No one is going to knock the Papa John’s Trophy to Carlisle United manager Keith Millen.
The much-maligned competition has taken many acerbic verbals since its introduction but Millen doesn’t see it that way just now.
Carlisle’s manager has overseen victories at Morecambe and over Lincoln City (on penalties), both League One sides, and they could be key factors in helping the Blues rise up the table.
He told the club’s official website: “Cup runs give the players confidence, without a doubt. They believe more and more in what we’re doing as it goes on, and can see a direction, so that’s great.
“That’s the foundations of winning over a long period, you have to get those building blocks in place, we are getting them in place, and that will get us in good stead.
“We’ve got a lot of league games to play, I’m not worried about that, I just want to make sure we keep building, and then we’ll be fine. I’ve got no worries about that.
“Cup runs are great for me. I just think they’re the next game, we win on Saturday, which will be a tough game, you’re in the third round, anything could happen then.
“I’ve got no worries about the games, I have to be careful with my selections to look after players, but it will only put us in better stead going forward.”
Three cup victories
Millen has now been in charge of three cup victories – the other was in the FA Cup – as well as Saturday’s vital League Two win over Walsall.
He has been giving an insight into his team-talk philosophy in cup ties, which might be different to league fixtures.
“I always try to think of some kind of theme for games, it could be anything, whatever comes to me. Rather than just stand there in front of the players and talk tactics, I always look for something else.
“I remembered people talking about the record the club has had in this competition, so I said to Jacob, the analyst, find me some clips and pictures of the fans at Wembley.
“So, before I even touched on tactics I showed the lads pictures of Carlisle fans at Wembley and I told them, you’re four games away from being here.
“That’s how important this game is because you don’t know where winning could take you. Don’t dismiss it, and I’m not saying we would have, but it should give us that little bit of edge that we’re in the last 16.
“It isn’t like the FA Cup third round where it’s a Premier League team and you’re up against it. We know the level of teams in the competition, so why not dream of going to Wembley?
“I mean, how many players can actually say they’ve played there? I don’t know whether or not it made a difference me doing that, but it made me feel better.
It’s the FA Cup next up for Carlisle as they host Shrewsbury in the second round on Saturday.
