Blues Go Nap Against Hapless Pilgrims

Bridges

So, that meant a back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Danny Livesey, Kevin Gray and Murphy. The trio doing the hard graft in midfield were Chris Lumsdon, Chris Billy and Adam Murray, whilst strung across the front line were Michael Bridges, Karl Hawley and Derek Holmes. Waiting in the wings were young substitute keeper Adam Bradley, Brendan McGill, Simon Grand, Simon Hackney and Glenn Murray.

Interestingly the referee for the match was "poorly policeman" Nigel Miller who was at the centre of controversy in September 2002. Miller at the time was on sick leave with stress from the Durham Constabulary when he ran the line in a Premiership clash between Leeds United and Manchester United on the 14^th of September in that year. Miller returned to work the week after that game with his managers having apparently given him the go ahead to officiate in the game saying that the exercise involved could be "therapeutic".

The Blues took to the field on a pitch that was in better condition than many thought it would be and they didn’t take long to enjoy the good surface when, after some early Boston possession they took the lead after only five minutes.

Adam Murray lobbed a ball over the top which Hawley took in his stride as he tried to turn inside Boston centre-half Paul Ellender on the 18 yard-line. The ball bounced back off Ellender’s feet straight to Hawley who was left with the simple task of curling the ball with his left foot over a stranded Conrad Logan who had raced off his line to block any shot. Alan White ran towards the goal-line to try and clear for the home side but he had no chance of getting there and the Cumbrians were away to the perfect start.

The game had got off to a pacey opening with chances seeming to come quickly at either end as both sides looked dangerous at the business end of the pitch. It was Carlisle though who were to come close again in the 10^th minute when Murphy played the ball into Bridges, the ex-Leeds man got a good effort in but it deflected off right-back Lee Canoville and flew into the Boston side-netting.

The home side were certainly seeing a lot of the ball however and their loan striker from Portsmouth, James Keene, seemed to find the majority of the opportunities falling at his feet. After 15 minutes Pilgrims left-winger David Galbraith set another loan signing, this time Peter Till from Birmingham, away down the right. Till got a cross in which found it’s way to Keene but his curled effort on the half-volley flew just wide of Westwood’s post.

Keene was in the thick of the action again soon as sixty seconds later he was appealing for a spot-kick then stabbing a great opportunity wide. Central midfielder Stewart Talbot got on the end of a deep Galbraith ball up and got a shot in on the United goal which was well blocked by Livesey. Keene’s appeal for handball and a spot-kick was denied by the stressed-out official and that seemed to take the job in hand out of the young striker’s mind as he fired the loose ball wide of the Carlisle net from just eight yards out.

With 21 minutes on the clock Keene was once more blazing efforts off target. Galbraith and Talbot combined well before Talbot laid the ball on to Keene 20 yards out, the young striker certainly got a good connection on his shot but it was always rising as Westwood watched it over his bar. Shortly afterwards ex-Hearts left-back Austin McCann tried his luck with a long-range drive that went over as the home side began to pile on the pressure in their search for an equaliser.

Bridges was next up to the plate for Carlisle five minutes later as shots were flying in at both ends. Westwood thumped a long goal-kick out which Hawley and Logan challenged for as the ball ran clear, Bridges got on the end of it but McCann was there to get a good tackle in. Lumsdon wasn’t to be left out though in the 28^th minute when Billy crossed in from the left and the ex-Sunderland schemer turned athletically to send a half-volley dipping just over the Pilgrims woodwork from the edge of the Boston box.

Central midfielder Simon Rusk and Till played a one-two on the half-hour mark but Rusk sent his side-footed attempt miles over from 20 yards out although the effort did rustle the paper United keeper Westwood was reading as if flew above him.

With eight minutes to go to the break Keene had yet another off-target shot then five minutes later Galbraith whipped in a nice free-kick from the right. Ex-England under-21 striker Julian Joachim got a flick on it for the Pilgrims but Livesey was well placed to knock it over for a corner from four yards out with Talbot and White lurking in close attendance.

The second half got away to a quiet opening with both sides struggling to find their rhythm a little bit after their half-time cup of tea. United were the first to create a chance though in the 50^th minute when a Lumsdon cross flew through the gloves of Logan and out for a corner, Gray heading the resultant set-piece straight at the Leicester loanee.

