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That meant a starting back five of Keiren Westwood, Peter Murphy, Kevin Gray, Danny Livesey and Paul Arnison. Strung across the midfield were Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon, Hackney and Nade while Michael Bridges and Karl Hawley continued their blossoming partnership upfront. Waiting in the wings for a chance on a tiring, heavy pitch were Anthony Williams, Adam Murray, Derek Holmes, Aranalde and McGill.
The postponement of Rochdale’s game at home to Bury three days earlier had been good news for the Blues as it meant that the League’s top scorer Grant Holt would now have to serve out his three-match suspension against his home-city club.
United were the side that started the brighter initially although the opening 60 seconds were about as good as the first-half got for the Blues. Bridges was brought down 30 yards from the ‘Dale goal and Murphy stepped up to take the free-kick. The Dubliner got a powerful effort in on his trusty left peg straight from the set-piece which visitors keeper Matthew Gilks got down slowly to gather at the second attempt.
Straight from there United found themselves 1-0 down after just one minute and 17 seconds as, not for the last time in the game, the Blues rearguard backed off too far and allowed a Rochdale player room to shoot. Ex-Carlisle player Tony Gallimore hit a long diagonal pass up to Blair Sturrock on the right-angle of the Cumbrians box. The one-time Kidderminster man was then given the freedom of the city as he turned Livesey and in one swift movement curled a cracking left-footed finish across Westwood and into the far corner, it was an excellent finish but poor defending from the Blues.
‘Dale again had the Cumbrians on the backfoot just a minute on when left-back Alan Goodall crossed in for hot-shot Rickie Lambert but Westwood was pleased to be able to watch the Rochdale striker’s header sail over his bar.
Carlisle were looking dangerous as well however when they went forward, especially through the pace of Hackney on the left. In the sixth minute the young winger played in a good cross which Nade connected with at the back-post, his effort was well charged down by ‘Dale central midfielder Neil Brisco though.
It looked like it was going to be one of those days shortly afterwards when the ball fell anywhere but to a United boot from an Arnison cross in. Gilks and centre-half Ernie Cooksey stood and looked at each other while the ball dropped in the visitors area, Bridges was just unable to get a clear connection on the ball and Rory McArdle managed to hack the ball away for a corner much to the relief of the 363 travelling ‘Dale fans.
On 13 minutes the visitors again went close as the United defence backed off once more. Lanky striker Paul Tait picked the ball up 20 yards from the Blues goal and laid it off nicely to Sturrock whose snapshot was always rising but it didn’t clear Westwood’s bar by much.
Three Carlisle players had been walking a disciplinary tightrope coming into the game with Murphy, Billy and Lumsdon all on four bookings and a single card away from a one-match suspension. It was Billy who was to get the Russian Roulette bullet though as he picked up the only yellow card of the game in the 16th minute following a foul on Cooksey.
Four minutes later Bridges got a shot in from the edge of the Rochdale box following yet another cracking cross in by Hackney but it flew wide of Gilks’ post as the Cumbrians looked to get a grip on the game after a torrid opening 20 minutes.
‘Dale weren’t to be held back though and six minutes later Lambert tested Westwood in the United goal once more. The burly striker cut in well from the right and unleashed a rasping left-foot drive from 18 yards that Westwood got down too very quickly as he parried the ball away with both hands, it was a great save by the over-worked Carlisle custodian.
The Blues had been struggling to cope with Rochdale’s attacking 4-3-3 formation from the start of the game and Nade was the unlucky man bang on the half-hour mark as boss Paul Simpson decided to change things around tactically. Adam Murray came on on the right-hand side of midfield as Simpson looked to shore things up defensively for United, Nade had again looked a handful going forward but the Carlisle boss had deemed he wasn’t tracking back enough. Hackney was also pushed forward a little as the Cumbrians looked to match ‘Dale boss Steve Parkin’s formation.
That seemed to slow the game down for both teams as the ball spent more time in midfield with each side battling for possession on an absolute pudding of a pitch. At one point a high ball landed at the feet of Arnison but it was easy for the United right-back to clear when it only bounced about half an inch off the floor.
United had a good spell towards the end of the half though and two minutes from the interval Adam Murray was unlucky to see his downward header go straight at ‘Dale keeper Gilks. It was great work again by Hackney who sped down the left-wing before laying the ball back to Lumsdon. The ex-Sunderland schemer then crossed in for Adam Murray but his six-yard header was saved low down by Gilks when if it had gone anywhere but straight at Gilks it would have been a Carlisle equaliser.
