Blues Out Of Luck Against Tame Shrews

Chris Lumsdon

So, that meant a back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Kevin Gray, Peter Murphy and Zigor Aranalde. Adam Murray, Chris Lumsdon and Chris Billy were the three men working hard in midfield, with Michael Bridges, Karl Hawley and Derek Holmes together as part of a triple forward line. Infact the only change to the Carlisle sixteen came on the bench where Brendan McGill came in for the injured Glenn Murray, who had a turned an ankle at the Matchroom Stadium last Saturday afternoon against the O’s. Murray, however, is expected to be fit for United’s next league game, at home to Rushden and Diamonds, in four days time.

The Blues couldn’t have got off to a better start as they took the lead just 106 seconds into the game. That was pretty much as good as it got for United though on the night thanks to some wayward finishing, some good Town defending, an utterly appalling refereeing performance and some downright rank bad luck. Aranalde hurled a long throw-in to the Shrews box from the left-hand corner where centre-half Gavin Cowan headed the ball straight up into the air to Holmes who used his muscle to nod the ball on well from the near-post to the far. Left-back Kevin Sharp could, again, only head the ball straight to a Carlisle shirt and this time it was Lumsdon who was left completely unmarked just six yards out to volley the ball home past England under-19 goalkeeper Joe Hart, put Carlisle 1-0 up and leave the Blue Army hoping for another Chester five-niller.

Four minutes later and it was once more a long throw from United’s Basque left-back which was causing the Shrews problems as Holmes and Bridges combined, the ex-Leeds man sending a low cross in which flew into the grateful arms of Hart. Sixty seconds later referee Johnathan Moss gave an astonishing decision as Hawley was pulled back on the half-way line by Shrews centre-half Richard Hope as the ex-Walsall striker looked to race clear and bear down on Hart’s goal. Moss gave the free-kick but then, unbelievably, he didn’t even book Hope for the offence when some overly strict officials might have shown the one-time Chester defender a straight red card for a professional foul.

In the ninth minute the visitors missed an excellent chance to grab an equaliser after the Blues midfield had been caught upfield in attack. Cowan hit a long ball up which was nicely flicked into the path of veteran forward Mark Stallard by ex-Livingston striker Colin McMenamin. Stallard was in the clear in the left-channel only 15 yards out but his left-footed half-volley was extremely weak and Westwood was able to collect it easily.

The equaliser did come for the Shrews three minutes later however and it came shortly after Holmes had sent a looping header from a Bridges cross straight into the chest of Hart when Hawley had been well placed for a kock-down. After the Hawley non-card challenge it was the second of many dreadful decisions on the night from official Moss and his assistant referee on the Paddock side when they combined to give the visitors a free-kick for an extremely innocuous looking challenge by Aranalde on one-time United loanee Kelvin Langmead. Sharp swung a good set-piece in which was headed away by Gray to the edge of the Carlisle "D", the ball fell straight to the unmarked Neil Sorvel though and he drove an excellent finish through a packed penalty area into Westwood’s bottom left-corner to bring the scores level. A good ball in and a good finish but it was never a free-kick in the first place and from that moment on it seemed obvious that United were never going to take three points from the game.

It was easy to see the goal gave the visitors some confidence and deflated the Blues a little and Shrewsbury had their best spell of the game for a while in which Billy was also harshly booked for bringing down the hard-working McMenamin in the centre-circle. McMenamin also had good chances twice in quick succession, firstly forcing Westwood into a sprawling save from 20 yards out following good work by right-back Ben Herd and then after a cleverly worked move between Stallard, Langmead and the Scot. McMenamin could only send Langmead’s back-heel into him flying over the bar from only eight yards out with his left-foot though and it was a big left-off for a Blues side who were looking shellshocked after giving away such a soft equaliser.

With 21 minutes on the clock Carlisle began to boss the game again and from a Lumsdon corner in, one of 15 flag-kicks on the night from the Cumbrians, Gray could have done better when he sent his far-post header straight at Hart. The Blues started to pile on a bit of pressure now and Hart showed his England credentials when he pushed an Adam Murray piledriver from fully 25 yards out past the post, a good passing triangle between Hawley, Bridges and Billy setting the chance up for the ex-Derby midfielder.

