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United have had a desperate record in the Carling Cup of late having been knocked out at the opening stage in the previous seven seasons and Bradford manager Colin Todd was keen to see that run continue as he sent out a full-strength side for the tie. The only change Todd having to make being to his forward line where loanee David Graham was denied permission to play by Sheffield Wednesday, Graham being replaced by fellow loanee, from Manchester United, Eddie Johnson, who had been allowed to play by his parent club.
The Cumbrians started well and Jamaican international goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts had to be quick off his mark to deny Gall getting on the end of a Lumsdon ball in on two minutes. The Bantams missed a glorious opportunity to score the opening goal sixty seconds later though when the tricky Jermaine Johnson set Eddie Johnson free in the United box, only for Eddie to blast his effort high and wide from ten yards out, after Grand had been lucky not to fell him with a poorly-timed sliding tackle.
After seven minutes Hackney and Hawley worked an opportunity for Holmes, but the big Scot's soft shot was partly blocked by veteran centre-half David Wetherall. Ex-Blues loanee Steven Schumacher was next up to the plate as the game went end-to-end with two shots in quick succession, firing high from range and then seeing a 25-yarder ping off the legs of Grand for a corner. Hawley did well again down the left shortly afterwards as he showed some great skill to get to the by-line and cut the ball back for Lumsdon 22 yards from goal, Lumsdon's side-footer was well-hit but sadly for the Cumbrians it was straight at Ricketts.
In an action-packed encounter Jermaine Johnson once more flew away down the right and crossed the ball in for Dean Windass, the ex-Middlesbrough striker only heading the chance over Williams' crossbar though. Eddie Johnson showed some nice pace moments later as he turned quickly away from Grand, but Livesey, who was outstanding on the night in his first game of the season, did well to get across and cut out the Manchester United man's ball in.
The Blues were playing some lovely football at times, although it was from a corner in the 15th minute that Hawley would see his shot deflect off Wetherall and out for another flag-kick, which came to nothing. On-loan City right-back, Nathan Doyle from Derby, was well-placed on 22 minutes to stop Holmes converting Hawley's cross to the back-post as he headed the ball clear. Lumsdon stuck the corner in and this time it was Windass who was having to do some defending as he blocked an Aranalde effort.
In the 27th minute Bradford should really have taken the lead through Eddie Johnson after his pacey namesake Jermaine had flown into the United box down his favoured right blank. The Jamaican international winger cutting the ball back for Eddie just eight yards out, the striker's on target side-footed effort was quite weak to be honest although it did take a good diving save by Williams to keep the game at 0-0. The scoreline didn't stay like that for long though as the Blues took the lead through Holmes four minutes later.
Hawley's ball in was nodded down by Holmes to Gall on the left-angle of the City box, Gall cutting in on his right foot only to miscue his shot horribly straight into the path of Holmes 12 yards out. Holmes initially miscontrolled the ball and as Ricketts came out to contest a 50-50 challenge with him, the ball dribbled away from a tangle of long legs and over the Bantams goal-line in slow motion to put Carlisle ahead with a rather fortunate goal.
Seconds later Hawley was a little selfish as he shot wide from 25 yards out when Gall was well placed, then after 35 minutes the Blues were saved by their own woodwork. Another loanee, in Lee Holmes from Derby, picking up a Livesey header clear after Holmes had initially crossed into the United box, the England under-19 international cracking in a powerful 20-yarder with his left-foot that flew across Williams only to ping back out off the inside of the Cumbrians far-post, Livesey hacking the loose ball clear.
Windass went down like a large sack of spuds in the 39th minute under a nothing challenge from Aranalde, Barrow referee Mike Pike waving away Windass' weak penalty claims. Then after 41 minutes Holmes' cross-shot, after good approach play by Gall, was toe-poked straight at Ricketts by a stretching McDermott from eight yards out at the City back-post. The last action of the half came in the 43rd minute with another Bantams penalty claim turned down, Schumacher hitting his shot straight at Livesey's elbow from point-blank range, a spot-kick there would have been very harsh and United went back down the tunnel holding a 1-0 lead.
