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Danny Livesey was still recovering from an ankle injury sustained after a bad tackle by Grimsby's Michael Reddy two weeks earlier so the versatile Peter Murphy continued at centre-half. For the Cumbrians that meant a starting back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Zigor Aranalde, Kevin Gray and Murphy. Across the centre of the park were Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon and Adam Murray, with Michael Bridges playing just off a front two of Derek Holmes and Karl Hawley. Waiting in the wings on the Carlisle bench were Anthony Williams, Simon Grand, Brendan McGill, Glenn Murray and Simon Hackney.
United started the game off brightly and showed no signs of the promotion jitters that had plagued them in the last few performances. Infact just 90 seconds in and the Blues went close after Stags left-midfielder Calum Lloyd handled the ball in the Carlisle half, Arnison hitting the free-kick up to Bridges on the right. Showing neat footwork Bridges made room for himself and crossed in to the near-post where Hawley's afro could only head the ball over the bar from eight yards out.
It was the Blues who were looking to make Town keeper Jason White, in for the rested Kevin Pressman, work in the tenth minute as well. Aranalde's long throw-in was headed away to the edge of his own box by Mansfield right-back Alex John-Baptiste straight to Lumsdon who was loitering in the ‘D'. Taking the ball down on his chest the United schemer tried a right-footed volley for the far corner which White was able to dive across and catch quite comfortably, the shot having accuracy but not enough power to trouble the scorers.
Shortly afterwards Gray went through Stags front-man Simon Brown just inside the Carlisle helf, and should really have been cautioned for the offence, although referee Darren Drysdale of Bracebridge Heights certainly didn't have the best of days all round. RAF Corporal Drysdale has never been the greatest official by the sounds of it, with Bradford's Dean Windass having served a five-match suspension for shouting abuse at the Lincolnshire official in the car-park after City's 3-3 home draw with Brentford in January.
After 15 minutes Murphy tried to hammer in a shot from 30 yards out with his usually trusty left foot. His connection was poor though, only for the ball to surprise Holmes as it flew his under his foot eight yards out, the Big Scot being clear on goal if he had been able to control the "pass." Two minutes later Murphy's left-footed corner in from the right was met by the head of Bridges eight yards out, the ex-Leeds man seeing his effort blocked at close range by Town centre-half Rhys Day. Gray tried to pick up the pieces but he was stretching to try and get to the ball and could only spoon it on straight into the grateful arms of White.
The Blues nearly went behind though shortly afterwards, in a half of football where the home side's chances only really came from Carlisle defensive mistakes. Aranalde dithered far too long as he tried to clear a flick-on from Stags top scorer Richie Barker, allowing Brown to get in and nick the ball off his toes. Brown ran in on goal down the right-hand channel but perhaps took the ball too far as he only left himself with a right-footed shot on goal from a tight angle in the end. Westwood able to beat the ball away for a corner with Barker screaming for the ball across into the middle.
United went straight up to the other end of the pitch after Holmes had cleared the corner, taken by Town left-back Laurence Wilson. Billy and Aranalde worked the ball into the feet of Hawley before the Blues front-man played a quick one-two with Bridges that sent him on into the Stags box. Hawley seemed to be clearly in pole position to get to the ball first only for John-Baptiste to put his arm across him and ease him out of it. The United player going to ground, but like we have seen numerous times this season, a penalty wasn't forthcoming even though anywhere else on the pitch would have surely seen the official blow his whistle for an infringement.
It was then all Bridges around the 23 minute mark as he twice went close to giving the Cumbrians the lead. Firstly, he tormented Lloyd out on the Mansfield left before cutting in and attempting a cheeky dink over the top of the back-pedalling White with his right foot from 22 yards out. The ball though would only land on top of the Town net as White landed in the back of his own net. Seconds later Lumsdon sent Bridges clear down the right-hand channel with a nicely judged pass inside Wilson. As White came out to close down the angle Bridges knocked the ball past him from the right-edge of the Stags box, only to see the ball roll agonisingly past the Town far-post with John-Baptiste racing back to attempt, and fail, to hack the ball away to safety.
With 25 minutes on the clock Lumsdon fouled Barker just 30 yards out from the Carlisle goal. Lloyd curled the free-kick across to the back-post, and over Aranalde, where Day headed against the outside of the angle of the United goal from close-range, with Westwood seemingly beaten. It was mainly the Blues attacking though and in the 33rd minute they failed to take another half-opportunity. Bridges beat the challenges of two Town players before hitting the ball over to the far-stick. Adam Murray tried to get on the end of it but the cross in was just too high and he was unable to keep his header on target as it floated wide of White's post from eight yards out.
