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So it was the same starting eleven and substitutes that had taken to the field in the 1-0 win over Lincoln City eleven days earlier. For the Cumbrians that meant a starting back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Zigor Aranalde, Kevin Gray and Danny Livesey. Across the centre of the park were Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon and Peter Murphy, with Michael Bridges playing just off a front two of Derek Holmes and Karl Hawley.
It had been a horrendously cold and wet morning watching the youth team down in Penrith but fortunately the weather seemed to clear a little as kick-off approached in the afternoon. The Mariners fans had been talking about bringing 1,000 fans to Brunton Park in the build-up to the game but in the end only 515 supporters from North Lincolnshire were there out of a bumper feel-good factor attendance of 10,909.
It was always going to be a close encounter with so much to play for and so it would prove as the opening stages came and went with neither side prepared to push forward too much. The visitors won the first corner of the game after five minutes, Westwood going down in a heap after he ran into Livesey in an attempt to clear veteran midfielder Curtis Woodhouse's ball in from danger. Referee Graham Salisbury from Preston had already blown the whistle for a foul on Lumsdon by giant Town centre-half Rob Jones though.
There was little sign of any chances coming in the match however in the first 20 minutes with both teams closing the ball down very quickly. Grimsby were also another Lincoln City tactically, hoofing the ball from one end to the other, although the Blues relied on that option a bit too much for my liking against two big centre-halves as well. It was pretty scrappy stuff to be perfectly honest with both sides seeming more concerned about not losing than winning.
In the 16th minute Arnison played a long ball down the right which Hawley chased down as he managed to beat Town's vice-like offside trap. United's top scorer got a good cross into the box but ex-Notts County keeper Steve Mildenhall was alive to the danger and was able to collect easily as Holmes and Bridges were left waiting. Four minutes later and Bridges tried for a repeat of his wonder goal against Chester, but as he was for most of the game, he was soon crowded out by black and white shirts. Bridges managed to stumble the ball on into the visitors box, prompting a few appeals in vain for a penalty as he went down, it never looked like a spot-kick though and veteran Mariners right-back John McDermott was able to hoof the ball into the distance.
After 23 minutes a weak backpass from Rob Jones put Mildenhall in about five minds as he saw Hawley bearing down on him, the Town glovesman eventually deciding that discretion was the better part of valour as he launched the ball into the Paddock. Moments later Mildenhall was able to take an Arnison cross in from the right on the bounce after Hawley had battled strongly for possession on the edge of the Town box.
Shortly afterwards Mariners dangerous frontman, Michael Reddy, tried to find some space in the Carlisle box after cutting in from the left, Reddy getting a good shot in from 20 yards out but Murphy was able to get a block in on the effort. With 34 minutes gone Bridges collected an Aranalde ball up to him nicely, the ex-Leeds man cutting into the Town box to shoot on goal with his right-foot. Mildenhall made a bit of meal of it in the Grimsby net as it took him two attempts to keep hold of the ball as Hawley rushed in for any scraps.
In the 36th minute a good Grimsby counter-attack saw the ball moved between right-winger Marc Goodfellow, Reddy, another giant in striker Gary Jones and Andy Parkinson. It was central midfielder Parkinson who eventually got a cross in which was cleared back out to him by Livesey. From outside the right-angle of the box Parkinson then tried a shot on goal but referee Salisbury was well placed, from a United perspective, to get in the way of the effort and deflect the ball out for a Carlisle goal-kick.
The best chance in the first-half for the Mariners came in the 39th minute through pacey ex-Swansea man Goodfellow. A quick one-two with frontman Gary Jones sent him on down the Blues left-hand channel just ten yards from the United goal. Westwood was there quickly to narrow the angle down but it was still a good save with his legs as he diverted Goodfellow's left-footed effort out for a corner, a big missed opportunity, in a tight game, for the visitors.
With 42 minutes gone, a trademark Aranalde long throw came flying into the visitors box from the left, it seeming to take a knick off Town centre-half Justin Whittle as it flew on into the centre of the goalmouth. Mildenhall was very grateful that no Blues player had got themselves on the end of the loose ball, the Mariners keeper being able to grab hold of possession relatively comfortably.
