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United boss Paul Simpson was faced with the same enforced change in the competition to his normal starting eleven that he had needed to make since the signing of the cup-tied Michael Bridges in mid-November. Adam Murray was the lucky man who got the nod to play in just behind the front two in place of Bridges after recovering from a virus to play the full 90 minutes of Carlisle's home 0-0 draw in the reserves against Preston on Wednesday.
So, for the Blues that meant a starting back-five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Danny Livesey, Kevin Gray and Zigor Aranalde. The three men strung across midfield were Peter Murphy, the only survivor from United's last Football League Trophy final in the 2002-03 season, Chris Lumsdon and Chris Billy. While upfront were the traditional pairing, in this competition, of Derek Holmes and Karl Hawley, with Murray sitting in a floating role just behind them.
Swansea boss Kenny Jackett, meanwhile, had to leave out ex-Swindon striker Rory Fallon, who had scored his first goal for the club in the midweek FAW Premier Cup final win over Wrexham, and Tom Williams, signed from Gillingham, who were both cup-tied. One-time Bangor City man Owain Tudur-Jones was chosen in midfield ahead of veteran Spaniard Roberto Martinez in a strong starting eleven for the Welshmen.
The two sides line-up before the big kick-off
The game got underway with both sides scrabbling for possession and trying to get the ball forward as quickly as possible to settle the early nerves in a stadium full of atmosphere with the roof closed. It couldn't have got off to much of a worse start for United though when they gave away an extremely sloppy goal with only three minutes on the clock, although some credit does have to go League One player of the season Lee Trundle for the quality of the finish.
Gray sent a bouncing back-pass into the feet of Westwood, who, unusually for him, got little height on his clearance as Trundle raced in to block. The ball flew as low and as straight as arrow for eight yards before clearly hitting the Liverpool-born frontman on the arms and deflecting out to Arnison. Carlisle's right-back dallied too long on the ball though and Swans left-winger Andy Robinson was able to get in a good tackle to send the ball flying across to diminutive midfield-man Leon Britton out on the right. Britton looked up and cleverly hit a deep ball to Trundle away in the left-hand channel six yards into the Cumbrians box, as Trundle had peeled away off the back of Livesey. Taking the ball down well on his chest, nothing really looked on until the City striker unleashed a pearler of a left-foot volley from 15 yards away across the despairing drive of Westwood and into the far corner. A fantastic finish by Trundle but it should never have come to that after the frontman blocked Westwood's clearance with his hands in the first place.
That early shocker seemed to knock a bit of stuffing out of Carlisle in the opening stages but they came back to win three corners to Swansea's one in another pacey period of football. It was from one of those flag-kicks though that City had the chance to go two goals to the good in the eighth minute. A Murphy corner in was cleared away by burly Swans targetman Adebayo Akinfenwa to Trundle on the left, who in-turn sent the overlapping Britton clear down that flank. Britton showed his pace to race in but he should really have squared the ball to Akinfenwa before he ran straight into a combination of Arnison and Lumsdon, the ball eventually coming off the right boot of Lumsdon and into the grateful arms of Westwood.
Soon after, some great inter-play down the left between Murphy, Holmes and Aranalde saw the ball worked in to Hawley but the cross from United's top scorer towards Lumsdon in the centre of the City box was easily cleared by Wolves loanee right-back Keith Lowe. Swansea were looking extremely dangerous every time they came forward on the break and sixty seconds later some fantastic work by left-back Sam Ricketts saw him turn Murray this way and that before firing in a low ball from the left by-line. The drive in found Akinfenwa at the back-post who teed it up with his left-foot for a close-range volley but Gray was able to block the six-yard effort as Carlisle creaked a little at the back.
In the 17th minute the claret was pouring from the side of Westwood's head following an aerial challenge on the young United keeper by Akinfenwa. Trundle hit a raking ball on the volley to Britton on the right, who in turn laid it back to ex-Manchester United centre-half Alan Tate on the same flank 40 yards from the Carlisle goal. Tate hit a deep cross from there into the back-post which Westwood, Akinfenwa and Gray all went up for. Gray headed the ball away but Akinfenwa could only head Westwood who went down clutching the side of his skull, referee Tony Leake of Darwen immediately stopping play as the ball broke out to Trundle on the left. It would be five minutes and 51 seconds before play was restarted again with Trundle tapping the drop ball out for a United goal-kick, Carlisle physiotherapist Neil Dalton being forced to tape up Westwood like an extra from The Deer Hunter in an effort to stem the flow of blood. The Blues keeper was also forced to change his bloodied shirt, wearing the number 50 on his back for the remainder of the game.
