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With skipper Kevin Gray and Chris Billy serving one-match bans Simon Grand and Adam Murray came in as direct replacements. Also, Michael Bridges, who had to sit out the game against the Mariners through injury, came back into the side with Derek Holmes dropping down to the bench.
That meant a back five of Keiren Westwood, stand-in captain Peter Murphy, Danny Livesey, Paul Arnison and Grand. In midfield were Zigor Aranalde, Adam Murray, Chris Lumsdon and Brendan McGill with Karl Hawley and Bridges upfront. On the bench were Anthony Williams, Simon Hackney, Raphael Nade, David Beherall and Holmes.
Bury manager Chris Casper’s plans for the match were thrown into turmoil early on Saturday morning when star winger Simon Whaley completed a £300,000 transfer window move to Championship side Preston North End.
United started the match brightly against a Shakers side that looked there for the taking straight from the opening kick-off and only four minutes had gone on the clock when the Blues hit the woodwork. Arnison hit a long ball up the right which was only partly cleared by Bury left-back Tom Kennedy straight to McGill whose dipping 18 yard half-volley crashed off the top of the visitors bar and over.
Three minutes later and it was the Blues who were again pressing forward as McGill made hay down the right. The young Dubliner got a good cross into the centre of the box but Bridges could only loop his header straight into the grateful arms of Bury keeper Neil Edwards.
It didn’t take much longer for the Cumbrians to make the breakthrough however when Grand put United one goal to the good in the tenth minute. In front of an empty Waterworks end Peter Murphy sent in a sweet corner from the East Stand side which dropped nicely into the Bury six-yard box. It was difficult to tell exactly what happened from then on as the ball seemed to bounce off a few pairs of legs before it finally flew into the bottom corner of the visitors net. Grand was the man getting the plaudits as the players wheeled away with the ex-Rochdale man claiming his opening goal of the season at first-team level.
After 16 minutes Aranalde and Bridges linked up nicely, with the Spaniard eventually hitting a powerful low cross that Shakers centre-half Colin Woodthorpe did well to clear up the pitch under pressure from the running-in Hawley.
The visitors were actually seeing quite a lot of the ball in the opening period but they had little penetration to their play and were particularly toothless upfront. They seemed to have one tactic, and one tactic alone, that being the long, flat and fast throws of David Challinor, although you do need to have somebody getting on the end of them and that was Bury’s problem. The penny never dropped though and Challinor continued to hurl them into the area right until the bitter end when surely an alternative tactic would have been a better idea.
In the 26th minute, Aranalde, who has been playing well in his left-midfield role of late having seemingly become accustomed to his new position, was sent clear down that flank following an intelligent touch-on by Bridges. The Spaniard crossed the ball into the centre of the box where Hawley tried an extravagant volley which he sliced horribly wide. The better opportunity however would have fallen to Adam Murray if Hawley had left the ball as Murray was completely unmarked ten yards out at the back-post. A missed chance for the Blues but it wouldn’t matter much as the second goal came just two minutes later through Aranalde with his third strike in two matches.
Arnison lumped a long ball down the right-wing, which Hawley, who once more never stopped running all day, controlled well and swung into the box. Bridges rose on the penalty-spot to get a looping back-header on and Aranalde was left all alone to run in at the back-stick and hammer a cracking volley from 15 yards into the far corner of Edwards’ net with his trusty left-foot. It was a great finish from the Basque defender-cum-midfielder who has really come on in the last two matches.
After 33 minutes champion dummy spitter, and Bury boss, Chris Casper, was forced to make his first substitution of the match as defender Kennedy pulled up with a hamstring strain and had to be replaced by youngster, and normally a left-winger, David Buchanan. Casper is the certainly the most entertaining manager we’ve seen at Brunton Park so far this season. Not content with throwing his teamsheet and bottle of orange into the dugout within the first 20 minutes he proceeded to spend the rest of the game charging out of his technical area to hurl abuse at anything that moved. A master motivator he certainly isn’t.
With 37 minutes gone the Cumbrians went close to claiming a third goal when they were denied by a double save from Edwards. Murphy played in Aranalde who got a good shot in on goal which the Bury keeper did well to block, Bridges though was quick on the scene to follow-up but his ten-yarder was expertly parried away by Edwards as the Shakers defence creaked even more.
The United goalmouth finally saw some meaningful action sixty seconds later when Bury midfielder Brian Barry-Murphy swung a free-kick into the United box which Livesey headed away for a corner. It was Barry-Murphy who again put the set-piece in which Westwood ran out to claim, the Carlisle keeper only succeeded in dropping the centre on the floor however and it was left to Aranalde to hammer the ball clear.
Two minutes before the interval Nicky Adams nearly pulled a spectacular goal back for the visitors after Westwood had struggled to clear his lines from yet another Challinor long throw. The ball came out to Adams 20 yards from the United goal but his well hit half-volley flew just inches wide of the Carlisle far-post with Westwood beaten.
