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The wind was gusting in its usual manner up and across the football pitch at Creighton Rugby Club and that perhaps aided an Oldham eleven who were kicking up the slight slope in the first-half. A cross in from the right on two minutes seeing the giant figure of Tom Eaves head the ball down and straight into the arms of Blues goalkeeper Mark Gillespie on the bounce from ten yards out.
Five minutes later, after enduring a spell of early heavy pressure, Carlisle broke up the other end to take the lead. Matt Osmond's deep cross from the left falling to Ben McKenna beyond the back-post who then played the ball back into the middle of the box. It was there eight yards out that one of the smallest players on the pitch, in United's Mark Sloan, sent a perfect header back across Latics stopper Tony White and into the top corner of the net.
With ten minutes on the clock Phil McGrath sent a good cross in from the left for Oldham but Eaves was only able to head it over the top from ten yards out. United then having a chance themselves six minutes later when a James Wood throw-in was headed clear straight to Sloan, the Blues striker though pulling his 12-yard effort on his weaker left foot well wide of the near-post.
Ryan Bowman then shortly afterwards showed some good skill to make room for himself on the Latics by-line, his cross in though wasted as Sloan and Osmond both chose not to gamble on the low ball in. That opportunity coming in a nice spell of possession for United as they put some useful passing moves together.
After 25 minutes Nicky Zaicevs, who was taking all the Oldham set-pieces, stuck a corner in deep to the back-stick which found Richard Cowan making a towering header ten yards out. Gillespie was equal to it though as he made an excellent save under his crossbar, Eaves then somehow heading the rebound wide from inside the six-yard box much to Carlisle's relief.
Just after the half-hour mark and Phil Towler laid the ball off to Sloan 20 yards out, Sloan though pulling his right-footed shot across goal and wide of the far-post. Oldham then equalising on 32 minutes when Zaicevs played a nice pass through a slightly static United back-line for Eaves to run onto and send a stretching 12-yard left-footed effort beyond the reach of Gillespie and into the far corner of the Carlisle net.
In a busy spell in the game Osmond then sixty seconds later swinging in a left-footed corner for the Blues which Bowman headed across goal and wide of the far-post from ten yards out. The last real thing of note in the first-half coming as early as the 38th minute when United regained the lead, Bowman, from Osmond's supply, never looking like missing as he hit a well placed 15-yard right-footer past the dive of White in the Latics goal.
Oldham boss Tony Philliskirk made two surprising personnel changes during the break as he took off playmaker Zaicevs and another midfielder in Andrew Crompton, the pair being replaced by Connor Hughes and Dave Mellor. The two players most at fault for the Latics though being the centre-half pairing of Matthew Carr and Laquan Esdale-Biney, the latter of those being a former Carlisle trialist from the autumn of 2007 - it doesn't look like we've missed anything there.
The first chance in the second period came the way of the visitors two minutes in when a cross in from the left by Hughes saw Kirk Millar send a looping ten-yard header up into the air towards the United back-stick. Gillespie first tapping the ball away from under his crossbar and then skilfully catching it before it crossed the by-line for a corner.
Blues boss Eric Kinder made his first change of the game when he brought on Paddy O'Brien for McKenna in the 54th minute. A pressing Oldham side then having a 40-yard free-kick stuck into the Carlisle box by Djeny Bembo-Leta three minutes later, following a foul by Kieran Cahill on Hughes. Cahill back in the action when he headed the ball away to the feet of Millar 20 yards out, the visiting midfielder though hitting a weak looping volley in which was easy for Gillespie to catch.
With 64 minutes gone Eaves missed a good chance to find another Oldham equaliser when, unmarked eight yards out, he could only head wide of Gillespie's left-hand post. Carlisle then making another substitution two minutes later as James Bonner came on for Towler, the change seeing Wood move into Towler's central midfield spot and Bonner slot into Wood's place at right-back.
Oldham went to three at the back on 70 minutes when Ryan Harper came on for Carr, Wood then sticking a United corner in shortly afterwards which captain Sean Law headed over the top from the visitors penalty spot. Law skipper today with Liam Davison out with his niggly ankle problem, Jamie Cleary also sidelined with his knee injury, those two second-years absent meaning that a young Carlisle eleven started the game containing seven first-years.
Moments later and Sloan could perhaps have looked to find a United team-mate when he sent a weak 12-yard right-footed effort straight into the arms of White. Bowman then doing some good hustling work to block Esdale-Biney's attempted clearance before quickly pulling a right-footed drive wide of the near-post from 20 yards out.
That break in play saw James Reid replace Sloan upfront for the Blues, the Cumbrians then extending their lead to 3-1 after 79 minutes. An excellent long ball up by centre-half trialist Ben Richards-Everton seeing Bowman chase it down the left-hand channel. The United striker then knocking the ball past a rapidly advancing White before retrieving it, dribbling it along the by-line and tapping into an empty net, all the while with Latics right-back Josh Rose snapping at his heels.
Oldham hadn't given up the ghost yet though and on 85 minutes a cross in from the right by Harper saw Eaves again fail to make the most of it as he once more mistimed his header a little, his 15-yard effort flying up in the air, making it easy for Gillespie to catch, Gillespie's handling having been faultless throughout the game.
The score then stretched to 4-1 three minutes later when a long Bonner throw-in, which has real distance on it for a 16-year old, caused more confusion in the Oldham back-line. Goalkeeper White then getting involved in a ball he never had a chance of taking, that leaving Osmond to send a stretching well placed effort past White and Esdale-Biney and into the net from 12 yards out.
Just before we ticked into injury time Wood got a rare shot in on goal for himself as he picked up on a pass from Reid. Wood though from 15 yards out on the left curling his right-footed effort across goal and wide of the far-post. The last word in the match going the way of the referee when he booked Rose for persistent infringement after the young Latic had fouled Bowman twice in about thirty seconds.
United line-up :
Mark Gillespie, James Wood, Kieran Cahill, Sean Law (c), Ben Richards-Everton, Steven Swinglehurst, Ben McKenna (Paddy O'Brien 54), Phil Towler (James Bonner 66), Ryan Bowman, Mark Sloan (James Reid 74), Matt Osmond.
Unused substitutes :
Jon Ball (GK).
Oldham line-up :
Tony White, Josh Rose, Matthew Carr (Ryan Harper 70), Richard Cowan, Laquan Esdale-Biney, Andrew Crompton (Dave Mellor 46), Nicky Zaicevs (Connor Hughes 46), Kirk Millar, Tom Eaves, Djeny Bembo-Leta, Phil McGrath.
Unused substitute :
Shaun Routledge (GK).
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