United Reserves 0-0 Preston NE Reserves

In for the team-talk lads!

Both clubs had played first-team matches the night before but it was United who were able to field a much stronger side as they sent out eight players who had featured for the firsts this season. Preston meanwhile have ten players currently sidelined through injury, and then, when Anthony Warriner pulled out through illness, reserve team coach Julian Darby was left with just 15 players including three from the School of Excellence.

As they should have done against weaker opposition Carlisle started the stronger and in the fifth minute the recently signed Luke Joyce, playing at right-back, sent a long ball over the top for Mark Rivers to run onto. Young Lilywhites keeper Ben Hinchcliffe, who was recently shortlisted as Apprentice of the Season by the Football League, came out to clear but he could only knee the ball away straight to the feet of Glenn Murray. With the Preston glovesman now way off his line Murray tried an audacious first-time volley with his right-foot from fully 45 yards out and was desperately unlucky to see it land inches over the crossbar and onto the roof of the net with Hinchcliffe clearly beaten.

Two minutes later a great cross in by Simon Hackney from the left saw Glenn Murray unable to head goalwards under pressure from Preston centre-half Stephen Cudworth. Fellow Lilywhites defender Matthew Cropper was able to complete the clearance in front of a slow-to-react Rivers. Preston did have a few chances in the course of the game though and one of them came in the 11^th minute when Cropper hit a deep ball up to the edge of the Carlisle box. Joyce was unable to get any distance on his clearing header, left-winger Ian Howard attempting a left-footed half-volley for North End which flew well over Anthony Williams' crossbar. Moments later Joyce was again in the thick of the action when he brought down Preston left-back Jay Archer with a crude challenge, the referee just giving him a talking to.

With 18 minutes on the clock Glenn Murray picked the ball up 25 yards from goal after Cropper had conceded possession. The Maryport-born striker took a quick touch on before unleashing powerful drive which was destined for the far top corner only for Hinchcliffe to make a great aerial diving save to parry the effort behind for a corner. Earl swung the flag-kick which found Blues skipper Simon Grand at the back-post, but Hinchcliffe was again keeping the visitors in the game as he did well to push over Grand's header from just eight yards out.

Four minutes later the Cumbrians were again making the North End keeper work when a Joyce cross in from the right was headed out straight to McGill by Cropper. The Dubliner struck a powerful first-time half-volley on his left foot from 20 yards out but it was straight at Hinchcliffe when anywhere else would surely have seen the net bulge. In the 31^st minute, as Carlisle continued to have all the play, Earl was brought down 40 yards out on the right-wing by North End central midfielder Nathan Fairhurst. Hackney put the set-piece in but Rivers was unable to get his flicked header on target from the centre of the penalty area and it drifted harmlessly wide of the Lilywhites far-post.

After 33 minutes a great ball down the left-hand channel by Blues youngster Matthew Blake, playing in his usual left-back role, found Glenn Murray away from his marking centre-half. Murray beat visitors right-back Richie Baker to the ball but could only fire a left-footed half-volley from 12 yards out blazing into the empty Waterworks end. If Murray had shown some more composure then McGill was racing in at the back-stick and would have been left with pretty much an open goal to aim at from close-range if the United frontman had squared the ball across to him.

Four minutes later it was again Carlisle making and wasting chances when a Joyce ball over the top down the right-hand channel sent Rivers racing away and in on goal. A poor first-touch from the ex-Crewe man though allowed Hinchcliffe to come and claim the ball at the feet of Rivers, although it was pretty much a 50-50 challenge and there was only one player interested in putting his body on the line.

In the 42^nd minute came the last chance of the half for the Cumbrians when a long Blake throw-in was flicked on by Grand at the near-post. McGill was left all alone to head for goal just six yards out but, as he sent his effort across to the far corner, Hinchcliffe was again on hand to perform heroics in the Preston goal as he made a superb one-handed save to push the ball away from danger. Blake's long throw seems to go further every game and with the first-year YTS defender still being only sixteen you do wonder how far they will go when he reaches the age of 20, they look certain to be a potent weapon in years to come.

