Magical McGill Cashes In On Saloppy Defending

McGill - hat-trick

In the seventh minute Brendan McGill touched the ball off to Andy Hardman on the right side of the box after some nice approach work by Hindmarch. Hardman cut inside to try a shot on his left foot from just inside the Shrews area but it was directed straight at Lance Cronin in the visitors goal.

The Blues missed a good chance in the 10^th minute when midfielder Danny Burn brought down Simon Hackney 35 yards out from goal on the left-wing. Simpson stepped up to curl a delightful ball in but Glenn Murray headed over from just eight yards out when he really should have done better.

It was all Carlisle now and two minutes later Glenn Murray made a barnstorming run into the opposition box from fully 40 yards out and laid the ball off to McGill in the left-hand channel. McGill tried a first-timer across Cronin with the inside of his right boot but the Shrews keeper reacted quickly and grabbed hold of the ball at the second attempt.

Shortly afterwards Burn held the ball up well under pressure from Simon Grand and Dan Kirkup. He checked his options and eventually decided that the best one was to shoot from fully 25 yards out, the effort was low and weak however and Anthony Williams was able to throw his cap on it in the United goal.

In the 16^th minute McGill made a good turn on the edge of the visitors box after a Simpson pass to him, his shot went straight at Cronin though. The game was beginning to flow end-to-end now and three minutes later Henry Goh played a neat ball inside Andrews to Shrews trialist striker from Liverpool, Conal Platt, the winger cut the play back to fellow trialist (from Manchester United) Burn but his effort was excellently blocked by the backtracking McGill.

After 21 minutes Hardman made a good run down the right and crossed in low with his left-foot across the front of the box. The ball broke out to Simpson and he hit a pile-driver with his trusty left peg that flew inches wide of the near-post. The next chance came for the Shrews as the game went through a busy patch but McClen’s half-volley from 30 yards out was easily taken by Williams on the bounce.



The United second-string go on the attack in the first-half



With 26 minutes on the clock Glenn Murray crossed in on the break from the right-wing, the ball finding it’s way out to McGill at the back stick. The diminutive winger hit a powerful drive which flew back off the gluteus maximus of another Shrewsbury trialist (this one a right-back from Bolton called Rhys Powell), it must have been a real stinger as well for the youngster on a freezing cold afternoon at Brunton Park.

Seconds later Hardman robbed the otherwise impressive visitors left-back, Steven Leslie, down by the Waterworks/East Stand corner flag and sent in a cross to the near-post area which McGill flicked towards goal. Cronin seemed to turn the effort around for a corner but referee Mike Oliver from Ashington was unimpressed with the Carlisle protests as he signalled for a goal-kick.

Two minutes on and Glenn Murray did well to play in Hindmarch down by the right-hand by-line. Hindmarch's low ball in couldn’t have got much closer to a goal as it flew along the line about a foot out with Glenn Murray unable to reach it, McGill managed to recover things though and played the ball back to Simpson but his effort was quickly blocked by midfielder Jay Denny.

Sixty seconds later a Hackney cross from the left almost went straight in but Cronin managed to claw it away from his top corner for a flag-kick. Simpson’s ball in was cleared straight at back him and this time the United manager curled in a peach with the outside of his right-foot, Kirkup’s header from it going just wide of the far-post from eight yards out.

In the 38^th minute the Blues finally took the lead that their pressure deserved through an excellent finish from McGill on his underused left-foot. Andrews played a deep ball up to Hindmarch in the left side of the box which came back off the Keswick-born youngster straight to the Irishman. McGill took it down well with the instep of his left-boot before unleashing a lovely dipping volley across and over Cronin and into the far corner of the Shrewsbury net to put the Cumbrians one goal to the good.

Shortly before half-time the visitors missed a good chance to equalise when busy centre-forward Marco Adaggio missed a great opportunity. Denny flicked a ball over the top with the outside of his foot to send Adaggio racing clear into the right-side of the Carlisle box. His shot across Williams wasn’t well hit though and the Welshman was able to hold onto it easily to ensure the Blues went into the break with a one goal advantage.

