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So, that meant a back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Kevin Gray, Murphy and Aranalde. Simmo had opted for a 4-3-1-2 formation in the end with Adam Murray, Chris Lumsdon and Chris Billy the three men in midfield. Michael Bridges was the "man in the hole" as he sat just off a front two of Karl Hawley and Derek Holmes. Youth team keeper Adam Bradley kept his place on the bench despite the return from Bury of early season first-team number one Anthony Williams, who is ineligible to play until his loan period officially ends.
A cracking start from the Cumbrians saw them almost take the lead straight from the kick-off. Billy mishit his traditional punt from the centre spot only for the ball to fall straight at the feet of Bridges 30 yards out. Bridges took the ball on and struck a low drive in but sadly for United it whistled wide of the Chester net that was guarded by Luxembourg international Stephane Gillet.
The opening stages were absolutely all United as they had the visitors on the back foot continually. Infact only thirty seconds after the Bridges effort, Holmes was felled on the edge of the City box by on-loan centre-half Mark Roberts. Murphy stepped up to take the set-piece and had Gillet scrambling across his goal as his left-footed curler flew into the side-netting.
After five minutes Aranalde and Holmes combined well before the big Scot played the ball into Bridges, the ex-Leeds man’s shot from 15 yards out being blocked by City defender Carl Regan. The ball came straight back out to Arnison though 20 yards out and he hit a cracker which just knicked the outside of Gillet’s post as it flew behind for a goal-kick.
Sixty seconds later and it was looking like it was going to be one of those days for Carlisle as Hawley missed a glorious opportunity. A sublime piece of skill from Murphy in the centre of the park saw his drag-back bamboozle two City players, Murphy then curled a lovely ball over the head of Chester defender Scott McNiven and into the path of Hawley who was clear on goal. United’s top scorer cut in from the right-edge of the City box but could only pull his mid-range shot across the face of Gillet’s goal and out for a by-kick.
With nine minutes gone it was still all Blues as the visitors seemed unable to get hold of the ball. Aranalde crossed in, Holmes headed down and Adam Murray was on hand to get a shot in which was deflected over the Chester bar. The resultant corner was only part-cleared to Gray whose header came to Hawley, who in turn fed Holmes, but the Lanark-born striker’s shot was booted away from danger by an overworked City defence.
Chester’s first chance of the game came in the 13th minute through Ben Davies who had terrorised Carlisle in the 2-0 Deva defeat earlier in the season. After Lumsdon had brought down City striker Derek Asamoah 20 yards out Davies struck the free-kick in strongly to the far-post. Westwood should have taken it cleanly on the bounce but could only spill the ball back in front of him, fortunately for the Blues Holmes was on hand to boot the ball away from danger for a corner.
That was as good as it got for the visitors though as a minute later United took a lead that they would only increase as the game progressed. Some great footwork by Bridges out on the right-wing saw him float a cross into the box which was flicked on to the far-post area by Holmes. Adam Murray controlled the ball after it had gone over his head and hit a shot in on the turn from eight yards out with his left foot which beat Gillet easily only for on-loan left-back Evan Horwood to clear the ball away on or over the line. The assistant referee on the East Stand side immediately signalled for a goal however and the Blues were off to a flying start. It was impossible to tell from my position 80 yards away whether the ball had gone in or not although TV replays suggest it might not have. The same view can be said for Chester boss Keith Curle as well however who didn’t think the ball had crossed the line even though he was stood 60 yards away on an angle.
With 22 minutes on the clock it was Adam Murray who was again in the thick of things as he worked tirelessly on the right-hand side of midfield. Bridges played the ex-Derby man in but his curler from the edge of the Chester area flew just over the angle of post and bar. Four minutes later Bridges picked up a loose ball from a poor Gillet clearance and tried to hit it back over the head of the Luxembourg international only for it drop wide of the target. On the evidence of this afternoon there can’t be many goalkeepers in the Duchy if Gillet plays for the national team.
Six minutes later Holmes and Bridges combined with Bridges sending a snapshot narrowly wide in a rare United foray upfield as the visitors were actually starting to have a little bit of possession at last. Their play too often petered out though with the lightweight front two of Asamoah and Michael Branch getting little good service against a well marshalled Carlisle back-line.
A chance did come for City just after the half-hour from a free-kick on chairman’s son Stephen Vaughan that was conceded by Billy. Scott McNiven swung the set-piece in which was only part-cleared by Aranalde straight to Davies, the Welsh semi-pro international got his shot in early from 15 yards out but it was high, wide and not very handsome. Shortly afterwards, as United started to drop back a bit for the only period in the game, City midfielder Ryan Lowe got a cross in from the left but Asamoah could only head it weakly straight at Westwood in the Carlisle goal.
The Blues had survived Chester’s spell of pressure well though and just as us Paddockers were looking at our watches and hoping we could keep our 1-0 lead going into half-time, we ended up going in at half-time with a 2-0 lead thanks to a stunning Bridges individual goal.
There seemed to be little danger for the Chester defence when a Lumsdon header in the opposition half of the centre-circle found it's way to Hawley, who in turn laid the ball back to the ex-Sunderland man. It was all Bridges from then on though as he embarked on a magical run and produced a sublime finish. Bridges ran at a retreating City defence, dribbling the ball past at least three players, before unleashing an unstoppable left-footed drive from 15 yards out into the bottom corner of Gillet’s net despite the best efforts of McNiven to get in a tackle. Certainly a goal of the season contender.
