CARLISLE manager Greg Abbott praised both sides after an exciting draw at Brunton Park.
The two meet each three more times over the next six weeks and Abbott hailed the standard of the first encounter.
“It was a great game out there,” he said.
“It was two good sides and I think it could be an epic by the end of the fourth game that we play.
“(Town manager) Lee Clark is a great lad and I’m sure he’ll tell you that it was a great scrap and that the draw was probably the fair result.”
Former Bradford player Abbott went on to reveal the good relationship between himself and Clark and how they’ll meet up after the next three meetings, two of which are in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern final.
“I’ve just had a good chat with Lee, and he competes, I compete and there is rivalry between us because we are both decent sides,” added Abbott.
“We’ve both got a lot to play for, so it’s an interesting situation that we’re in.
“Lee likes to have steak and kidney pie with chips and peas and we’ve said that we’ll sit down together and have that when this run of games is done.
“It’s going to be a better series than Coronation Street when it’s all done and dusted.”
Abbott watched Town’s 4-1 defeat at Southampton last week and admitted Clark had sprung a few surprises with his team selection at Brunton Park on Saturday.
“We went all that way down to Southampton to watch their last game and as it turned out they completely changed things,” he added.
“But we also changed things from our last game and I think we tried to outdo each other on that score.”
The game was Carlisle’s first in three weeks and Abbott admitted that he was happy to pick up a point.
“We’re delighted to come back from two down and get a point because, as I say, we were up against one of the best sides in this division,” said the man whose side are 14th ahead of today’s trip to Tranmere.
“There’s a lot of belief in that dressing room and we told them at half-time to get out there and win it.
“We tried to do that and we can’t ask any more than that.
“In the end we might have nicked a win with the way that it went.”
