George Taft reflects on 2-2 draw at Carlisle United

Defender George Taft reflected on the weekend’s 2-2 draw at Carlisle United, as the Iron lost their lead with the very last kick of the game.

The side had taken a commanding 2-0 lead into half-time thanks to headers from Aaron Jarvis and Manny Onariase, but the hosts hit back with goals in the final stages of the game to rescue a point.

“We came out first half knowing what we had to do. We put them under pressure and scored two really good goals,” Taft said, speaking to iFollow Iron.

“We never felt like they would score and then obviously with the last kick of the game they get the equaliser which is a bit deflating.

“We’ve got to stick together. We have a young squad and it’s a learning curve. We are going to come out the other side as better players.

“We showed today that we can get goals and that we can dominate possession and work hard, especially against a good team on a big pitch. It’s always a hard place to come.

“It’s gutting to come out with a draw.”

The Iron responded well following a poor home result against Exeter City with a positive week of training in the build-up to the tie in Cumbria, and reaped their rewards from that preparation, particularly in the first half of the game.

“It was a tough week on and off the pitch, so we had to stick together and really work hard and correct that,” he continued.

“We’ve come away gutted that it’s a draw. It’s two points dropped, but we can take confidence and build on it.

“Everything we worked on in the week with the staff and everything we watched about them really planned out, and worked to our advantage. We’d done our homework, worked really hard and put them under pressure. We were expansive with the ball and tight without.”

Captain for the day in the absence of skipper Harry Davis, Taft gave a final reflection of the match at Brunton Park and looked ahead to rectifying Scunthorpe’s most recent home result.

“We had great away support today, and I enjoyed (being captain),” he stated.

“We’ve got to take the positives out of it. A full week’s training in preparation for the game against Carlisle helped us. The last home game was tough to take. We let ourselves and the fans down, so we needed to bounce back.”

See full reaction from George Taft and first team manager Neil Cox on iFollow Iron.