to show they’re ready, he commented: “If we look at Danny Devine in the Fleetwood game, he stepped up and ended up getting into the first team.
“Every game is valuable in that way, because you never who is watching or what they expect to see. We tend to use senior players who are coming back from injury to help with their fitness, and other players who haven’t had much match time in these outings.
“There are also young lads who want to impress, so these fixtures are really important. It’s a chance for people to play and not just train.
“Some lads might have some way to go but we saw as this game went on that individuals grew into it. They met the standards and levels we know they’re capable of, having been a little bit below that in the first 35 or 40 minutes.
“A lot of boxes were ticked, but when you’ve won by five goals it can become easier to do that.”
Trialist Cedwyn Scott finally got the chance to pull on a Carlisle shirt, and he started and ended the scoring on the day with two very good finishes.
“He did well, he worked hard and he had two or three other good shots on top of his goals,” he told us. “He looked sharp and lively, so he’ll feel good for that.
“I’m sure he’ll continue to train with us for a little bit longer and we’ll see where that goes. Taylor Charters got two as well and, as a scoring midfielder, he knows he needs to start adding goals to his game.
“He got himself in the box, he played a captain’s role, which is good, and he will also be pleased with his efforts. Young Sam Fishburn has been getting goals for the youth team and we saw him gain confidence from the work he did.
“He had that good bit of link-up play before his goal and then, when he scored, his finish was sublime. He’s another who knows what we’re demanding from our players and he now has to continue with what he’s already doing.
“When he gets opportunities to train or play with the first team he needs to maintain his standards, as he did in this game.”
On the manner of the victory, he said: “You could see at the end that we aren’t just happy with four or five goals, we keep going for more.
“We want to keep the ball, dominate and be ruthless. It’s a way of playing that we want to see right the way through the club.
“Our next opportunity is against Bolton, and it’s great for the lads to get Christmas with their families. But I think when you’re in football that your main focus is on the Boxing Day game, as silly as it sounds.
“As I say, Christmas is nice for everyone, but it’s the Bolton game that occupies your mind and we’ve been preparing for it from the minute the Forest Green game finished.”
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