Barrett: 'Cumbrians will be fired up, not distracted, by a Wembley final'
On Sunday week Carlisle will be playing Southampton in the JPT Cup Final at Wembley, however Shrimper skipper Adam Barrett is certain they will visit Roots Hall on Saturday with all guns blazing, and he speaks from experience.
Barrett told www.echo-news.co.uk: "Carlisle won't take it easy on us or take their foot off the pedal just because they have a Wembley cup final coming up. They will want to head in to that game with their confidence sky high and will therefore want a win against us. I remember when we were in the same situation and we certainly weren't thinking about our final until it was the next game."
As for the boring old matter of picking up their first win of 2010, and with Exeter picking up three points on Tuesday to narrow the gap on the side's above them Southend need a win desperatly, Adam knows the team have a tough job to do.
Captain Adam continued: "It's a big few days for us and I think we need to get at least four points from these next two games. We need to stay in contact with the sides just above us in the table and we need to stay as solid as we were against Exeter. It was positive to keep a clean sheet because we haven't had many this season but we have to start scoring goals if we are to win games and stay up."
It's the problem of finding the back of the net that has the skipper concerned, and they have to find the answers with the squad in place and try and place all outside influences away from the field of play.
Adam concluded: "I don't know whether it's belief or confidence, but it is a problem for us at the moment. Once we get one, more will follow and it's the same with wins. The effort and commitment is spot on but we want a victory now so we can push on and forget about all the rubbish going on at the club."