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United started brightly playing down the slope and after some good early possession Ryan Bowman hit a right-footed 18-yarder straight into the arms of the Blackpool glovesman. On ten minutes though Carlisle did take the lead, Bowman's touch on finding Mark Sloan running down the middle, Sloan was being pulled back by his covering centre-half but he shrugged off that attention and after challenging with the keeper found the ball at his feet and a gaping net looming 15 yards away, the end result inevitable.
Seven minutes later and Law's nice ball over the top was knocked on past the advancing keeper by Sloan, sadly though he ran out of room on the by-line as Blackpool got the goal-kick. With 20 minutes gone it was 2-0 to the Blues when Ben Richards-Everton hit a lovely pass for Bowman to run onto, Bowman then lobbing the ball delicately left-footed over the top of the Seasiders stopper and into the net from 15 yards out.
Carlisle were really piling on the pressure in this spell and moments later Law fed James Wood, who had an excellent game as an attacking right-back, for a cross into the box which Matt Osmond, on his weaker right foot, hooked over the top from the penalty spot. The visitors then having their first real shot on goal in the 23rd minute when their left-back hit in a 20-yard drive which Mark Gillespie held well on the bounce.
It was soon the Blues again though and sixty seconds later Phil Towler's right-wing cross went slightly behind Bowman 15 yards out, the United striker firing over the top right-footed from there. Bowman was then fouled in the 26th minute over in the far corner and Law stuck the free-kick in which saw the keeper flapping, as he did for a lot of the game, fortunately for the visitors though the ball dropped to a Tangerine boot and was hoofed clear.
Two minutes later and Sloan set Towler up for a 15-yard right-footed half-volley on the right angle of the box, Towler snatched at it a little though and his effort disappeared away high above the near-post. A long Blackpool ball up over the Carlisle back line on the half-hour mark then seeing a weak right-footed half-volley hit straight into the arms of Gillespie from 18 yards out.
United had another Law free-kick from the left into the box after 32 minutes and after the usual flap from the keeper Blackpool defenders first headed and then punted the ball out of the danger area. A pretty similar situation occuring sixty seconds later, this time after the ever-dangerous Bowman had been fouled on the far side of the pitch.
Osmond then missed a reasonable chance to make it 3-0 in the 35th minute, when after Bowman set up Wood for a great cross into the middle from the right, his right-footed ten-yard volley slid off the top of his laces, across goal and wide. Three minutes later, after Kieran Cahill's ball in from the left was headed straight out to Towler just outside the edge of the box, Towler, right-footed, was only able to slice his half-volley well wide of the target.
With 40 minutes gone Wood made a great run forward and played the ball into Bowman in the middle of the Blackpool penalty area, Bowman's right-footed shot from there being well saved by the legs of the Seasiders stopper. Blues skipper Liam Davison then sticking a cross in from the right, Bowman's looping 12-yard header at the back-stick though being taken in the air just short of his line by the keeper.
Just as we hit the end of the 45th minute it was 3-0 to Carlisle, Sloan's pass through for Bowman seeing Bowman hold off then get past the centre-half before hitting a 12-yard right-footer which came off the keeper's body and just trickled over the line before a defender could clear. Bowman then missing a chance to make it 4-0 in injury time when his attempted lob from 15 yards out, on the end of a Law pass, was just not high enough and the Seasiders stopper was able to pluck it out of the air at the second attempt.
At the interval United boss Eric Kinder made his only substitution of the game when Sloan, who had taken a heavy knock to his ankle early on, finally had to throw his cards in and be replaced by 16-year old new boy Killick upfront. The first chance of the second-half again coming Carlisle's way two minutes in when Law's cross in from the right found Osmond, running in eight yards out, unable to get a good connection on his header.
Shortly afterwards Gillespie had to make a rare save in the United goal when he held a 25-yard right-footed effort from the Blackpool number nine. The Seasiders looked ropey at the back all game and in the 54th minute an awful sliced pass across the back fell to Killick 15 yards out, Killick unable to notch his first goal at youth team level though as his weakish shot on his right foot was easily saved by the visitors keeper.
The game got pretty bitty from then on for a good while as the wind got up, some light rain came and both sides struggled to hold onto the ball as each team pressed on rapidly in the midfield areas. Osmond, bang on the hour-mark, wasting a free-kick on Bowman on the right-angle of the box by sticking it across goal left-footed and well over the top of the crossbar.
Nothing really then happened of note until the 73rd minute when we all woke up with a start, Osmond's heavy tackle flattening one of the Blackpool defenders, players then charging in from all angles for a bout of handbags. The referee, who like both his assistants, had a dreadful game for both sides, booking Osmond for the tackle, and then Towler and the Seasiders's number two and four for the handbags.
Osmond was soon back in the action and in the 76th minute he put a good cross in from the left which Bowman, six yards out at the back-post, headed down and into the net, sadly for United though up went the offside flag, Blackpool making a double substitution during the break of play. Davison then two minutes later pushing a lovely ball through the middle for Osmond 15 yards out one-on-one with the keeper, Osmond pulling his left-footed shot though wide of the far-post.
Killick was getting himself into some good positions upfront but he just couldn't find the finishing touch, the youngster in the 80th minute heading back across goal but inches wide from a Cahill left-wing cross. Bowman then six minutes later holding the ball up well from Law's long pass, the pace was taken off his right-footed 22-yard drive though and the keeper was able to easily save it.
Bowman did claim his hat-trick and make it 4-0 sixty seconds later however when, running in from the right and across the box, he was brought down for a United spot-kick. Carlisle's top scorer taking the penalty himself as he sent the keeper the wrong way with a right-footer low into the far bottom corner, although some of us did wonder if it had missed for a minute as it flew out of the back of the net and away into the distance.
The Blues were soon looking for another though and in the 89th minute Osmond put the Seasiders stopper under enough pressure on a back-pass to make him slice it horribly out for a corner. Osmond and Law working that flag-kick short and after Law put the ball over Towler volleyed wide of the near-post from close range.
Shortly afterwards Wood seemed to be completey scythed down as he broke into the Blackpool box at pace, sadly for Carlisle though the referee seemed to bottle giving two penalties in such quick succession. The last action in the game coming the way of the visitors two minutes into injury time when their number nine sliced a right-footed 15-yarder across Gillespie but well wide of the far-post.
United line-up :
Mark Gillespie, James Wood, Kieran Cahill, Ben Richards-Everton, Jamie Cleary, Sean Law, Liam Davison (c), Phil Towler, Ryan Bowman, Mark Sloan (Callum Killick 46), Matt Osmond.
Unused substitutes :
Jon Ball (GK), James Bonner, Paddy O'Brien and James Reid.
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