Carlisle Utd boss eyeing Spurs cup upset

Last updated at 11:59, Monday, 24 September 2012

Greg Abbott today declared Carlisle United have already proved their underdog spirit for the Tottenham clash after his emotional victory at Coventry.

Greg Abbott

The Blues boss said his team can now relish their chance to upset Spurs in Wednesday’s hotly-anticipated cup tie.

Abbott’s team are now unbeaten in four games as they prepare to welcome Andre Villas-Boas’ side.

They extended their run with a 2-1 win at the Ricoh Arena which allowed Abbott to enjoy a successful return to his home city.

“We’re often in that situation, where people expect us to get beat,” said Abbott, when asked about his team’s prospects against Spurs.

“But we’re gritty, we work hard and we did it again on Saturday.”

Danny Cadamarteri and Danny Livesey’s goals handed United their first win over Coventry since 1958.

Abbott, a former Sky Blues apprentice who grew up in the city, admitted it had been an emotionally-charged afternoon.

“You don’t forget where you come from,” he said.

“The Carlisle fans are proud to be Cumbrian, and I’m a Coventry boy who’s proud to come from Coventry.

“It was a really nice day. The victory was great, there was a large contingent of my family supporting us, friends I hadn’t seen for such a long time, and I had such a great welcome from everybody at Coventry.

“I’m sorry to see the state Coventry are in and I wish them well but my priority is now Carlisle and I’m determined to make sure we don’t fall by the wayside.”

The Cumbrians moved up to 10th in League One as they spoiled Mark Robins’ first game as Coventry manager.

Abbott, whose team were backed by 951 travelling fans in a 10,674 crowd, conceded it may have been a good time to play the West Midlands club as they try to rebuild under Robins.

“Next week might be a worse time to play them,” he said. “They will get themselves together with Mark but we probably got them before that set in.

“But we were good value. We played some good stuff and I’m a happy manager.”

Abbott handed a start to Joe Garner after Jake Jervis ended his loan spell a game early, with the Birmingham man preferring not to travel with the squad once informed he would not be starting.

The United manager, who handed Kallum Higginbotham a late debut as a second-half substitute, said he would continue to monitor Jervis.

“Jake has been great for us with his goals and helped us through a period after Lee Miller’s injury,” Abbott said.

“But we needed experience and I thought Joe and Danny [Cadamarteri] put the Coventry back four under lots of pressure and that was key to the result.”

Garner suffered a dead leg late in the game but the problem is unlikely to keep him out of next Saturday’s clash with Crawley, the Watford loanee being cup-tied for Wednesday’s Spurs clash.

Paul Thirlwell (concussion) and Livesey (head cut) are expected to recover in time for the Capital One Cup game.