The Shrews made a change at the interval as they took off Danny Burn with George Hughes coming on in his place. The visitors had the first chance of the second period too when Adaggio laid the ball back to strike-partner Steve Hogg on the edge of the Carlisle box, Hogg tried a powerful drive with his right-foot but it sailed well over Williams’ crossbar.

In the 54^th minute McGill was brought down by Denny out on the left-wing. Simpson swung the free-kick in which Grand got to first at the near-post but his header lacked direction and went wide of the target. Two minutes later though the Blues did double their lead with the central midfield partnership of McGill and Simpson once more involved in the play, McGill netting the goal.

Simpson picked the ball up in the middle of the Carlisle half and sent a fantastic ball fully 40 yards over the top of Powell and straight into the run of the pacey Hackney down the left-hand side. Hackney laid a pass back to Glenn Murray but as he was challenged by Goh the ball broke to McGill who finished crisply, again with his left-foot, across Cronin from 15 yards and into the bottom-right corner of the visitors net.

The Cumbrians were having their best period of the game now and they made the scoreline 3-0 in the 62^nd minute when Grand notched his fourth goal of the reserves campaign this season. Simpson sent in a near-post corner which was headed on into the middle of the Shrewsbury six-yard box by Kirkup. Grand was the first player on hand to get a header in from close range which came down off the underside of the bar and, as Cronin attempted to palm the ball away from the net, the linesman on the Paddock side was already signalling that the ball had gone in. There was no repeat of the first-team home farce with Shrewsbury either as the linesman stuck to his guns and the score was 3-0 to United.

The Shropshire side tried to make an immediate comeback but Hogg’s header from a McClen, who did little throughout, ball in was poor and drifted well wide of Williams’ near-post from ten yards out. Three minutes later Carlisle reserve team boss Billy Barr made a double substitution as he brought on Martin Graham for Hardman and Shaun Vipond for the tiring Simpson, which meant a big reshuffle in the Blues midfield and back-line. Basically everybody moved to the left one with now Graham at right-back, Kirkup and Andrews at the heart of the defence, Grand going to the left-back spot and Blake pushing up into left midfield.

With twenty minutes left to play Chris Morris came on to replace Platt for the Shrews and sixty seconds later the visitors had a rare foray on the Cumbrians goal. Hughes hit a cross in from the right-wing which was flicked on by Hogg to the left-hand edge of the box, Leslie tried to swivel and hit shot quickly with his left-foot but it was a big ask and the effort was sliced wide of the Blues goal. Leslie has just this week been handed a professional contract at Gay Meadow and on this showing he looks well worth it, being the best player for the Shropshire outfit on the day.

After 76 minutes the Shrews had a little bit of pressure again from a set-piece after a foul by Andrews on Adaggio on the left-hand side of the Carlisle box. McClen put the set-piece in which was initially headed away by Andrews, the ball coming back into the United area in the air a couple more times before a free-kick was finally awarded to Carlisle after Hogg went through the back of Andrews.

Four minutes later Graham brought down Leslie on the left-wing 40 yards from the Blues goal. While Leslie waited to take the resultant set-piece the hardworking Hindmarch was replaced by his youth team strike-partner Rob Bainbridge. We’d had to wait a while for the free-kick but it wasn’t worth waiting for in the end as it sailed over everyone at the back-post, with Hardman able to hoof the ball away from danger.

McGill finally got the hat-trick his terrier-like play and work-rate had deserved on the afternoon in the 87^th minute with another excellent finish to bring himself level as the top scorer with Grand in the reserves on four goals. Hackney’s corner from the right was only part-cleared by Hogg straight to McGill who had stationed himself on the edge of the visitors box for such an eventuality. The ball sat up nicely for the Irishman to hit it and he did just that as he hammered a strike in with his right-foot which fairly flew into the top right-hand corner of the Shrewsbury net.

That made it a resounding 4-0 win for the Cumbrians when the final whistle was blown after just over a minute of injury time. The result taking United’s second-string to within three points of leaders Preston North End with two games in hand on the Lilywhites in the Pontins’ Holiday League Division One West this season.