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Glenn Murray had been missing from the Blues bench with a virus on Saturday, but today he came back in, straight into the starting eleven, with Derek Holmes dropping down to the bench and Mark Rivers disappearing from the sixteen. Danny Livesey had still failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained after a bad tackle by Grimsby's Michael Reddy nine days earlier so the versatile Peter Murphy continued at centre-half. For the Cumbrians that meant a starting back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Zigor Aranalde, Kevin Gray and Murphy. Across the centre of the park were Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon and Adam Murray, with Michael Bridges playing just off a front two of Glenn Murray and Karl Hawley.
Notts County made two changes to their starting eleven compared to the side which had drawn 1-1 at home to Macclesfield Town on Saturday. Fit-again centre-half Rob Ullathorne and goalkeeper Kevin Pilkington started in place of defender Brian O'Callaghan and glovesman Shaun Marshall. Magpies boss Gudjon Thordarson opting for a 5-3-2 formation with Welsh international David Pipe again in attack alongside top scorer Steve Scoffham.
The match got off to a quiet start with a nervy atmosphere all around the 10,735 spectators in Brunton Park, County bringing 252 fans up from Nottinghamshire with them. United struggled to make headway throughout against what, at times, turned into an eight-man defence, but the Blues did have the first chance of the game in the fourth minute when Bridges tried a speculative lob from 25 yards out that never troubled Pilkington in the visitors goal.
Two minutes later, Chris Palmer, starting on the right of the Magpies three man midfield, fired a powerful long-ranger from distance on his left foot from 22 yards out which Westwood did well to parry round his post for a corner. Palmer put the flag-kick in only for midfield team-mate Liam Needham to give the ball away cheaply, allowing Lumsdon to play in Bridges over the top of the retreating Notts back-line. Bridges knocked the ball over the head of Ullathorne and as Pilkington came out the Carlisle striker managed to nick the ball beyond the County keeper as well. Ullathorne had raced back well to clear the ball away from danger though, as it bobbled slowly goalwards, for a Carlisle throw-in.
In the tenth minute a lacklustre United performance was allowing the Magpies far too much time on the ball and Pipe was able to hammer in a right-foot shot from fully 25 yards out, it was always on the up though and Westwood was able to watch it carefully over his own crossbar. Despite a pretty tepid performance from the Cumbrians they still managed to create an opportunity or two, some nice work between Lumsdon and Hawley allowing Bridges to beat Notts defender Dan Martin before firing a low cross into the box. Glenn Murray tried to get to the ball first but Pilkington was quickly alive to the problem and was able to drop on the cross at his near-post.
After 16 minutes, Aranalde, who still seemed to be nursing a rib injury sustained at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday as he was unable to hurl in any of his customary long throws, got forward well. The Spaniard firing in a shot from almost 30 yards out on his left foot which looked on target initially, only to slice away high and wide into the visiting supporters stood in the Waterworks end. Billy was the next up to the plate for the Blues four minutes later when Arnison's ball in ended up being cleared out to him by Ullathorne 25 yards from the County goal. Carlisle's midfield enforcer tried to get a strong shot in on goal but he connected poorly with his right foot and Pilkington was able to collect it easily.
Then, all of a sudden in the 25th minute, the Cumbrians found themselves a goal behind from nowhere.A long Notts goal-kick was eventually nodded back to Pipe by Scoffham. The County striker then peeling off the back of the Carlisle defence straight away to receive a through ball on the volley over the top from Pipe. Scoffham looked a good yard offside as he broke clear to chase the ball on but the flag stayed down as he raced goalwards. Aranalde and Gray tried to get back to make a challenge but, as Westwood came out to narrow the angle, Scoffham was able to clip the ball past the Carlisle keeper with his right instep from just to the right of the penalty spot to give the Magpies the lead. Scoffham looked easily offside but you can't blame the linesman for missing it, if the County man was, when he was constantly five yards behind the play and more interested in munching sweets that kept appearing every ten seconds from his Tardis-esque pocket.
Make no mistake, the Blues had been dire in the opening stages, but the visitors were no great shakes either and until the goal the match had 0-0 written all over it. The Magpies taking the lead allowed them to defend even deeper and with the United front-line, and Glenn Murray in particular, looking incapable of holding the ball up at any stage, it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon. O'Callaghan, relegated to the Magpies bench, came on shortly afterwards when Martin pulled up with a hamstring injury that he had already been nursing before the game.
To be honest it was awful fare up to the 45th minute after that with neither team creating any chances at all in a crowded midfield. A dry, bobbly pitch and a gusty swirling wind didn't help matters either although if the Cumbrians had kept the ball on the floor for a bit it would at least have taken the wind out of the equation. Frustration was clearly getting to the Carlisle players and in the 33rd minute Arnison was booked by diminutive referee Andy Penn, from Wall Heath in the West Midlands, after he had brought down Ullathorne on the County left.
United had one last bash at the visitors just before half-time and it would prove successful in the end. Just as the clock ticked into injury time Hawley did well to make room for himself just inside the County box in the right-hand channel. As he turned inside though his left-footed shot from 15 yards out was weak and easy for Pilkington to collect as he flung himself to the floor with Glenn Murray closing in, presumably to try and kick his head off in traditional Maryport-style.