On 24 minutes Murphy went down a bit easily under a Tate challenge as the Irishman won the Cumbrians a free-kick 35 yards out in the left-hand channel. Like a lot of Carlisle set-pieces this season the delivery in was poor as Lumsdon sent it sailing straight into the arms of City's French goalkeeper Willy Gueret. The Swans glovesman then hurled a long throw out to Trundle who took the ball in well before setting Robinson free down the left and in on the United goal with a cleverly lobbed ball over Arnison. Billy did well to get back across quickly to put a bit of pressure on Robinson though and the ex-Tranmere man could only pull his right-footed effort from inches outside the United box well wide of Westwood's near-post much to the relief of the travelling Blue Army.
Three minutes later United thought that they had found an equaliser against the run of play through Hawley only for it to be, rightly, ruled out by the assistant referee for offside. Arnison's cross in from the right looped over the head of Swans skipper and centre-half Garry Monk for Hawley to skilfully chest back to the feet of Holmes just 15 yards out in the City box. Holmes smashed in a good drive with his left foot without taking a touch but Gueret was equal to it as he dived away to his right to parry the ball up in the air. Hawley was on-hand to nod home the rebound from close range but he was standing a yard or so ahead of Tate when the initial shot was struck to leave the cheers stuck in the throats of the Cumbrian faithful.
Just as the clock ticked onto 34 minutes Tudur-Jones hit a long ball over the top for Akinfenwa and Gray to chase after. Gray had a good yard on the big striker but he made a meal of completing the clearance, eventually allowing Akinfenwa to get in front of him, forcing Westwood to come out and save with his left knee from a narrow angle in the right-hand channel. Trundle swung the corner in from the right which Westwood got a bit of a punch on from his goal-line, the ball went straight to Britton though, but he could only blaze a 15-yard half-volley way over the United bar with his right foot as Billy raced out to block.
Shortly afterwards Carlisle were almost caught napping after Lumsdon brought down Trundle 40 yards out from the Blues goal. Tate and Robinson worked the free-kick quickly with Robinson racing in from the left with no challenge coming anywhere near him, the pacey winger lost his composure whern he got a sight of goal though as he smashed his 25-yard effort well wide of the Cumbrians far-post. Swansea had been by far the more dangerous side going forward in the opening period but the Blues weren't to be denied on their big day as they grabbed a life-line with a Murray equaliser on 40 minutes.
United won a corner on the right when Murray had seemed to foul Ricketts into the ball, the Swansea man knocking it over the by-line for a Carlisle flag-kick in. Murphy swung it in to the back-post but City defensive midfielder Kris O'Leary was able to head it away from Gray and out for a Blues throw-in on the left. Aranalde hurled the ball in and Carlisle had O'Leary to thank this time as the ball glanced off his head, after Holmes had put him under pressure at the near-post, straight into the middle of the Swans box. It looked like Robinson was detailed to mark Murray but he just stood and watched as the United midfielder ran off him to head easily home from just six yards out into the bottom right-corner of Gueret's net, a classic set-piece goal from the Blues.
The Blue Army in full voice after Adam Murray's equaliser
Two minutes later and the game could have turned full circle when Carlisle went extremely close to taking a 2-1 lead. Westwood hammered a long goal-kick downfield which was touched on by the left boot of Holmes into the feet of Hawley, who was being tightly marked by Tate in the middle of the Swansea ‘D'. United's top scorer turned his marker fantastically well into the box though as he completely bamboozled Tate, only to be denied by the legs of Gueret who had come racing from his line to block Hawley's attempted dink over his body from 15 yards out. Great work by the Swansea keeper and a fantastic opportunity for the Blues, a huge moment in the match from the persepctive of both sides.
The Swans were still making plenty of chances themselves though and Akinfenwa almost regained the lead for City with an excellent individual effort after 43 minutes. Lowe played a ball in down the right flank which the powerful frontman took down well on his chest. Taking the ball away from Lumsdon and then evading Gray easily, Akinfenwa was allowed to run all the way to the edge of the box as the Carlisle defence foolishly stood off him. Akinfenwa spotted his moment then and tried an ambitious shot with the outside of his right-foot across Westwood from 20 yards out which, in the end, was only a whisker away from finding the bottom-left corner of the United net.