The first ten minutes of the second-half were poor fare in all honesty as both sides started to give the ball away a lot with the pitch beginning to cut up horribly, making control of even the shortest passes difficult. United were having slightly the better of the play but their final ball was often poor and some good defending by Lilywhites centre-halves Cudworth and Cropper ensured that the game started tightly after a more open first 45 minutes.

In the 55^th minute though Cudworth did make an error when he gave possession away straight to Rivers 25 yards out from the Preston goal. Instead of going in on goal Rivers was forced to hold the ball up as he stumbled over it on the bobbly pitch. Glenn Murray had got up to make a good run down the left-hand side of Rivers and it was he who received the lay-off, although the Blues striker could only fire it weakly across goal with his left-foot from 15 yards out and away for a Lilywhites goal-kick.

The first substitution of the game came in the 57^th minute when Thomas McMahon came on in place of Liam Maloney for Preston. Two minutes later Rivers tried a quick pot-shot from 22 yards out with his right-foot but it was straight down the throat of Hinchcliffe who was able to collect it easily. There really was little action going on in the forward areas though as both sides struggled to break the other down with North End defending resolutely and Carlisle showing very little invention in their efforts to find the opening goal of the match.

The Blues did manage to carve out a chance in the 65^th minute however when Hackney hit a good long ball down the left-hand channel to send Rivers away in the clear. Rivers then showed some good skill to cut inside Baker and Cudworth and fire in a shot with his right-foot from just inside the Preston box. Hinchcliffe was equal to it though at his near-post and grabbed hold of the ball at the second attempt with Adam Murray racing in to try and pick up any scraps for the Cumbrians.

Two minutes later Lilywhites centre-forward Ashley Stott showed some neat work down the right before laying the ball across for McMahon but the North End substitute was unable to fire his 15-yard effort on goal. A change apiece came for either side in sixty seconds around the 72 minute mark, United making a direct swap in midfield with Shaun Vipond coming on for Earl and Chris McGrail replacing Fairhurst in the Lilywhites engine room.

With ten minutes to go another new player entered the fray when the Lilywhites made their final change, Kevin McGarry coming on upfront in place of McConville. In the 83^rd minute came what was really the best chance of the game for United but once more it went begging when it should have been buried. Hackney broke away down the left and crossed the ball in beautifully for the onrushing Rivers at the near-post, just six yards out the chance looked unmissable but Rivers could only head it wide of the target to the sound of groans from the appallingly low crowd of only about 60 people.

A minute later McGill showed some nice footwork when he got on the end of a Joyce throw and took the ball on into the box, his touch was just too heavy though and Hinchcliffe was able to race quickly off his line to nick the ball of the toes of the diminutive Dubliner. Just sixty seconds later and all the missed chances nearly came back to haunt the Blues when the visitors hit the woodwork. A long ball into the United box looked harmless at first until Kirkup headed it straight onto the back of Preston frontman Stott. The ball fell to straight to the right foot of McGarry who was lying on the ground after going up and then going down after the initial cross in. McGarry somehow managed to wrap his boot around the ball in his prone position 12 yards out from goal and was unlucky to see his effort cannon away off the outside of the Carlisle far-post.

United still had the last chance of the match to find the winner though in the 89^th minute. Hackney swung a flag-kick in from the Paddock/Warwick corner to the back-post where Kirkup got up well six yards out, the Blues youth-team captain couldn't keep his header down however and sent it flying over the crossbar of a grateful Hinchcliffe. The final whistle soon came after two minutes of injury time in a match where, realistically, Carlisle dropped three points against the second-placed team, failing to take an extra two themselves while missing the chance to take one off Preston. Not many United players came out of the game with much credit and the youth team lads often seemed to be putting more effort into the proceedings than the more experienced professionals. On this showing, where it leaves the selection process for someone to come in and take the place of the cup-tied Michael Bridges in Cardiff on Sunday is anybody's guess.