Shortly before half-time Gray committed a silly foul on Reddy in the centre of the Cumbrians ‘D', pushing through the back of the ex-Sunderland striker when there was no need to. Woodhouse came up to take the free-kick as the Brunton Park faithful waited nervously for the half-time whistle, it was too close to get the ball up and down quickly though and the right-footed effort hit Aranalde in the wall on it's way out for a Town corner. The half-time whistle came after a short looking two minutes of added time, with three players having received treatment for injuries, and both sides will have gone down the tunnel reflecting on a half of football devoid of any real quality or goalscoring chances.
The second period started up at a much quicker pace than the first had and Town carved out a chance, pretty much straight from the kick-off. Parkinson and McDermott combined nicely, only for Parkinson to see his cross in from the right well blocked by Livesey, the ball broke to ex-Cambridge left-back Tom Newey but this time Billy was on hand to get in the way of the effort as United defended doggedly.
Seconds later the Blues pushed forward with Arnison crossing in nicely from the right, his ball in being touched on by Holmes to Bridges. The ex-Leeds man got a good connection on his 20 yard right-foot volley, the ball seeming to be deflected wide, Carlisle's protests were to no avail though as the official pointed for a Town goal-kick. United seemed to be trying to test the Mariners over the top for pace at the back now and it was from two of those balls that one goal eventually came.
In the 48th minute Westwood's huge ball over the top, with the slight wind in his favour, went straight in to Hawley down the left-hand channel who suddenly found himself one-on-one with the Grimsby keeper. His first touch was far too heavy though as he tried to take the ball around Mildenhall and he only succeeded in shinning it straight into the arms of the big Town glovesman. That seemed like a big missed chance at the time but only sixty seconds later all was forgiven as the Cumbrians took the lead.
Mildenhall's goal-kick broke out off the legs of Grimsby's Gary Jones straight to Aranalde in his customary left-back role. McDermott had pushed up trying to play offside, but Rob Jones and Whittle had stayed in, which allowed Bridges to run off the back of the Town right-back down the left-hand channel and onto a long Aranalde ball over the top. Bridges then showed his undoubted ability as he took the ball down beautifully with his right boot. Mildenhall had raced off his line to try and reach the deep pass and it left United's striker with a great opportunity to lift the ball over the top of the Town keeper and into the empty net from 20 yards out to send Brunton Park into raptures. Similar to the Lincoln match, it had always looked like a game where just one goal would win it and we had 41 minutes left to hope that would be the case.
Town came straight back into it though and in the 51st minute Parkinson laid the ball off cleverly to Goodfellow down the left. Goodfellow tried a quick effort on his left foot from 25 yards out but he pulled it across goal and Westwood was able to take a precautionary dive as the ball went wide of his far-post. Sixty seconds later Livesey was replaced by Adam Murray with Murphy moving back from left-midfield to centre-half. Livesey had been the subject of an awful tackle from behind by Reddy, for which the Town man hadn't even been booked, in the 13th minute, and had clearly been struggling to run off a sore achilles tendon from that moment on.
Bang on the hour-mark and Reddy won a flag-kick for the visitors off the legs of Aranalde. Woodhouse swung the ball in left-footed from the Waterworks/East Stand corner to the penalty area where, for a man of his height, the Mariners' Rob Jones really should have done better as he headed the ball down weakly past the Blues far-post. United's first change of the game came in the 65th minute when Simon Hackney came on for the tiring Holmes, Adam Murray moving from the left to a more favoured right-midfield role with the Cumbrians now seemingly opting for a more 4-4-2-like formation.
A minute on and Hackney was showing his quality at putting in pinpoint crosses straight away when Hawley laid the ball off to the youngster out on the left-wing. Hackney crossed in deep to the far-post from there where Adam Murray was waiting 12 yards out, Murray couldn't get enough power on his downward header back across goal though and Mildenhall was able to make a relatively simple save as he dived low to his right to cling onto the ball with both hands.
United went close in the 70th minute but it was all to no avail as referee Salisbury blew the whistle for a rather innocuous looking foul by Hawley on the Mariners keeper. Lumsdon swung in a corner from the right which flew straight under the Town crossbar. Hawley got his head to it as the ball went through Mildenhall's gloves but play had already been stopped as the ball hit the inside of the post and bounced back into the keeper's hands.
