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The first action of the game came in the seventh minute when a long goal-kick up from Alex Mitchell was flicked on by Andrew Cook into the path of Connor Tinnion down the left. Tinnion's pacey low cross in seeing Gary Madine flick a shot goalwards with the outside of his boot from close range that flew straight into the ample midriff of the Morecambe keeper.
Sixty seconds later Stephen Hindmarch played Madine in down the left-hand channel, Madine then being upended by one of the Shrimps defenders right on the edge of the box, it was hard to tell if it was a penalty or not but certainly a yellow card should have been shown for the challenge. Madine dusting himself off to curl the free-kick with his right boot inches over the visitors crossbar.
Morecambe were forced into their first change of the game when one of their strikers had to be substituted with a back injury after only ten minutes. Shortly afterwards Jonny Blake's ball in from the right on his weaker left foot saw Madine flick a header wide of the target from six yards out, a chance the United forward will have been disappointed not to convert.
The Shrimps had their first shot on target in the 14th minute from just outside the Carlisle penalty area but it was an easy one for Mitchell to save. Five minutes later Tinnion's corner in saw Madine's eight-yard header at the back-post cleared off the line as United pressed for the opening goal. The ball eventually falling to Dan Wordsworth who fired well over the top from 20 yards out.
Moments later the Blues finally took the lead when Cook played Ged Dalton into the Morecambe penalty area, Dalton seeing his close-range shot saved then hacked away for a United throw-in. The ball then coming back into the box straight to the feet of Cook, the Carlisle frontman having his initial drive on goal blocked before being able to fire the rebound into the net under the diving keeper.
After 23 minutes, with the rain starting to fall a little heavier, Dalton was fouled 30 yards out in the middle of the pitch, Dalton himself firing a right-footed drive straight at the Morecambe custodian from the dead-ball. Just after the half-hour mark the Cumbrians doubled their lead through Madine, United's top scorer in the youth team latching on to good a ball over the top from skipper Matt Duffy to toe-poke the ball home from the penalty spot area as the Shrimpers defence played statues.
Morecambe had their first period of real pressure shortly after that and on 35 minutes their left-winger cut in on his right foot and saw his 20-yarder well pushed away for a corner by Mitchell at his near-post. Wordsworth headed the flag-kick clear when it came in with one of the Shrimps midfielders then firing a drive over the top from the edge of the Carlisle box as he picked up on the loose ball.
Two minutes before half-time Simon Lakeland and Madine linked up well, Lakeland eventually hitting a 22-yard left-footed effort over the top of the visitors crossbar. The final action of any note before the interval coming sixty seconds later when Blake's cross in from the right saw Cook control and turn well to his right before hammering the ball inches wide of the Morecambe far-post from 12 yards out.
Three minutes into the second-half Hindmarch and Cook did well to hold play up and feed the ball into Dalton 20 yards from the Morecambe goal, Dalton zipping a left-footed drive inches wide of the near-post. Two minutes later it was Dalton who was the provider as his slide-rule pass to Madine in the right-hand channel saw Madine's shot from the edge of the visitors penalty area fly straight at the keeper.
Moments later Duffy sent a cross in from the left which Cook headed over from ten yards out. Then on 53 minutes United made it 3-0 when Tinnion's left-footed free-kick in from 30 yards out on the right, following a foul on Hindmarch, saw Madine's header from the penalty spot tipped onto the crossbar by the Shrimps keeper. Wordsworth reacting fastest for the Blues as he was left with the simple task of nodding the ball into an empty net from two yards out.
Just after the hour-mark one of the Morecambe midfielders tried his luck from a long way out with Mitchell slightly off his line but his shot faded wide of the far-post. Carlisle boss Eric Kinder then bringing on right-sided midfielder John Seaton for Wordsworth, that seeing Tinnion drop into the left-back spot, Duffy move across to centre-half and Hindmarch swap wings to go out on the left.
On 63 minutes Madine made a great turn on a Duffy ball into his feet, the young forward running on and firing a 22-yard right-footed drive wide of the Shrimps near-post. Six minutes later Blake's ball into Madine saw the Blues striker fouled on the edge of the Morecambe box, the referee waved advantage though and Hindmarch curled a shot in with his right boot from just to the left of the 'D' which saw the visitors keeper make a good save low down at his far-post.
The Cumbrians made another change, this time in the 71st minute, with a direct swap in midfield when Michael Dowson came on for Dalton. Five minutes on and Madine should really have bagged his second goal of the game when he ran on to a lovely ball in from the left by Tinnion only to thump his ten-yard right-footed half-volley over the top of the Morecambe goal.
After 77 minutes both sides made a change in personnel when Shaun Law came on for Lakeland in the United engine room and the Shrimps made their own swap in the midfield ranks. Four minutes later Law sent a nice pass down the left-hand channel for Madine, the young striker thumping a low left-footed shot back across goal from 15 yards out which the Morecambe keeper did well to parry away.
Shortly afterwards Dowson drove a left-footed shot over the visitors crossbar from 25 yards out. Then in the 84th minute Blake's cross in from the right was only headed across the goalmouth by a Morecambe defender, Madine then sending his own header from eight yards out over the top as the ball came a little too high at him at pace.
Carlisle's fourth and final goal came two mintues from time when man-of-the-match Tinnion made a barnstorming run down the wing from his left-back spot all the way to the opposition penalty area. Tinnion then touching the ball across for Cook to hammer a right-footed piledriver like an arrow from just inside the Morecambe 'D' into the near-top corner of the net. The final whistle coming shortly afterwards on an excellent all-round performance by the lads this morning.
United line-up :
Alex Mitchell, Jonny Blake, Matt Duffy (c), Simon Lakeland (Shaun Law 77), Tom Aldred, Dan Wordsworth (John Seaton 61), Stephen Hindmarch, Ged Dalton (Michael Dowson 71), Gary Madine, Andrew Cook, Connor Tinnion.
Unused substitute :
Grant Carson (GK).
Results in the division this morning :
Bury 4-3 Preston North End
Carlisle United 4-0 Morecambe
Macclesfield Town P-P Shrewsbury, moved to Wednesday 31st October
Oldham Athletic 1-0 Burnley
Port Vale 0-0 Chester City
Rochdale 1-1 Accrington Stanley
Stockport County 3-3 Blackpool
Walsall 2-1 Tranmere Rovers
Wrexham 1-4 Wigan Athletic
Fixtures in the division next week :
Macclesfield v Shrewsbury (Wed, 12 noon)
Accrington Stanley v Bury (Fri, 2pm)
Carlisle v Oldham (Fri, 12noon)
Blackpool v Rochdale (Sat, 11am)
Burnley v Morecambe (Sat, 11am)
Chester v Walsall (Sat, 10.30am)
Port Vale v Preston North End (Sat, 11am)
Shrewsbury v Wrexham (Sat, 11am)
Tranmere v Macclesfield (Sat, 11am)
Wigan v Stockport (Sat, 10.30am)
Youth Team Results : Click here
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Youth Team Reports : Click here
Youth Team Squad : Click here