Abbott fury at Carlisle Utd players who 'never got out of the traps' against Crewe
Last updated 11:43, Thursday, 04 December 2008
Greg Abbott said lacklustre Carlisle United had received a huge wake-up call after last night’s FA Cup exit in front of Brunton Park’s lowest crowd for more than four years.
United’s 2-0 second round defeat to Crewe was watched by just 2,755 fans – the smallest home gate since an LDV Vans Trophy tie against Grimsby in September 2004.
Freezing conditions, which put the match in doubt for much of yesterday, contributed to the low attendance.
And there was little to cheer for the supporters who turned up after Shaun Miller’s early double accounted for Abbott’s side. The caretaker boss accused his players of taking their foot off the pedal on the back of recent encouraging results.
“They are a funny group – you give them a pat on the back and then all of a sudden they think they are world-beaters,” said Abbott.
“They were more like panel-beaters for the first 15 minutes.
“They never got out of the traps at all.
“Crewe took advantage of that and got their two goals when they weren’t playing great themselves. We had all the play in the second half, but there was nothing incisive about it. There was no cutting-edge.”
Referee Andy Woolmer declared the pitch playable about an hour before kick-off and the playing surface stood up well after the efforts of United’s groundstaff to beat the freeze.
Abbott was forced to call up goalkeeper Chris Howarth at the 11th hour for his belated Blues debut after Ben Williams was floored by a virus.
The former Bolton custodian, who has been at Brunton Park since May 2007 and is now the FOURTH ‘keeper to be used by United this term, was one of few players to emerge with any credit for the Cumbrians.
“I felt sorry for Chris, because he came in at 12pm, didn’t know he was playing, hasn’t made a mistake in the game, and the first thing he had to do is pick the ball out of the net,” said Abbott.
Crewe now face a third round trip to Millwall in January, but Abbott refused to view last night’s exit as a blessing in disguise with a tough League One programme ahead.
“For anybody to say we are out of the cup and can concentrate on the league really annoys me,” said the caretaker boss, whose team go to Swindon on Saturday.
“I don’t want anyone to think I’m ok with losing a game of football and I don’t want the players to get that mentality.”
Abbott added: “We have lost a game of football against a team who I think aren’t as good as us. That hurts.”
The previous lowest Brunton Park crowd for the Grimsby game on September 28, 2004, was a paltry 2,580.