The next, and final attack, as the two minutes of added on time ran down, was the all-important one though that sent the Blues in down the tunnel with a share of the first-half spoils. The Magpies players, on the other hand, trooping off down the tunnel wondering how they were only on level terms. After Notts' French centre-half Julien Baudet had brought down Glenn Murray 45 yards out from his own goal, Murphy stepped up to hit the set-piece on to the edge of the County box. Murray was the first to win the ball in the air, then after some head tennis in the area, with the visitors unable to get rid of it properly, O'Callaghan could only head it straight to the right foot of Bridges 20 yards out in the right-hand channel. Few of us knew what would follow though when the ex-Leeds man unleashed a fantastic dipping volley across goal and into the far bottom corner of Pilkington's net, the Magpies glovesman had got both hands to the ball however, and will no doubt be blaming himself for not keeping it out.
Ullathorne was another County man that had been struggling with a hamstring injury, which had forced him to miss the Saturday match with Macclesfield, before the game even started, the ex-Norwich veteran eventually admitting defeat at half-time. One-time Charlton apprentice Stacy Long came on in his place before the re-start, Palmer having to move over from the right side to a more defensive left-back position to accommodate the change.
Chances were even fewer and far between in the early stages of the second-half than they had been in the opening 45 minutes. Glenn Murray missed a great chance to equalise for the Blues bang on the fifty-minute mark though after Aranalde had forced Long into giving away a flag-kick. Lumsdon swung the ball in from the East Stand/Warwick corner and Murray seemed to be completely unmarked as he raced in on the centre just six yards out in the middle of the goal. The West Cumbrian striker didn't get anywhere near enough power on his header however, and could only glance it on past the far-post, with Gray desperately lunging in to try and get a goalscoring touch.
United were starting to put a bit more pressure on the County back-line but were all often choosing the wrong final option or putting in a bad delivery. In the 57th minute Adam Murray was the guilty party, when, with Hawley and Bridges well placed, he blazed a shot with his right foot well over the Magpies bar and into the Warwick from fully 35 yards out. Pilkington was called into little action at all early on, the Notts keeper only having to claim a few crosses, with his packed defence easily snuffing out Carlisle's poor attacking play.
With an hour of a fairly unentertaining encounter gone Bridges tried to sidefoot a 30-yard free-kick in on the County goal after Baudet had gone through the back of Glenn Murray in an aerial challenge. From that range though it needed to be hit with power and it was easy for the visitors wall to stand firm and block the effort. Lumsdon and Murphy both had long-rangers charged down by a well-organised Notts defence shortly afterwards as it seemed as though neither side would trouble the scorers again.
In the 65th minute Billy could only clear a Palmer corner out straight to Magpies midfield man Nathan Doyle, the Derby loanee's 22-yard effort on his right foot was deflected though, taking the pace off the shot and making it easy for Westwood to collect. Blues boss Paul Simpson had seen enough by now and brought on Simon Hackney to replace Glenn Murray sixty seconds later, United now reverting to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation.
After 69 minutes Hackney sent Bridges away down the left-hand channel, Carlisle's in-form striker crossing in nicely to the back-post for the waiting Adam Murray. County keeper Pilkington used to play with Murray in their Mansfield days and it was easy for him to dive on the United midfielder's downhard header which lacked real strength from ten yards out. Only a minute later and Murray was again in the thick of the action, when following an Aranalde ball in from the left, he tried to hammer in a 20-yard drive with his left foot, only to smash it well over the Magpies crossbar once again.
The Cumbrians continued to try and crank up the pressure in their efforts to find what would be a hugely important winner, although a lot of it was just huffing and puffing. In the 75th minute Hawley was the next Blue to try a potshot on goal from 25 yards out but his right-footed effort was pulled well wide of the visitors left-hand post. Three minutes later Bridges tried to execute a piece of magic after a fantastic through ball from Billy that sent him away down the right-hand channel. Seeing Pilkington slightly off his line Bridges tried to chip the County keeper from the edge of the box with his right foot, as Palmer chased back, but one-time Manchester United glovesman Pilkington was equal to it as he plucked the ball out of the air.
With ten minutes left to go in an extremely tight game County replaced Pipe with 16-year old Stef Frost, the young midfielder making his Football League debut, after only signing scholarship forms at Meadow Lane last summer. United went for broke at the same time when they brought on Holmes for Arnison, the Blues going to three at the back and three upfront in their quest for victory. In the 84th minute Hackney and Bridges worked a short corner well, with Hackney sending a low ball in to the near-post which Hawley dummied, only to see Palmer hack the ball away as it flew goalwards.
The Blues were still making no clear-cut chances though as the clock ticked down, but just as the crowd began to drift away from Brunton Park and all eyes were looking at the fourth official to see how much time would be added on, a winner finally came for Carlisle. Adam Murray curled a lovely ball into the County box from the right flank, the cross placed beautifully beyond O'Callaghan and into the run of Hawley, the United striker trying to hold the ball up as the rival players tussled for the ball. Hawley won the day and as Magpies players flew in him on to steal possession, United's top scorer cleverly back-heeled the ball into Bridges running in just inside the Notts box. Bridges didn't even take a stride as he smashed the ball home left-footed straight down the middle of the goal and into the net past an unsighted Pilkington to send Brunton Park into delirium.
Carlisle almost made it an extremely harsh 3-1 on County in the second minute of the three minutes added on as the visitors were forced to push up in numbers, now in search of a last-gasp equaliser. Holmes, working hard for possession of the ball, just inside the left-edge of the Notts area, hit a shot across Pilkington with his left foot which the Magpies keeper just to managed to get his fingertips on, the ball bobbling past his far-post for a United corner. The final whistle came soon afterwards on a game that won't last long in the memory for action or quality of performance, but it will hopefully be remembered as in important stepping stone towards a championship won in a few weeks time.
Post-match quotes :
United goal hero Michael Bridges said after the game :
"Those are the two most important goals I have scored for Carlisle. It's a massive result for us today. I have got three medals from my time with Sunderland and I am desperate for another."