United, coming off their biggest league win for 17 years, were full of confidence whereas the home side had not won in six games and had gone four hours without scoring. Brian Little responded by dropping record signing Lawrie Dudfield and replacing him with Gary Alexander. A Richie Foran cross after three minutes picked out Ian Stevens whose volley brought a good save out of Musselwhite. The early pressure was all Carlisle's. Hull responded quickly. After five minutes Rob Matthews produced a deflected shot that produced the game's first corner. Peter Keen then made a save from Rodney Rowe. United continued their good start and shocked Hull by taking the lead after 9 minutes. Stuart Green's free kick flashed across the area, bypassed Stevens and Foran drilled his half-volley into the corner of the net. Hull appeared a little rattled and United were playing some good football with Green, Allan, Stevens and Foran all prominent. Birch put in a cross in the 21st minute that Foran headed over the bar at the far post. Hull were unable to get into the game and their supporters were becoming restless. Peter Murphy was booked for delaying a throw-in which cheered them up somewhat. The game was fast paced and was quite end-to-end. Mark Winstanley almost put through his own net as the ball came off his boot and went for a corner. Dave Beresford wriggled into the penalty area and produced a strong cross-shot that brought a top save out of Keen. Foran went into the book for a high tackle. Poor defending by Carlisle allowed in Justin Whittle but his shot was again well held by Keen. United must have been well pleased to have gone in a goal to the good after putting in a lot of effort. The second half began with Hull on the attack. Alexander had a half-chance after being set up by Matthews but Keen was equal to it. Then a mistake by Whittle let in Stevens, who was one-on-one with Musselwhite only to see his shot blocked. Dutch midfielder Richard Sneekes passed to Alexander who shot inches wide. On 60 minutes a cross in by Beresford was completely mis-kicked by Alexander. On 62 minutes Roddy Collins brought on Stuart Whitehead for an injured Jonny Allan while Hull made three changes, bringing on Greaves, Dudfield and Johnsson. It was virtually all home pressure now, with the Cumbrians pinned back in their own half. Beresford's enterprising run and shot brought a solid save out of Keen. Alexander shot wide of the right hand upright and Johnsson fired over the cross-bar. Halliday replaced McGill, who had run himself into the ground. The Tigers had more possession but United's defence held firm with some excellent tackles by Lee Andrews. Beresford fired over the bar with two minutes left. The referee added on four minutes to allow for all the time used up by the subsitutions. Another effort flew over the bar as Carlisle held out gamely for a famous victory. Al's verdict: A great result with a resilient performance. This shows how far we've come since some of our earlier away performances when we defended naively. Tonight our defence held firm with another top display from Keen in goal. Hull were short of confidence after some poor recent results but to record the first win on their ground this season is a terrific boost for the Cumbrians. Green, Andrews and McGill all ran their socks off and did well at both ends of the pitch. Keep this up and a mid-table position won't be beyond us. |
