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The pretty constant rain and a relatively uneventful first-half ensured that some punters stayed in the bar for large portions of the match. I did my duty though, after a couple of pre-match pints, and in the interests of research I also managed to force down a cheeseburger from the food van. Oil is up to almost $147 dollars a barrel now, but the credit crunch doesn't seem to have reached the Lake District yet judging by the greasiness of the "burger" and onions.
With 24 players available for selection Carlisle boss John Ward chose to field an entirely different eleven in both halves, with Shaun Vipond and Kevin Gall missing from the teamsheet, although transfer-listed Gall did get a run-out late on in the match. United's summer signings in Josh Gowling and Ben Williams featured in the opening period, along with trialist Dean Nicholson, meaning that the Blues lined up at kick-off as follows :
Danny Graham - Dean Nicholson
Jeff Smith - Marc Bridge-Wilkinson - Chris Lumsdon - Cleveland Taylor
Darren Campion - Peter Murphy - Josh Gowling - David Raven
Ben Williams
It was pretty much a 4-4-2 through the 45 minutes, although Nicholson did often drop off in behind Graham to make a kind of 4-4-1-1. Nicholson sent a shot wide midway through the half but not much else exciting happened before the break, although Raven in particular put in a good shift as he constantly looked to get forward down the right-hand side.
A swift ale in the reasonably priced bar at half-time was the order of the day before seeing a fresh United side come out for the second period lined up as follows :
Gary Madine - Danny Carlton
Simon Hackney - Grant Smith - Paul Thirlwell - Scott Dobie
Evan Horwood - Dan Wordsworth - Danny Livesey - Luke Joyce
Chris Howarth
Joyce was the only man out of position at right-back while Dobie often pushed up on the right to make a 4-3-3 formation. The action once more got underway quietly, after Kendal had made only a few personnel changes during the interval, before United finally made the opening breakthrough in the game moments before the hour-mark.
Hackney and Horwood combined excellently throughout down the left and it was Horwood's tremendous pinpoint cross to the far-post that saw Dobie volley gleefully home from eight yards out. Dobie then making it 2-0 just four minutes later after Hackney had dispossed Jimmy Williams and crossed in low to the back-stick where Dobie was again on hand from close range to knock the ball across goal and into the far corner of the net.
Kendal's ex-Rochdale youngster Callum Warburton was yellow carded by referee Neil Swarbrick for a poor challenge on Livesey, then with 77 minutes on the clock Madine was replaced upfront by Gall. Livesey, up for a corner five minutes later, then chipped a deep cross in from the left, after a pacey run across the face of the Town box by Hackney, for Carlton to head home from almost on the goal-line to make the scoreline 3-0.
Lee Ashcroft, Kendal's manager, missed the best chance of the game for his side moments later when he slashed wide of an open net 18 yards out following a charged down Howarth clearance. The final goal of the match coming in injury time when a chipped cross-shot from Joyce, on the far edge of the Town box, drifted over the head of goalkeeper David Newnes on it's way to landing in the far corner of the home net.
So that's the first pre-season game out of the way, hopefully with no pulls or pains, despite some slightly meaty challenges from a few of the Kendal players. It's on to Partick Thistle next Saturday afternoon for a day out in Glasgow, let's hope that the beer is as nice as it was at Kendal but the burgers show some improvement, maybe there will be another new face in the team to see too, let's hope so anyway.