Abbott calls on Carlisle to keep Wembley bid alive
Nov 30 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
AFTER skating on thin ice at the weekend, Greg Abbott has called on his Carlisle United side to show their true colours and take a significant step towards Wembley.
Carlisle were minutes from a disastrous FA Cup exit at the hands of Tamworth over the weekend but hope to banish those memories by beating both the big freeze and League One promotion rivals Sheffield Wednesday in the area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
But Abbott admits they will be going nowhere fast unless they improve on a “horror show” first-half effort against the Conference side.
A goal down and struggling, Carlisle dredged up a second-half response to squeeze through but it was not enough to spare them a blast from Abbott.
Still seething at the lack of effort and commitment that led to him branding it the worst 45 minutes of football since he took over, the Carlisle boss wants much better against the Owls.
“We're happy to be through to the third round of the FA Cup but we're still not happy at all with that first half performance,” said Abbott.
“We've reminded the players today that we aren't going to accept anything like that again. The pleasing thing is that we responded in the second half and we showed the kind of attitude and determination that has kept us going along this season.
“The good thing is that Tuesday night gives us an opportunity to show people that we are ready to do things properly again.”
It is an unfortunate time to face Wednesday, who are buoyant after former Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric completed a takeover that appears to have averted a looming financial catastrophe at Hillsborough.
On the pitch they are looking pretty useful too – a run of six successive wins launching them into fourth place in the league. Abbott admits he is wary.
“Sheffield Wednesday are a good team on a good run, and they will come here confident that they can beat us,” he said.
“We have already shown against them this season that we can more than match them if we play our game, and we need to do that again.
“We'll have to battle, we'll have to work hard and we'll have to make sure that we concentrate, but it's a competition that we like and we'll be doing our best to make sure that we're the ones to go through.”
Carlisle look set to persevere with young Blackpool defender Ashley Eastham for the Wednesday game – despite a baptism of fire against Tamworth. The 19-year-old is hoping to use his loan move as an opportunity to secure a permanent move to Brunton Park.
“I’ve had talks with the manager and he’s very positive about me and very positive about the club, but inevitably I need to come here and perform.
“It’s no good me saying I can stay here in the future or anywhere else if I don’t perform. I want to kick on in my career and play as high as I can.
“I want competitive football like that because I love the atmosphere and I’ve been playing a lot of reserve team football back at Blackpool.”
Meanwhile, the club remain positive about the prospects of the game going ahead.
Although there will be an early inspection of the pitch at around 10am, the club are confident of beating the big freeze.
A special ‘Geofleece’ has been covering the playing surface and the roads around Brunton Park were looking clear as of last night. Fans are being advised to check the club website throughout the day.