Seconds later and Westwood made a good diving save at his far-post after Newey's throw in from the left was flicked on by the head of Rob Jones across to Parkinson just ten yards out. The former Liverpool trainee could perhaps have done better, even though his shot was well-placed, when he pushed his effort weakly towards goal with his right boot, although the United keeper still did well to stop it being the equaliser. The next stoppage in play saw McDermott get the first booking of the game after a bad foul on Bridges out on the right a few minutes earlier, the official wisely using the break in play to go back to the incident.
With 74 minutes on the clock ex-Carlisle loanee Junior Mendes came on to replace Parkinson as Town looked to spice up their attacking options. The Blues saw another good chance go begging three minutes later after some nice play between Bridges and Adam Murray set up Hawley in a one-on-one with Mildenhall just ten yards out. Hawley seems to take his chances better when he has no time to think about what to do, and it was the same on this occasion when he dallied on the ball for far too long, allowing Newey time to get across to block his shot out for a corner. Just as the flag-kick was taken, which was easily cleared by the giant Rob Jones, an ill Bridges was replaced by Glenn Murray.
With ten minutes to go in the game Hawley tried his luck from 15 yards out in the right-hand channel but the huge frame of Town's Rob Jones was in the way to head his shot away from danger. Shortly afterwards, as United had a good spell of play, Adam Murray's slide-rule pass fed Hawley in, close to goal on the right of the box. Hawley's angle on the Grimsby net was a tight one though and he could only blaze his effort wide of the near-post and into the Warwick Road End.
The visitors then made two substitutions in the next sixty seconds as firstly the 6'7 Ben Futcher, who usually plays at centre-half, was sent on upfront for a bit of aerial bombardment in place of McDermott. Then Northern Ireland international midfielder Ciaran Toner came on as Goodfellow left the fray. Mendes won a corner almost immediately, sent in by Woodhouse, which was headed out for another Town flag-kick by Aranalde as the Blues struggled to clear the danger against such tall players. Woodhouse swung the ball in and this time it was Futcher who got there first only to nod the ball well over the United bar, perhaps he should have headed it down from his lofty position.
In the 88th minute, as the clock seemed to take forever to tick down, ex-Notts County midfielder Paul Bolland humped another long ball deep into the Carlisle box. Rob Jones won the flick-on but there was no-one to follow up for Town at the far-post and the ball went out for a United goal-kick. Westwood, in my eyes, didn't seem to be taking too long over hitting his dead-ball clearance out, but Mr Salisbury thought otherwise and waved a yellow card in front of the young keeper's nose for timewasting.
There was little finesse to the visitors' attempts to find a late leveller and the Blues back-line did very well to get a rid of a lot of the aerial balls in against opponents three or four inches taller than them. Three minutes of injury time went up on the electronic board and in the first few seconds of those Town were extremely fortunate not to be reduced to ten men. The ball bounced at the feet of Adam Murray and as the Carlisle man controlled the ball Toner came in a yard over the top of the ball and studded the United midfielder straight in the groin with the full force of his boot. It was a quite appalling decision by the official only to book Toner, how on earth timewasting can be the same level of offence as a dreadful tackle like that is beyond me.
With some lengthy treatment to Adam Murray having just occurred there was plenty of time yet for Town to find an equalising goal to break Cumbrian hearts and they almost got it near the end of the fourth minute of injury time. Newey's long ball up into the Carlisle box was headed across the six yard-line by Futcher where Gray managed to get some form of clearance on the ball. He could only nod it straight to the right foot of Woodhouse though whose volley from ten yards out was spilt by an unsighted Westwood. Gary Jones could only hack the ball sideways as it dropped at his feet and it went straight to United's grateful Glenn Murray who smashed it into the Waterworks End. Woodhouse stuck the corner into the near-post but Rob Jones was all over Westwood and the official awarded the Blues a pressure relieving free-kick. That signalled the end of any potential comeback by the visitors as a minute later the whistle went to signal yet another fantastic effort by the United team in what is turning out to be an amazing season.
Post-match quotes :
Grimsby manager Russell Slade said:
"I'm disappointed more than anything with the goal we conceded. We didn't disgrace ourselves at all and it was a tight game but we know that Michael Bridges is an executioner and he punished us severley."