After 44 minutes Ricketts went through the back of Hawley in an aerial challenge from a Westwood goal-kick to gift the Blues a free-kick 25 yards out in the left-hand channel. Aranalde stepped up to hammer the set-piece in , but like nearly every Carlisle free-kick on goal this season, it was poor fare and the City wall was able to block it away easily. Although how referee Leake allowed it to be taken in the first place when Trundle was standing about four yards behind it is another question.
In the third minute of an unsurprisingly lengthy period of stoppage time Murray was the first player on the day to go into the referee's notebook for a poor late tackle on Robinson on the Swansea left-wing. Three minutes later City's Britton broke away well down the right, only to be tracked across by Billy who smacked the ball into the shinpads of Britton straight to Tudur-Jones in a central position 25 yards out from the United goal. The ex-Bangor City man's effort on goal was terrible though as he sliced a right-footed half-volley at least ten yards wide of the Carlisle far-post.
That was the end of the action in a first-half that, to be fair, Swansea had looked by far the more dangerous going forward in, although the Blues had come more and more into the game as time went on. Interestingly, only five minutes and fifty seconds of injury time were played even though the time taken to treat Westwood, and then a minor knee knock to Holmes, totalled seven minutes alone. Add on one booking and two goals and the first-half must have been nearly three minutes short in reality.
The Blues made a better start to the second-half early on and enjoyed a good spell of possession before City's Monk receiving treatment for a dead leg broke up the thrust of United's attacking play somewhat. Infact straight from that stoppage in play Swansea could have taken the lead in the 49th minute after a long Gueret goal-kick was flicked-on by Tudur-Jones, taken down nicely by Akinfenwa and played into the feet of the advancing Britton 30 yards out from the Carlisle goal. Britton ran on down the right-hand channel and it needed a tackle from Livesey to stop the ex-West Ham man as he was about to enter the Blues box. The ball only broke straight to Robinson though in the left-edge of the Cumbrians ‘D' but Westwood was down quickly at his near-post to save well from the City winger's right-footed effort with his instep.
Just 30 seconds later and an even better chance came for City through Akinfenwa. Robinson chipped a ball over the top for Akinfenwa to chase down, showing great pace, he caught up with Gray although when the United man attempted his clearance the ball came off the arms of Akinfenwa and slap bang into his stride on goal. The ball sat up nicely for the big striker 15 yards out to the right of Carlisle goal and he struck his effort very well across Westwood only for the Blues keeper make an excellent full-length diving save to push the ball beyond his far-post for a Swansea corner. Another great chance for the Welshmen but another truly awful decision by the assistant referee on the City side of the stadium who must have been looking directly at the incident with nothing at all blocking his vision.
Murray had a shot blocked by Ricketts in the 51st minute from 20 yards out and Swansea looked dangerous from a couple of corners in which United struggled to clear but defences were beginning to find their way on top in the game. After 54 minutes came another poor decision, this time from the Carlisle side assistant referee when he gave a handball against Hawley, the ball clearly coming off the top of the United man's chest. Again it was a completely unrestricted view for the official standing just ten yards away and you really do wonder what they are watching, the standard of linesmen has been truly awful this season, for and against the Blues at various times.
With 56 minutes on the clock a long Westwood free-kick up, after a foul by Tudur-Jones on Billy, was chested back out by Holmes to Murphy 30 yards from the City goal on the left. The Dubliner tried an ambitious half-volleyed driven effort from there but it was always going to be too much to ask and Gueret was able to easily watch it sail well past his far-post. Shortly afterwards Murphy tired a similar effort, this time from a more central position as United upped the tempo but O'Leary was able to get a block in on the shot. Next up was an Aranalde cross in from the left following some good work by Holmes and Hawley, but the ball in went just behind the latter and Tate was able to clear.
The Blues almost made their good spell of early pressure tell just before the hour-mark when they nearly took the lead with a carbon copy of their first goal. This time though Gueret was alive to the danger and able to get a flying punch away on the Holmes flick-on as Murray raced in to try and bury his header into the back of the City net once more. Seconds later Billy's good clearing header landed at the feet of Hawley, who ran on as the Swans defence backed off, before laying the ball out to Aranalde on the left. The Spaniard crossed in nicely but it was inches over the head of Hawley who had continued his run into the City penalty area and Monk was able to head it away to safety over his own crossbar.