The half-time whistle came after two minutes of stoppage time and referee Gary Lewis of Cambridge was the only man booed down the tunnel after some intriguing free-kick decisions. Hawley in particular seemed to get dragged all over the place time and time again only for the official to then give a free-kick against United for an extremely minor offence.
City boss Keith Curle made an immediate change to his defence after the interval bringing on Chris Robertson for Roberts in the left centre-half spot. Robertson is currently at the Deva on-loan from Sheffield United and previously played against the Blues on-loan to Leigh RMI last season. That evening his team were on the end of a 6-1 defeat and today would eventually end up no better for the 20 year-old Scot.
United once more started brightly as Aranalde’s cross found it’s way to Hawley inside the Chester box. Hawley's shot on the turn was blocked by McNiven, the ball spinning up to Bridges. The Whitley Bay-born striker tried a right-footed half-volley from the right-hand side of the visitors box but the ball was too high to connect with properly and he could only send his effort sailing into the Warwick Road End.
Just as looked like it was going to be plain sailing again for the Cumbrians in the second-half, Chester had their best chance of the afternoon to find the net. Davies ran onto a touch from Asamoah inside the left-edge of the box only to go sprawling to the ground under minimal contact from Murphy, referee Lewis was convinced though and pointed straight to the spot. Branch was the man with the responsibility as he tried to blaze his effort down the middle, the drive lacked real pace though and Westwood was able to stick out a leg and block the effort as he dived to his right, the ball being headed clear from danger by Murphy.
That for me was the turning point in the game as Chester seemed to lose heart form that point when a goal would surely have seen more pressure on the United goal. The Blues were well on top now until the end of the game and in the 52nd minute Lumsdon swung a nice free-kick in which Bridges flicked on, sadly for Carlisle though the ball went straight into the midriff of Gillet.
Just a minute later came the first of at least three strong penalty requests from the Cumbrians which referee Lewis seemed completely oblivious to. Holmes and McNiven challenged for an Aranalde ball in which seemed to come straight off the hand of the Chester defender. Aranalde blasted the loose ball out for a goal-kick while the Blues players appealed in vain for a spot-kick.
Next up came a corner in from Murphy which once more seemed to hit the hand of a Chester man. This time it was Regan who looked like the guilty party only for the official to again deny United’s penalty claims. Then in a spate of severe Carlisle pressure it was Hawley who was looking for a spot-kick as it looked like he was brought down in the City box by Vaughan. At last though, sixty seconds later, the Cumbrians finally got the penalty they could have had three times before when Robertson went right through the back of Hawley in an aerial challenge from a deep Aranalde ball into the box. To be honest it looked no more or no less like a spot-kick than the other claims but you got the impression that the official realised he would have to give one of them if he was to get out of Brunton Park alive. Regular penalty taker Lumsdon dispatched the spot-kick with consumate ease as he sent Gillet the wrong way and drove his effort home into the bottom-right corner of the City net.
Lanky striker Marcus Richardson came on for the visitors in the 63rd minute as he replaced the diminutive Asamoah but, unfortunately for Chester, Richardson’s first involvement in the game was at the kick-off after United had bagged their fourth sixty seconds later. Bridges' flicked header over the top of the Chester defence from a Westwood goal-kick sent Hawley racing clear down the middle with City defenders trailing in his wake. United’s top scorer then ran in on goal and picked his spot well from just outside the box as he drove the ball hard across Gillet and into the bottom-left corner of the net. That goal leaves Hawley just one goal short of the magical 20 goal mark in a season that all strikers crave, and with Bridges now on eight goals already, the Blues forward line really is firing in this campaign.
Carlisle continued to press forward in numbers and it was only some lucky ricochets and near misses that stopped the Blues notching a fifth in that period of the game. Davies was clearly frustrated with the way the game was going as he went through the back of Bridges in the 69th minute, it was an awful challenge and one he was rightly booked for by referee Lewis. Regan was the next City player to be cautioned six minutes later following a crude hack on Hawley.
A substitution apiece occurred for either side as the game started to quieten down a little. Glenn Murray replaced the tiring Holmes in the 77th minute for United and two minutes later Gregg Blundell came on to a crescendo of boos from 6378 of the 6581 strong crowd, Branch the man to make way for Chester. It didn’t take too long however for those jeers to turn into cheers when Glenn Murray put the Blues 5-0 up in the 82nd minute.
Glenn Murray had only seconds earlier toe-poked a Bridges cross wide when Hawley was better placed behind him, this time though the Maryport-born striker made no mistake as he blasted home from 12 yards out. Sent clear by an intelligent Bridges touch pass over the top Glenn Murray took the ball on into the box and side-footed it sweetly into the right-hand corner of the net with his left-foot past the despairing dive of Gillet. It was another chance that had come for the Blues through some terrible play by the City back-line. Numerous times in the second-half one defender would drop at least five yards behind the rest and leave huge gaps for the marauding Carlisle forwards to run into, a certain sign of three loan signings playing their first game together.
Two minutes later Bridges and Lumsdon were replaced by Simon Hackney and Brendan McGill respectively, both players leaving the field to a huge round of applause from the Brunton Park faithful. Bridges in particular was outstanding today and we are beginning to see the Premiership best of him now that is he fully match-fit.
That was the end of the game from then on really as both sides seemed content to declare at 5-0 to United. Two minutes of injury time were played, which seemed to be over quickly judging by recent standards, and the final whistle came from Gary Lewis to finally take Carlisle to the top of the League Two table.
Post-match quotes :
United boss Paul Simpson said after the game :
"I'm absolutely delighted with the performance. I asked for a response after last week's defeat and I certainly got it. We deserved the victory and we coped with everything that Chester had.