In the 56^th minute Boston boss Steve Evans replaced Keene upfront with veteran striker Lawrie Dudfield but Dudfield was only on the pitch for 55 seconds before he watched Logan picking the ball out of his own net after the Blues had gone 2-0 up.

Galbraith inadvertently knocked a long Murphy ball straight into the path of Holmes who took it on a stride before knocking it across to Bridges in the right-hand channel. Bridges took the ball on into the box before hitting a low drive which squeezed under the body of Logan and into the net as it top-spinned towards goal. That goal gave the Blues some clear daylight to play some excellent football in the final half-hour against a dispirited looking Boston side as Carlisle looked to get the 4-0 scoreline that would take them up to second in the League Two table.

Bang on the hour Lumsdon, Holmes and Hawley worked the ball nicely as United began to play some great stuff around on the floor, Bridges was the eventual recipient but Logan did well to block his shot from 16 yards out for a corner with his legs. Bridges wasn’t to be denied though as three minutes later he bagged his second and Carlisle’s third on the night.

Adam Murray had moments earlier blazed a lovely Bridges pass way over the Pilgrims bar but this time round it was Bridges who provided a cracking finish from a wonderful pass by Livesey. The lanky centre-half hit an absolute peach of a 45 yard diagonal ball from just inside the right side of the Blues centre-circle to Bridges way across on the left-hand angle of the Pilgrims box. Bridges controlled the ball beautifully in his stride and hit a perfect half-volley as the ball sat up which flew across Logan and into the far corner of the net off the base of the post, it was certainly a contender for goal of the season from the Blues.

There was a flurry of substitutions after that United goal as the game went through a quiet spell with the Pilgrims seemingly shellshocked and the Cumbrians happy to just play the ball around in midfield with the home side offering little resistence. Yet another Boston loan signing in Asa Hall from Birmingham City replaced Galbraith in the 64^th minute, sixty seconds later Hackney came on for the hardworking Holmes for Carlisle and then in the 68^th minute Chris Holland replaced Rusk in the Boston midfield.

After 77 minutes the home side mustered themselves up enough to get an effort in on the United goal. Gray fouled Dudfield out on the right for a Pilgrims free-kick which McCann swung into the Cumbrians box, White got up to head the ball back to Ellender but his 15-yard rising half-volley flashed wide of Westwood’s far-post. Finishing will be surely be something Steve Evans will be having his players working at on the training ground in the days to come on the evidence of this match.

With ten minutes left in a match that Boston just wanted to end Carlisle made it 4-0 with a Bridges, no Hawley, no Bridges, goal from a free-kick after Hawley had been pulled back by Ellender in the middle of the Pilgrims "D". Bridges curled the set-piece in towards Logan’s far-post with his right foot and it certainly hit something on the way into the net. The United players however later said that it had gone straight in, so it would seem that the ball rose up off a divot enough to bamboozle Logan as it went beyond him.

At the time commentators and fans alike were unsure if the ball had come off Gray, Hawley or a Boston defender, Bridges has claimed the goal though and that is the name that has gone into the referee’s notebook. Bridges was then immediately replaced by Glenn Murray with Blues boss Paul Simpson commenting after the game that the free-kick was Bridges’ last opportunity to get his hat-trick, good timing Michael!!

4-0 wasn’t enough for a rampant Carlisle side though who were hungry for goals and kept pouring forward in an effort to get them right up until the final whistle. Billy forced Logan into a decent save on 84 minutes with a well hit 20-yarder, before Adam Murray smacked another effort high, wide and handsome with two minutes left. Another goal did come however and it came in the 90^th minute through that man Hawley who netted his 18^th of a remarkable season for the young striker.

Hawley had actually had a trial spell at Boston in March 2004 after his release by Walsall and prior to signing for Hednesford Town on non-contract terms until the end of that season. United’s top scorer did actually have a chance to join the Lincolnshire outfit on a permanent basis but, fortunately as it turned out for the Blues, he turned down their offer, describing it as ‘derisory’ and so that was that as far as the Pilgrims were concerned.