While Carlisle United and Southampton fans might be cheering about a trip to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final already, managers Greg Abbott and Alan Pardew are refusing to count their chickens. Both teams earned vital away victories in their area finals against Leeds United and MK Dons respectively, but with so much left to play for in the return games on February 9, everything is still to play for.
Carlisle manager Greg Abbott was delighted with his side’s 2-1 win at Elland Road, but has warned his players that the task is far from over.
He said: “The second leg will be even harder than this one because Leeds know they have a lot to do.”
His counterpart Simon Grayson agreed, adding: “Our tie is finely balanced. We are a goal behind but we are capable of turning that around. We have to remain positive because we passed the ball around well and created some good chances.
“It will be interesting to see what tactics Carlisle adopt in the second leg - will they sit back and try to defend their lead?
“We have to make sure we don’t concede an early goal and that we are hard to beat.”
Southampton manager Alan Pardew adopted a similar tone of caution after the Saints prevailed at Stadium:mk 1-0.
He said: “I thought our application, attitude and pressure we put them under was the highlight of the night.
“We had players who were prepared to do everything to make sure we got a result and I thought we deserved to win. It puts us in a good position but we can’t approach the home tie lightly.”
And if anyone thought that MK Dons would be travelling to St Mary’s Stadium to make up the numbers, they can think again. Especially after Paul Ince’s men became riled at Southampton’s celebrations at the final whistle.
MK Dons assistant boss Karl Robinson said: “We’ll make sure we go down there and give our fans something to shout about - trust me, the cup tie is still alive.
“The way they celebrated at the end of that game, we told our players to have a little look.
Some of their players acted like it was game over - it’s far from over.”
Robinson also believes his side can take heart from their display in the first leg. “It was a game of two halves. We felt at half-time that we had shown them too much respect - we don’t need to show anybody respect because we're a good side as well,” he added.
“We felt we were a little bit on our heels but second half they took the message on board and we were on the front foot.”
The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area final second legs will take place on Tuesday February 9.
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