The start of the second period saw Holmes, who had taken a knock in scoring, replaced by Michael Bridges. Then almost straight from the kick-off Windass was fouled by Arnison and Livesey kicked the ball away, referee Pike seemingly not about to take any action until Windass went whining to him about it, Livesey then getting a yellow card for timewasting. McDermott hurt his ankle in a tackle on 50 minutes and after some lengthy treatment from Blues physiotherapist Neil Dalton he eventually limped back on to the pitch.
Then the fun started when the floodlight failed in the Paddock/Waterworks corner, although play continued as the light wasn't too bad and United were on the attack up the other end, good approach play between Bridges, Gall and Arnison seeing Hawley's shot deflected out for a Carlisle corner. In the 53rd minute Bridges showed some excellent skill as, with six City defenders in front of him, he scooped a ball up off the ground over the top of the back-line and into the path of Hawley, only for the offside flag to go up with Hawley fractionally offside.
The official then chose the break in play to talk to the two sets of coaching staff about the partial floodlight failure, the players, the United management and the City coaching staff all seemingly happy to play on at first. Then Bantams boss Colin Todd appeared on the scene and asked for the game to be stopped, the City players leaving the field to a chorus of boos from the Paddock, with Gall in particular vociferous in his protests against the Bradford manager.
The break in play lasted nine minutes and McDermott had to give in to his ankle injury just sixty seconds after the restart, with Chris Billy coming on to replace him in the engine room. Wetherall showed all his experience moments later when he blocked out Hawley who tried to turn him in the box, following good skill in the midfield by Hackney and a low ball in by Aranalde. Sixty seconds later Hawley tried his luck from range but the shot was easy for the 6'5 tall Ricketts to pluck out of the air underneath his own crossbar.
The match was still going from end-to-end though and first Jermaine Johnson fired over for City, then Gall found himself achieving the same result from just outside the Bantams box. The visitors came forward again well in the 66th minute, once more through Jermaine Johnson who cut the ball back at pace to Eddie Johnson on the United 18-yard line, Eddie trying to lift a shot with his left-foot across Williams and into the far top corner, hitting it left-footed though meant the ball was always swinging away and it only resulted in a Cumbrians goal-kick.
Jermaine Johnson was again skipping away on 71 minutes but his low cross in from the right by-line was straight at Williams. Then three minutes later Livesey was in the right place at the right time to head an Eddie Johnson cross out for a corner from almost under his own crossbar. Wetherall wasting a great chance from the resultant flag-kick as headed wide of the Blues back-stick from close-range after the ball had been flicked on well by City centre-half Mark Bower at the Cumbrians near-post.
In the 76th mintue Hawley made some good room for himself in the Bantams box, but his shot on the turn from 16 yards out was dragged across Ricketts' goal and went out of play for a City goal-kick. Then in the 78th minute the majority of the 4,757 strong crowd in Brunton Park, the visitors bringing about 150 supporters, were surprised to see Bridges fail to get his volley from the edge of the Bradford box on target. The effort going over the crossbar after Ricketts, under pressure from Aranalde, had punched a Lumsdon corner straight out to him.
City playmaker Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, another Bradford player who was has spent time on loan with the Cumbrians, saw a 22-yard effort expertedly tipped over his own bar by Williams on 80 minutes, but then we saw the dark side of the Blues back-up keeper as the Bantams equalised with a shot that seemed to go straight through him. Windass chesting a Jermaine Johnson cross straight into the path of Eddie Johnson in the middle of the Carlisle 'D', Eddie's right-footed half-volley was powerfully struck but it did seem to go straight through Williams as it flew into the back of the United net.
The leveller gave the visitors some real urgency now and for a while it looked like they might burn the Blues with a late winner, never mind the late equaliser that they already had in the bag. With four minutes to go hearts were in the mouths of the Blue Army when Doyle got away well down the right-hand flank and crossed in to the centre of the Cumbrians box, Schumacher wasting the opportunity for the Bantams though as he sent his header wide of the Carlisle far-post.
The last chance of the 90 minutes came in injury time when Bradford broke away sharply after the Blues had failed to capitalise on their own corner. Jermaine Johnson the man again showing his pace as he got a low cross in to the Carlisle back-post, Windass was unsurprisingly unable to keep up with him though and his eight-yard toe-poker at full stretch went well wide of the target. That was it then and the final whistle soon went to signal 30 minutes of extra-time, although some fans either didn't realise it, or were on night shift, as they headed off down Warwick Road to the bemusement of the rest of us.