Murray again found the ball at his feet three minutes on but he seemed stuck between two thoughts as he could only attempt a chip over Hart from 30 yards out which drifted harmlessly past the Shrewsbury keeper’s far-post. Seconds later and United were denied the first of 43,276 penalty claims for handball in the game as Holmes fed Hawley whose powerful drive struck the arm of Cowan only for referee Moss to wave Carlisle’s vehement protests away. Shortly afterwards Hawley got another effort in on the Shrews goal from a Holmes knock-down on the edge of the Town box but it was only a car-bonnet denter as it flew miles above Hart’s bar and over the Waterworks End wall.

After 31 minutes Lumsdon made a strong run into the Shrewsbury box but he was just unable to get his head to a Bridges cross in from the left which had curled in nicely on the gusty wind. It was Holmes who was next up to the plate five minutes later on a night of missed opportunities for the Blues but his 18-yard shot went sailing wide after Bridges had touched on a long Westwood goal-kick. Bridges’ flick-on was one of only a few headers the United forwards were able to win cleanly as they seemed to be continually pulled around or pushed in the back, all to no avail from a free-kick perspective.

Leading up to half-time the out-of-sorts Hawley again should have made Shrews keeper Hart work when he fired his drive well wide after some neat interplay between Bridges and Lumsdon. It was bang on the half-time whistle though that the Blues were, not for the first time, extremely unlucky not to regain the lead. Murphy swung a corner in from the far side which seemed to ping off a few bodies before finally falling at the feet of Aranalde twelve yards out, the Basque left-back must have though his shot was in all the way, only for Sharp to somehow stretch his leg out and boot the ball off the line.

The players trooped off down the tunnel after only a minute of injury time and the portly Kojak-a-like linesman on the Paddock side was swiftly away for his half-time lollipop. He must have known what was coming as referee Moss got as big a booing off as I have heard at Brunton Park for a long time. After having the better of the deteriorating weather conditions in the first-half I’m sure I wasn’t the only Blues fan who, at the interval, was nervous of a classic smash-and-grab victory by the visitors.

The main action of the half-time break was the wonderment of who would be replaced by Mark Rivers who was quickly called away from the substitutes knockabout and told to warm up ready for action. As it turned out it was Hawley who was taken off, United’s top scorer having apparently struggled with a sore groin throughout the opening 45 minutes, that meant a change to a 4-4-2 formation with Rivers pushing up to support Bridges and Holmes in the forward line.

In the 50^th minute McMenamin should have done for better for the Shrews as the rain began to pour down on a windswept Brunton Park. Sharp curled a corner in from the right which the Scot met with a glancing header at the near-post but he got the height all wrong and it flew over the top of the United bar and out for a goal-kick.

Four minutes later Lumsdon played a great ball in behind the Shrewsbury defence for Rivers to run onto in the right-edge of the Town box, Hart came out well to narrow the angle though forcing the ex-Crewe man wide of goal. Rivers managed to get in a shot however but he was off balance and from a tight position it never had the pace to trouble the covering defenders, Cowan being able to hack it away from danger for yet another Carlisle corner. Shortly afterwards Rivers again got clear, this time down the left, as he floated around, but his low cross in was blocked by Herd, the ball seeming to clearly strike the arm of the Watford-born defender. Once more though, to howls of derision from the United faithful, referee Moss waved play on.

In the 59^th minute, as the game had gone into a period of one-way traffic which would continue right until the final whistle, it was obvious it was one of those nights as the ball would just not go in the Shrewsbury net. Bridges made an excellent run down the left and attempted to play the ball into Holmes, centre-half Hope was covering well though, although he sliced his clearance only inches past his own post. From the resultant corner in by Lumsdon left-sided Town midfielder Neil Ashton cleared the ball off his own line twice, firstly from Rivers and then from Bridges when shots anywhere else would surely have seen the net bulge.

Just after the hour mark it was Billy who was trying to make things happen for the Blues when he drove a rasping half-volley inches over Hart’s bar after the ball had come out to him from a Cowan clearance on an Aranalde long-throw in. In the 64^th minute Murphy stepped up to take a central set-piece from 30 yards out after Ashton had brought down Lumsdon, the Dubliner had to hit his effort with power from that range though and lost his accuracy as it flew well over and into the sparsely populated Warwick Road End.