The whistle soon came however from referee Neil Swarbrick of Preston to end an opening period in which the Cumbrians hadn’t really had to pull out of second gear to lead 2-0 against a dispirited looking Shakers outfit.
Bury boss Chris Casper reacted to the two goal deficit immediately after the break by bringing on one-time United hero Allan Smart to replace Adams as the Shakers went to a more attacking formation in an attempt to claw their way back into the game.
That chink of light for the visitors was soon put out though by a rampant Carlisle outfit as the Cumbrians made it 3-0 just 34 seconds into the second-half with Hawley scoring his 16th goal overall this season but his first in a barren run of seven games.
McGill closed down well as emergency left-back Buchanan dallied over his clearance for far too long and that allowed Lumsdon to sneak in and steal the ball off the defender's toes. The ex-Sunderland man laid the ball into his one-time youth team-mate Bridges who flicked an intelligent touch on to set Hawley clear in the middle of the "D" and through on goal. United’s top scorer took a touch on into the box and then side-footed coolly past Edwards and into the bottom corner of the Bury net to send 6194 of the 6398 strong crowd into raptures.
The Blues could really have sat back and relaxed at that point but to their credit they did a truly professional job throughout the 90 minutes as they chased the ball well and worked hard for the cause.
After 50 minutes the Cumbrians were once more pressing forward. Bridges turned his marker nicely and pushed the ball into Hawley 12 yards out from the Bury goal. Hawley seemed to take a bit too long to decide what to do with it and he eventually sent his effort wide of the near-post as the Bury defence crowded him out.
Bridges and Aranalde again combined well down the left after 56 minutes with the ball coming back to the Spaniard but he could only send his 20-yard drive wide of the Bury goal. It was a quieter half though all told with United able to keep the Shakers at arms length and hold on to their 3-0 lead without working themselves completely into the ground.
The match sprang into life again however in the 68th minute as the Cumbrians almost scored straight from a Bury corner. McGill picked the ball up from a Livesey clearance and bounded away down the right-flank all the way to the edge of the Shakers box. The little winger then played a one-two with Hawley and as the ball came back to him he tried a left-foot volley but it was on his wrong foot and the effort skewed well wide.
Five minutes later Bridges was substituted to rapturous applause from the Brunton Park faithful as targetman Holmes came on to replace the one-time five million pound man. Four minutes on from there and Lee Unsworth replaced Woodthorpe for Bury.
In the 79th minute Shakers midfielder Dwayne Mattis brought down McGill just outside his own box and was booked for dissent as he contested the decision with referee Swarbrick. Murphy tried to stick the set-piece into the area but his cross went straight into the wall. Lumsdon attempted a short pass to Holmes as he picked up the loose ball which seemed to strike the hand of veteran Bury midfielder David Flitcroft but the official waved away any hopes of a third United penalty in the last three home games.
Smart was booked for dissent just sixty seconds later as the man in the black suddenly found the cards that had been superglued in his pocket for the previous 80 minutes. Then in the 82nd minute Blues boss Paul Simpson made a double change as he brought on Hackney to replace Aranalde on the left and Nade to take the place of Hawley upfront.
That change took only two minutes to make an immediate effect as the Blues scored their fourth in the 84th minute with a cracking breakaway goal. From a quick Westwood throw, after the United keeper had collected a Shakers corner, Hackney flew down the left-wing and crossed the ball in with pace across the face of the visitors goalmouth. Lumsdon was the first to get the chance of glory but he could only swing at fresh air as the ball flew past him. Fortunately though for United McGill and Holmes were queueing up at the far-post to provide the finish and it was the Irishman who hammered the ball in with his left-foot from six yards out while the Bury defence was absent without leave.
That goal and the 4-0 scoreline was the signal for some of the 204 travelling fans from Bury to head for the exits and make their way back down the M6.
Hackney found room for a shot in the 86th minute but his effort was off target and then in the 89th minute Tom Youngs was the third and final Shakers player to enter the referee’s notebook as he was yellow carded for a foul on Adam Murray.
Bury went the closest they had gone in the game as the clock ticked into the two allotted minutes of injury time. Flitcroft got a powerful low drive in from the left edge of the box which looked to be going narrowly wide but Westwood sensibly took no chances as he got down quickly to push the ball around the post. Barry-Murphy sent the corner in which Mattis jumped high to meet ten yards out but his thumping header flew over the United bar.
That was more or less the last action of the game as the last few seconds petered out on an excellent performance from the Blues that takes them to within one point of table-toppers Wycombe.
Post-match quotes :
Bury boss Chris Casper said :
"It was an absolutely pathetic performance. As footballers we should work hard through the week but this team forgot everything when we got on the pitch.