United travelled down without Peter Murphy who was still recovering from a rib injury sustained at Gravesend last week. Paul Simpson reverted to 4-3-3 with Andy Preece starting up front alongside Karl Hawley and Magno Vieira. Carlisle had a shout for a penalty in the 6th minute when Hawley fell over inside the box but appeals were waved away. Two minutes later Craig Disley's shot was deflected away by Simon Grand to concede a corner. The lively Junior Agogo turned Kevin Gray and shot narrowly wide of the right post from 25 yards. A Lumsdon free kick found its way to Grand who saw the ball fly over off his knee in the 12th minute. A snapshot by Vieira in the 18th minute almost surprised Rovers. Glennon had to tip over a minute later as the home team forced another corner. Disley met the corner with his forehead but the ball flew harmlessly over. Shelley produced a nice pass to put in Hawley who wasted a good opening as the ball was taken off his toe by Liam Burns. McGill and Vieira combined well on 28 minutes but James Hunt did well to deny McGill a shooting chance. Preece passed to Vieira who created an opening for himself but his shot was straight at keeper Kevin Miller. Vieira again went close on 37 minutes when he was fed by Preece and had a pop from outside the box and Miller saved well. Lumsdon found Preece in space and the veteran striker squared the ball across for Hawley but Miller did well to get down and save at his feet. Disley put in a ball that Agogo half-headed straight at Glennon as the game moved into first-half stoppage time. Hawley fired into the side netting when a pass to an unmarked Vieira might have been better. Half-time brought no goals with the game fairly even. Rovers began the second half positively and put Glennon under a bit of pressure, but the burly stopper made a good save from a testing cross in the 48th minute. Tom Cowan spoke out of turn shortly after and was booked. Preece fired a free kick from 30 yards into the defensive wall. A good run by Agogo on 53 minutes ended with a pass to Hunt who fired narrowly wide of the angle of cross-bar and post. Vieira shot well over on 63 minutes after some good build-up play. Hunt had a shot fly off the bar in the 70th minute as Rovers went so close to breaking the deadlock. Craig Farrell came on as substitute for Vieira with 17 minutes remaining and his first act was a firm shot from 25 yards out that was blocked. Lumsdon created a half-chance for Hawley who fired over from long range as Carlisle continued to look dangerous in patches. Agogo was brought down by Grand inside the box but no spot kick was awarded and then Billy pulled down Haldane to concede a free kick. From the kick the ball bounced around on the edge of the six-yard box and it was Richard Walker who got the key touch to put the home team ahead. Within 30 seconds though the Cumbrians dramatically equalised as Lumsdon swung in a free-kick, Miller flapped at it and little winger Brendan McGill grabbed the all-important goal. Hawley put in a testing cross looking for Grand but a defender put a foot in to deny him and concede a corner. Shelley made a good block to deny Rovers with 9 minutes left and then skied an attempted clearance. Rovers won a corner and put more pressure on but Glennon held firm to grab the shot. Henderson replaced Preece as time ran down. Agogo drilled over on the half-volley when he had a great chance to win it with a minute of normal time left. As the game moved into injury time Henderson tried his luck from distance, Miller tipping on to the bar and over. Then Farrell made a dart forward and drove into the side netting instead of looking for Henderson inside him. It was United looking closer to snatching it as the final whistle went. Al's verdict: So we get Rovers back up to Brunton a week on Tuesday for a deserved replay. Our defence looked very solid after a slightly wobbly start and in the second half we looked the better side. The re-shaped side with Murph out didn't cost us much and we looked every inch as good as the home team who are pushing for a play off place in the division above us. It was great timing to see little Bren grab a vital equaliser just moments after they had scrambled a goal. Then Hendo almost did another 'Scarborough' which brought a great save from their keeper. A good test of our confidence and ability and we appear to have come through it unscathed and still in with a chance of reaching the next round. |