It had been a disappointing opening period for the Blues, especially after conceding such an early goal, but there had been signs towards the end of the half that United were coming back into it and could score against a ‘Dale defence that has been porous all season.
Carlisle had looked to start brightly after the break but once more it was the visitors who had the better of it early on. A long McArdle ball up found it’s way through to Sturrock ten yards out from the United goal in the right-hand channel. Westwood flew off his line to challenge but Sturrock clipped the ball past him, fortunately for the Blues though the effort went wide of the United post with Arnison racing back to cover.
The Cumbrians had a good go at it from that point on however and were having plenty of possession albeit with little penetration. Too often Hackney swung some excellent crosses into the ‘Dale box which no United player was able to get on the end of, one in particular was an absolute pearler which Lumsdon, running in, was just unable to get his head to.
The equaliser, after being behind for 58 minutes, finally came though in the 60th minute for United through birthday boy Danny Livesey who celebrated getting the keys to the door with a simple tap-in. Gray sent Hackney away down the left and his low ball in was smuggled away for a Carlisle corner by ‘Dale’s South African right-back Warren Goodhind.
Adam Murray sent the flag-kick in deep to the back-post where Gray was lurking to head powerfully towards goal from six yards out. Gilks made a tremendous reaction save though to tip the ball onto the underside of his bar, luckily for United however Livesey was in the right place at the right time as he was able to side-foot the rebound home from just three yards out to level matters.
That equaliser seemed to just annoy the visitors though and they instantly came roaring back at United straight from the kick-off. One-time Barnsley midfielder Gary Jones picked the ball up just inside the Carlisle box and hit a powerful drive which Westwood managed to get down to and tip around the post for a flag-kick. Lambert’s execellent delivery in caused the Blues problems all afternoon, there was little pace on them but they constantly came down in a dangerous central position six yards out from the Cumbrians goal.
The Blues defended well under that Rochdale pressure however and began to boss the game as it went into it’s final quarter although the United strikers, and Bridges in particular, were struggling to control the ball as the pitch began to look like a ploughed field.
In the 76th minute Holmes came on to replace the tiring Hackney as Carlisle went to an even more attacking formation in their efforts to find a winner. It had been a good performance by Hackney who had tormented Goodhind throughout with his pace and his delivery from wide areas was consistently excellent considering it wasn’t a surface to suit small, tricky wingers.
United got their noses in front ten minutes from time and it was substitute Holmes, just four minutes after coming on, who was instrumental in the goal. Holmes bravely challenged McArdle just beyond the centre-circle and as the Lanark-born striker lay on the ground following the heavy challenge the ball broke nicely to Adam Murray in front of a retreating ‘Dale defence.
Murray played a lovely slide rule pass between Goodhind and Gallimore for Bridges to run through onto and in on goal. Bridges raced on, while Gallimore stood in vain appealing for an offside flag, although it was him who had played Bridges a yard or so onside. Gilks came out to meet Bridges just inside his box but a great piece of skill by the ex-Leeds man easily took him past the Rochdale keeper. Just as the Blues fans were about to celebrate the goal though Bridges stumbled on the ball on the bobbly surface and had to take an extra touch before nutmegging Goodhind who had raced back to cover and what turned out to be the winning goal, had at last gone in.
There was still plenty of time for Rochdale to try and grab an equaliser although United defended their lead resolutely in the closing stages as the visitors seemed to run out of ideas about how to break down the Blues rearguard. Gray and Livesey easily mopping up the long balls that were punted to the edge of the Carlisle box.
The best chance for the visitors to get something out of a game they had led for nearly an hour came two minutes from time through Jones. Goodall swung in a sweet left-footed cross which found it’s way to Jones eight yards out at the back-post but his header was weak and landed straight at the feet of Westwood.
McGill came on in the final minute for Bridges as Blues boss Simpson looked to run down the clock and break up play. The Jones header was it for the visitors though and after three minutes of injury time Yorkshire referee Paul Robinson, who is one of the best ones I’ve seen this seen season at Brunton Park, blew the final whistle on proceedings. That signalled a post-match huddle from the United players who were clearly proud of the way they had dragged a win back from the brink of defeat in front of the 6534 home supporters.
Post-match quotes :
Carlisle assistant manager Dennis Booth said after the game :
"We got off to a really poor start but it's not easy to play good football on this pitch at the moment. Their goal was bad defending and it took us over 20 minutes to get to grips with their system, then we made changes and we got back into the game.