United had a succession of corners in the 62nd minute as they really began to get on top in the game. Murphy's flag-kick in breaking to Lumsdon, running in twelve yards out, who must have thought he had a great chance to finish only to see Tudur-Jones putting his body on the line with an excellent block tackle. The Blues weren't finished though and the ball fell to Livesey at the far-post who headed back across goal for Holmes at the near, this time Monk was in the way however as the City man conceded another flag-kick to the Cumbrians. The resultant Murphy ball in was won by Livesey, under, shall we say, a physical challenge from O'Leary, although the Carlisle man's header looked to be going inches wide but for the intervention of Ricketts who nodded it behind for yet another corner. This time though Murphy could only send it straight into the arms of Gueret, this was more like it from Carlisle as the Cumbrian faithful really got behind their team.
That passage of play was the signal for City boss Kenny Jackett to decide that he needed to start to make the Blues defend a little bit more as he made the first substitution of the game. Recent £125,000 signing from Brighton, Leon Knight, coming in of place of O'Leary, although it was somewhat bizarre to see an out-and-out goal-poacher like Knight be shoved straight out onto the left-wing. A minute later and Arnison was the second Carlisle player on the day to receive a yellow card when Knight, bang on the half-way line, knocked the ball past the Blues right-back and was body-checked by Arnison as he looked to make ground down the flank.
In the 68th minute Adam Murray sent Hawley racing clear down the right-hand channel and in on goal, only for the assistant referee to incorrectly put his flag up for offside, Hawley having actually been in line on the shoulder of Monk when the ball was played. A minute later the Carlisle frontman should have been far more cynical when he raced on to a chipped pass down the left-flank by Murphy. Gueret just caught Hawley as the Blues striker knocked the ball past him but Hawley stayed on his feet, although he was unable to stop the ball from going out for a Swansea throw in the corner. Sadly you have to make a meal of a challenge sometimes these days in order to get a free-kick, if he had gone down then Gueret would most probably have been booked as well. Moments later Cumbrians boss Paul Simpson made his first tactical change of the game, when the traditional late replacement of Glenn Murray for Holmes came around. Murray was immediately in the thick of the action as he took both man and ball, leaving Robinson in a crumpled heap on the Swansea left with a very firm, but fair, challenge.
After 74 minutes a neat Robinson ball in from the right-hand channel found the feet of Trundle 15 yards out. The City striker was unable to repeat his first-half heroics for the Swans though when he could only send his left-footed effort weakly through the legs of Gray and into the grateful arms of Westwood. Straight from there and Hawley showed some great play out on the right to work the ball back onto his left foot and cross in to the penalty spot area. Murphy ran on in the ball and tried a glancing header to the far-post but he got too little on it and drifted well wide of Gueret's goal. Trundle wasn't to be outdone though for the Swans when he and Britton worked a short corner, Trundle cutting in from the right only to send his left-footed effort across goal high, wide and not very handsome.
With eleven minutes to go in a match that was starting to turn a little scrappy on a big pitch with both sides beginning to tire the United coaching staff brought on the pacey Simon Hackney for Adam Murray. It was perhaps a change that could have been made earlier but it also seemed a bit strange to me that with Hackney now on the left-wing, our left-sided centre-half, in poor old Murphy, was now stuck out on the right-hand side of midfield. A minute later an Aranalde long throw-in was cleared away by Monk straight to Murphy but his left-footed half-volley from fully 25 yards out was easy for Gueret to gather as the ball bounced straight in front of him.
The Blues were made to pay for not taking their earlier chances though in the 81st minute when Akinfenwa broke the hearts of the travelling Carlisle fans when he put City 2-1 up. Tate made a run infield from his right-back spot and pushed the ball into the feet of Trundle, who had his back to goal 30 yards out but still managed to flick a clever ball up with the outside of his left boot for Akinfenwa and Gray to challenge for. United could perhaps have had a free-kick twice from then on as first the City man seemed to put his arm across Gray's shoulder and then, as the ball came down, the big Londonder seemed to see the ball roll down his left arm before dropping at his feet. The whistle never came though and the burly frontman ran in on goal before chipping the ball over the diving Westwood with his right foot, the Carlisle keeper managing to get a hand on the effort, but not a strong enough one to stop it going into the net.
With the United coaching staff still vehemently protesting that the goal should have been ruled out for offside the Carlisle players tried to haul themselves back into the game and find an equaliser to take the match on into extra-time. Billy making some good room for himself on the edge of the City box, but his 22-yard right-footed effort was never on target and flew way wide of Gueret's far-post. Shortly afterwards ex-Wigan man and Swansea veteran Martinez, came on in place of Robinson as the City coaching staff looked to protect their lead. The Blues huffed and puffed for a short period after the disappointment of conceding such a late goal but they never really looked like threatening the Swans goal. City meanwhile had a spate of keep ball for a few minutes where they made the ball do all the work as the tired United lads tried desperately to chase play down and regain possession.
