We spoke to Mark Hughes following our 0-0 draw with Colchester.
Mark began by saying:
“I was pleased with the performance. I thought the lads did really, really, really well. We had a few walking wounded and a few that went down with illness before the game and during the game, so we had to make a lot of changes, shape-wise and personnel-wise, but the lads stuck at it, made it happen.
“It's not easy when you have to make changes in-game to the formation and what you've worked on, but the lads just embraced it, credit to them.
“They needed to do that and I think it was clear that they grew in confidence as the game went on. The last 10, 15 minutes I thought we were really strong and finished the stronger side and that's the case of good mentality and resilience and good confidence as well.
“We had to do something. I think we were just a little bit too respectful of Colchester. They've got good players and at the top end of the pitch, I think we were conscious of the threat they had, but sometimes you have to be a little bit brave and affect the opposition and close angles down and don't allow them to have easy possession.
Gabe Breeze made a remarkable save to deny Lyle Taylor, but Colchester keeper Matt Macey also made a couple of excellent saves too. Mark spoke on those:
“Some outstanding saves today.
“Their keepers’ made a number of unbelievable saves, but Gabe's save will be talked about for years I think by a lot of people, not just from Carlisle United, so you'll be looking at that tonight I'm sure and rightly so.”
We said to Mark that the clean sheet gives us something to build on, he said:
“Yeah, we need wins. Draws won't take us up the league, but it's a start.
“It was important at my first home game that it was positive and the fans were great today. I really enjoyed it, it's what I've missed and I think that's why I was as animated as I was.
“It was great to be back and really enjoyed the whole 114 minutes, or however long it was.
“We’ll get fantastic support if that's what we're able to show and produce week in, week out. So it's a start, we understand what we need to produce every time we play. We're more than capable of doing that, we stayed in the game, which you have to do.
“Even if you're not playing as well as you know you're capable of, you can stay in the game and that will allow you to have a chance at some point in the game to maybe get the three points. It wasn't to be today, but a point will do.”
Josh Williams was withdrawn through injury, Mark shared an update on his condition:
“It looks like he's pulled his hamstring, unfortunately.
“It's a shame for the kid because he's done really well in the two games that he's played prior to the injury. Those things are usually about four to six weeks, but I won't pre-empt that because I haven't had the report yet.”
Cameron Harper replaced Josh Williams, and put in a really good performance on his unfavoured side. Mark spoke on that and the changes he made:
“I was conscious that I didn't want to make too many changes. I could have swapped the wing-backs and Kads [Kadeem Harris] could have come over on this side but I just felt we'd had enough changes in personnel and shape, so we kept them on the same side.
“Kads was a good outlet for us in terms of our attacking, so I wanted to keep him out there anyway.
“Cam came in and did great, I thought he went outside when he had to and gave us a lot of width, which helped our game certainly towards the end.
Mark also confirmed that there was plans for a bounce game this week, saying:
“It'll probably be just in-house because we haven't managed to get anybody to come and play.
“It's difficult at this time of year, everybody's trying to protect their assets and a lot of players are carrying injuries, so I can understand why it was difficult to get a game from another club, but we've got enough players that need game time and we've got academy players that we can have an in-house game that will help us.”
This week, United appointed a new goalkeeping coach - Jack Cudworth. Mark spoke about his appointment:
“He's only been in the building a day or so, but he's got a good character, he knows his stuff, that's the most important thing, and the keepers have warmed to him very, very quickly.
“He'll try and take credit for Gabe's save probably, if I know him, but I think he's a good addition.”
Mark finished by speaking about being back at home next weekend:
“Let's hope we can just take that step that we need to get three points.”