City didn't make any changes during the break between full-time and extra-time which came as a bit of surprise considering they hadn't brought on any substitutes in the opening 90 minutes either. With some tired legs about the first-half got off to a quiet start, apart from Carlisle missing out on a free-kick just outside the Bantams box five minutes in when Lumsdon was scythed down from behind by Bridge-Wilkinson, referee Pike amazingly waving play on despite the Bradford man going right through the back of the United player.
In the 97th minute Lumsdon's corner in, as the Blues got going again, flew straight across the City penalty area and was picked up by Hackney out on the left. Hackney returning the ball into the box where Livesey was only able to head over the Bantams crossbar from ten yards out. Up at the other end Williams made Carlisle fans nervous again when he was slow to react to a goalbound Eddie Johnson cross, Williams eventually catching the ball as he backpedalled furiously.
After 101 minutes Ricketts made a classic save for the cameras when Grand's header from a Lumsdon corner bounced up towards the City goal, Ricketts making a full length grab from an effort he could probably have stood still and caught easily to be honest. United's second booking of the night came five minutes into the second period of extra-time when Bridges mistimed a tackle on Holmes in the centre-circle and ended up going in studs up. Bridge-Wilkinson rather naughtily sprinting fifteen yards across the pitch to get involved in a situation that was showing no signs of getting nasty and had nothing to do with him anyway.
City had a spell where they were on top for a while, in a pretty even game that had been keenly-contested throughout by both sides, with Windass in the 111th minute firing a half-volley well over the Carlisle crossbar and into the empty Waterworks end from 20 yards out. It looked like the visitors had taken the lead sixty seconds later when Bridge-Wilkinson powered a shot towards the top right-corner of the Cumbrians goal, only for Williams to deny the Bantams with a fantastic aerial diving save as he tipped the effort onto the outside of his far-post.
Gall scooted clear onto a Bridges pass with a minute of extra-time left but his finish was tired as he went for a repeat of his second goal against Leyton Orient at the weekend, Gall this time pulling his shot across goal and wide of the target. Carlisle were on top as the game ended and Bridges broke into the box down the right, and cut inside labouring veteran left-back Alan Rogers. Bridges firing in a goalbound left-footed shot across Ricketts which Doyle did remarkably well to head away for a United corner, Livesey heading Lumsdon's resultant flag-kick over the bar. Literally seconds before the final whistle and penalties, the Blues made their third change of the night as "specialist" penalty-taker Peter Murphy came on to replace Hackney who had worked tremendously hard in midfield over the course of the 120 minutes.
So, the goalkeepers trooped off down to the Warwick Road End for the penalty shootout, with the ten spot-kicks taken as follows :
Bradford 1-0 ; Scumacher scores high into the top-right corner.
Carlisle 1-1 ; Lumsdon scores high into the top-left corner.
Bradford 2-1 ; Eddie Johnson scores, just under Williams into the bottom-left corner.
Carlisle 2-2 ; Hawley scores high into the top-left corner.
Bradford 3-2 ; Bridge-Wilkinson scores high into the top-right corner.
Carlisle 3-2 ; Murphy with his first touch of the ball, off a short run, inevitably misses over the crossbar.
Bradford 3-2 ; Rogers misses, the ball coming back out off the inside of the left-hand post.
Carlisle 3-3 ; Bridges scores slotting easily home in the bottom-left corner as Ricketts hardly moves.
Bradford 3-3 ; Windass misses, a weak penalty aimed at the bottom-right, which Williams easily grabs.
Carlisle 4-3 ; Aranalde scores high into the top-left corner to send Brunton Park into raptures as the Blues win 4-3 on penalties after extra-time to reach the second round of the Carling Cup for the first time in eight seasons.
Post-match quotes :
Bradford boss Colin Todd said :
"We've seen a great game that we could have won. We hit the post twice but it just wasn't to be our night. Our fans have seen that we can attack, but we didn't win and that's the way the cookie crumbles. We are capable of winning a lot of games because we are a good team but tonight it wasn't to be."