Seven minutes later, after the Blues had built themselves up for a second wind, Adam Murray missed a sitter which would cost Carlisle dear just sixty seconds later. Rivers showed some good pace to get away and get a nice cross in which Holmes headed down into the path of Murray only six yards out from the Town goal. Unbelievably though the one-time England under-21 man completely lost his composure and could only blaze the chance over the bar when it seemed easier to score. Then, just to rub salt into the Cumbrians wounds, Shrewsbury went 2-1 up when it should have been the Blues holding the advantage in the match.

Sorvel picked up a loose ball in midfield and hit an extremely speculative shot from fully 30 yards out which was going way wide of Westwood’s goal until it hit Hope on the head as he tried to get out of the way of the shot. That deflection was crucial though as it pinged off him to leave the United keeper completely flat-footed as the ball flew back across him and into the opposite corner of the Carlisle net. It was cruel luck on the Blues and poor officiating again by Mr Moss who allowed the Shrewsbury players to celebrate for far too long in front of only 124 away fans.

In the 77^th minute the chronic refereeing reached it’s nadir as United equalised, didn’t equalise, had the chance to equalise and then didn’t equalise again all thanks to the officials. Murphy curled a corner in which Aranalde met with a firm header on the six-yard line, Hart got his foot to it and the ball bounced up on to the arm of Herd who was guarding the near-post. The Kojak linesman thought the ball had crossed the line and started to run up towards the half-way line as he signalled a goal, the Carlisle players all thinking the goal had been given as well.

For some reason though Kojak went back down the line to talk the incident over with referee Moss, the end result being the awarding of a penalty to the Blues and a red card for Herd for deliberate handball. Regular spot-kick taker Lumsdon took the penalty but Hart, like he had done at Gay Meadow in January with the ex-Sunderland man’s first attempt, read it well and dived full length to push the effort away for a corner. TV replays suggest that the ball wasn’t over the line and seemed to be ball to hand, so the one thing on the night we got in our favour was wrong as well, the story of the night really.

In the 81^st minute both sides made a substitution but for differing reasons. The Cumbrians bringing on Hackney for Arnison as they looked to pour bodies forward and centre-half Gavin Cadwallader coming on for frontman Stallard as Shrews boss Gary Peters looked to shore things up at the back for the visitors.

Four minutes from the end of the game it was Adam Murray who again missed a glorious chance to equalise for the Blues as he failed to net with an extremely similar opportunity to his one fifteen minutes earlier. Aranalde swung what felt like the hundredth cross he or Hackney put in in the closing stages from the left-hand side which Hart could only punch straight up in the air as he tried to clear the danger. His punch seemed to go slightly backwards and fell straight to Murray who once more spooned his attempt over the bar when it seemed easier to score from such close range.

The second-half Carlisle goal that you thought would never come finally did come in the 88^th minute through Holmes who notched his sixth of the season. Aranalde humped yet another ball in which Sorvel and Lumsdon challenged for in the air, the ball seeming to hit Sorvel on the shoulder before falling straight to Holmes who volleyed home from six yards out past a helpless Hart to finally bring the Blues level.

More awful officiating was to follow though as Ashton was booked for timewasting on a throw-in by Mr Moss even though Kojak the linesman had asked the Shrews player to wait a couple of seconds as he thought a substitution might be being made. How Ashton received a booking for that when Hart had been timewasting on goal kicks all evening really is beyond me but then it didn’t surprise me either.

United hurled the kitchen sink now at the visitors in the last sixty seconds and four minutes of injury time. Firstly Aranalde sent a pacey curler wide but then just as the Cumbrians were getting up a real head of steam Carlisle skipper Gray let the Shrews off the hook with a crazy challenge on the half-way line that allowed them to run the clock down by a good minute. From a Cowan punt upfield Langmead tried to control the ball only for Gray to go right through the back of the Shrews striker and find himself looking at a yellow card. That left United with little time left to find a winner and only a Hackney shot with his right-foot that swung wide threatened the visitors goal as the final whistle was blown to signal the end of a surreal game.

It was another gauntlet of boos that met the refereeing crew as they left the pitch and the Carlisle players were left to reflect on a game that somehow they didn’t win, the point gained not being enough to stop them sliding down to third in the table following a win for Wycombe at Notts County.