Ward is happy to play the underdog
Last updated 11:09, Saturday, 10 May 2008
John Ward insists he’s happy for all the weight of expectation to sit on Leeds’ shoulders in next week’s play-off contests.
The Yorkshire club are huge favourites with the bookies and most media pundits to see off United over two legs and reach the Wembley final.
But Ward said he is happy for Gary McAllister’s men to soak up all the hype and attention in the build-up, preferring Carlisle’s underdog status.
“There will be 38,000 people at Leeds United and if you look at their squad it will be twice the size of ours,” said the Blues boss.
“We are the team that I guess people will be happy to play at the moment because we are seen as slipping out of it.
“Gary has already said Leeds come into it as the form horse.Fine, Gary, you be the formhorse and we’ll see how the games go.
“He’s not saying something that’s not correct. They are in better nick than us at the minute.
“And of course the interest is all on Leeds United as it has been all season. Maybe they have got to get promoted and maybe they will be everybody’s favourites. But we’ll see. They’ve got to get past us first and we’ll try and make that difficult.”
United certainly gave as good as they got in the two league battles with Leeds this season, memorably winning 3-1 in front of a full Brunton Park and then going down 3-2 in a thriller at Elland Road.
Leeds midfielder Bradley Johnson has already said McAllister’s men are “happy” to be playing Carlisle and said last month’s defeat will be playing on the Cumbrians’ minds ahead of next Monday night’s first leg.
Ward, however, said neither he nor his players need any extra motivation from the psychological battles that will undoubtedly rage over the next five days.
“We don’t need any extra firing up – we’re playing Leeds and that’s enough,” he said.
“I would be confident if I was in Leeds’ shoes. It’s on them to win these play-offs and prove everybody wrong because that’s where they’ve been coming from all season.
“It won’t worry me what people say about Carlisle United and I won’t say anything about Leeds United, except to say I’ve got a lot of respect for their team and their management and we’ll try very hard to beat them. It’s as simple as that.”
United’s dream of Championship football could, of course, go down to a penalty shoot-out at Brunton Park on Thursday week. But the United manager is not contemplating asking his players to practise spot-kicks at the moment.
“You can’t replicate that on a training ground because there aren’t 15-16,000 people there,” he said. “We will probably discuss it when the time is a bit nearer but we’re too far away from that just now.”
WARD also claimed the play-off dates, which now see United and Leeds playing two games in four days while Doncaster and Southend’s two semi-final legs are a week apart, were altered purely on the basis of where the Yorkshire club finished in the table.
“All the play-off fixtures were designed around where Leeds would finish, in a last-minute change which came over the weekend,” he said.
“We had already got the original page, then we got an additional form from the League saying these are the games depending on where Leeds finish.”
All the play-off ties are being televised live by Sky Sports.
