True Blue Evan won’t be keeping it in the family
Last updated 10:59, Saturday, 10 May 2008
EVAN Horwood insists he’s ready to upset his Leeds-supporting relatives by helping Carlisle United to victory in next week’s League One play-offs.
The Blues left-back will be cheered on by his family at Elland Road in Monday’s first leg – but admits some of them will have split loyalties.
“I’ve just been trying to treat it as another game,” said Horwood. “But that hasn’t been easy because some of my family are big Leeds fans.
“A couple of my uncles and aunties support then and they keep mentioning what a big game it is!
“A lot of my family are going to be down there. You wouldn’t believe the number of tickets I’ve been trying to get.
“It’s going to be a brilliant night under the Sky cameras and if we could win over two legs and get to Wembley that would be even better.”
A near-40,000 Elland Road crowd awaits Carlisle in two days’ time, and Horwood expects the Yorkshire public to be far more vociferous even than the 57,000 Celtic fans he encountered whilst playing on loan for Gretna earlier this season.
“There wasn’t much atmosphere then because it was only against Gretna so it wasn’t really a big game for Celtic,” said the 22-year-old.
“But this is going to be a massive game and it will be a better atmosphere.
“If we can keep it tight and, keep their crowd quiet and get something out of the game, I don’t think Leeds will fancy coming here on Thursday night – not many teams do.”
Horwood, who joined on a free transfer from Sheffield United in January, has impressed at left-back since deposing established veteran Zigor Aranalde in February, and the young defender insists confidence is as high as ever at Brunton Park despite Carlisle’s failure to close out automatic promotion.
“Morale is brilliant,” he said. “Obviously we wish we were already up, but now we’ve got another chance.
“Form goes out of the window in the play-offs. We haven’t been playing ridiculously badly and there’s nothing we can’t put right.
“A couple of games ago I think I was a bit nervous because I wanted it that much. I’m just trying not to think about it too much now and hopefully I’ll be mentally right on Monday.”
Horwood believes United have suffered because of the below-par Brunton Park pitch recently and can thrive on the surface at Elland Road.
And if United do get to Wembley, it will allow the full-back to bury some long-lasting demons. “I played there in the final of a national competition for my school team when I was eight,” he said. “It was a brilliant experience. But we got beat.”