It was only the introduction of traditional makeshift striker Simon Grand, coming on for Arnison in the 89th minute, that sparked some life into the Cumbrians for one last effort to try and find the all-important equaliser. Just over a minute into the four minutes of injury time allotted and the Blues thought they had found that leveller through a fantastic overhead kick from Glenn Murray. Murphy hurled a throw in from the right which City's Tudur-Jones attempted to clear only to head it on into the danger area. Glenn Murray was lurking with his back to goal ten yards out and produced an outstanding attempt on goal that was heading for the top corner only for Gueret to be well positioned to tip it over the bar for a Carlisle corner. Desperately unlucky for the Blues as if Murray hadn't hit it as well it would probably have sliced away off his boot and into the far-corner to leave Gueret with no chance.
Over 13,000 pairs of hands had gone to the top of Cumbrian heads after that save but United weren't finished yet, Murphy's corner in being put behind by Monk under pressure from Gray. Glenn Murray flicked the next one on at the near-post but Grand just couldn't get a firm enough connection on the ball with his left foot to put it in the back of the City net, Gueret being able to easily gather the ball on the floor. As injury time ticked down Grand sent a ball over the top of the City defence for Hawley to chase down in the left-hand channel. The Blues frontman getting to the ball first but perhaps a little bit more composure was needed as Hawley could only fire a left-footed half-volley from 15 yards out straight into the waiting arms of Gueret. That was pretty much the last action of the game as referee Leake brought proceedings to a close in a game where all three goals could have been disallowed for one reason or another.
The Carlisle players troop up dejectedly to receive their losers medals
Post-match quotes :
United boss Paul Simpson said:
"There was a definite suspicion of handball but I don't want to sound bitter and twisted about it. The lad stuck it away well but I think we could have had a little bit more help from the officials on that one. We can concentrate on the league now and start preparing for the match against Grimsby next weekend."
Swansea manager Kenny Jackett commented :
"It's just a great feeling at the moment, with the saves Carlisle's goalkeeper was making in the second half I was wondering if it would be our day. They are a very good side who kept coming back at us, but I'm pleased to come through it and to win in front of 30,000 of our fans is just fantastic."
thetashkenttheory :
Oh well, bang goes another Football League Trophy final and another defeat then, at least we managed to score a goal this time I suppose, thank heavens for small mercies. Either side could really have won it in the end, with Swansea certainly being the better side in the first-half and United having the majority of the play in the second period. Without the cup-tied Michael Bridges though we did struggle to carve out many clear-cut chances and started to resort to a bit of the old long-ball stuff again.
Zigor Aranalde had perhaps his best match in a Carlisle shirt, nothing phased him all afternoon and his long throws were continually dangerous. Paul Arnison and Chris Billy also deserve a mention, Billy is in excellent form of late and is really helping the Blues come on strong in the automatic promotion run-in. A big pitch and a fast, strong forward Swansea front-line of Lee Trundle and Adebayo Akinfenwa caused Kevin Gray a lot of problems and you wonder how many seasons he has left in him, especially if we are in League One next year.
Always great to see so many Cumbrians congregated together in such an excellent following, although with everyone so spread out it does make it difficult to get a good atmosphere going. The opening 25 minutes of the game, when the Blues really had their backs to the wall, didn't help the United fans get off to a good start support-wise either. The noise only really got going properly in the Carlisle end when we went 2-1 down after 81 minutes and were desperately trying to find an equaliser to be perfectly honest.
I went to watch Bristol City play Yeovil on Saturday afternoon and it has to be said that Swansea were a far better side going forward than those two, if not at a similar level at the back. If we do go up this season I'd be pretty confident, on the evidence of this weekend, that if we can hold on to our best players, that a mid-table finish in League One is more than achievable. Not just on the field, but off the field, the club has to have the chance to settle at one level and consolidation would not be a bad thing, next season, again if we can make the automatic promotion spots.
For all it was a fantastic day out though, that's all it was in reality, and there are far more important games to come if we want to be playing teams like Swansea in the league every week next season. Those matches start, of course, with the visit of second-placed Grimsby Town to Brunton Park next Saturday. With our fantastic six wins in a row of late we have now put ourselves in a position where we don't have to win every game, losing is the main thing we have to avoid, and it promises to be a big match in front of a bumper crowd, the type of clash we have missed playing in for far too long.