In the 38th minute the ball ended up at the feet of Holmes after United had a little spell of keep-ball, Lumsdon and Billy in particular pulling the strings well in midfield. The Lanark-born striker tried to hammer in a shot from the edge of the Stags box with his right foot but Day was well placed to get a good block in on the effort. Two minutes later Mansfield's centre-half Jon Olav Hjelde brought down Hawley in a dangerous position five yards outside the right-angle of his own box. Murphy stepped up to take the set-piece, but the delivery in with his left foot was poor and Hawley, as the first target, was only able to stick out a boot that flicked the ball across goal and out at the Town far-post.
Three minutes before the break Bridges was again in the thick of the action. Murphy's incisive ball up found the United striker 15 yards out from the Town goal down the left-hand channel. Spinning cleverly round Olav Hjelde, as he controlled the ball and turned in one swift movement, Bridges powered in a right-footed shot aimed at White's near-post. The young keeper getting down quickly though to parry the effort away with both hands and leave the Blues with a throw-in out on the left-wing. Aranalde hurled the ball in at pace which Day could only clear straight to Bridges on the left-angle of the Stags box. The Carlisle forward firing a volley straight away on his right foot which fairly flew across goal, only to skip wide of White's far-post as well.
United had another chance to put a testing ball into the Town area as injury time ticked on when Hjelde brought down Hawley in an extremely similar incident to the free-kick given away in the 40th minute. The delivery in by Murphy was very similar as well though unfortunately and Dutchman Gus Uhlenbeek, starting on the right-side of the Stags midfield was able to hoof the ball away from his own near-post. The half-time whistle came shortly afterwards on 45 minutes of play where the Blues should really have been heading down the tunnel a couple of goals to the good.
The Blues started the second half as brightly as they had the first but it would prove to be a false dawn as the 45 minutes went on and United's attacking efforts all but dried up. In the 47th minute Bridges drove a shot in from the edge of the Town box which was well closed down by John-Baptiste. Ex-Stags man Adam Murray followed up onto Bridges' knock-back to him for a 25-yard shot on goal that he tried to curl in with his right foot, only to send the effort wide of target.
The home side had a good spell of pressure on the 50 minute mark as they came at Carlisle strongly, although Brown should really have got a yellow card for going down like a sack of spuds in the Blues penalty area under extremely minimal contact from Arnison. Murphy also had to be alert twice at the near-post after Wilson curled two good corners into the Cumbrians box, it was obvious that the Stags had received a half-time flea in the ear from boss Peter Shirtliff as they chased the ball down and worked much harder than they had done in the opening period.
In the 55th minute, Bridges, who had been a bit naughty already, after he had gone in late twice on White in the Town goal, was lucky to avoid at least a caution after he got involved in a bit of handbags with John-Baptiste way down in the Mansfield half. The ex-Leeds man seemingly pushing his hands into John-Baptiste's face as the Stags defender cleared the ball forward. United's coaching staff looked to make Town work a bit more on the defensive side of things as Hackney came on for Holmes in the 56th minute with the Blues switching to a 4-4-2 formation, with Hackney on the left and Adam Murray on the right.
Bang on the hour-mark came, amazingly given some of the incidents, the only booking of the match when Wilson was booked for dissent after some more intriguing refereeing by Mr Drysdale. Olav-Hjelde went down in pain, with what would prove to be a torn hamstring, only for the official to refuse the Town man any treatment and wave play on with the Blues winning a corner. Kyle Jacobs immediately came on to replace the stricken Olav-Hjelde while the home fans bayed for the blood of the referee, Jacobs going in to the right-back role with John-Baptiste moving over to the vacated centre-half spot. Hackney eventually swung the flag-kick in but Aranalde could only flick his near-post header across goal and wide of the Town back-stick.
Just as the Blues were looking like they might be coming back into it a bit after a sticky start to the half, the Nottinghamshire outfit took an unexpected lead in the 63rd minute. Mansfield broke upfield with Uhlenbeek crossing in a ball that initially looked to be heading out for a goal-kick from the very edge of the Carlisle box in the right-hand channel, Gray in particular seeming to think that the ball was definitely on it's way out. Brown didn't give the chase up though and he managed to knock it back with his right foot on the volley into the Blues six-yard box, where the predatory Barker nipped in ahead of Lumsdon to notch his 23rd goal of the season with a simple left-footed tap-in.
The Cumbrians tried to come back into the game quickly two minutes later but Hawley wasn't able to equalise against one of his rivals for the title of League Two top scorer, in Barker. The United front-man sending his left-footed shot straight into the grateful arms of White. Town made their second change of the game sixty seconds later when Brown went off to healthy applause from the 2,896 home fans that made up the majority of the 4,488 spectators inside Field Mill, youngster Nathan Arnold coming on to take his place upfront.
Mansfield seemed to put themselves a little bit on the back-foot after that as they fell back into their own shell to try and protect their one goal lead. United huffed and puffed a lot but it really was one of those days when Town seemed to get away with every defensive mistake as the ball continually dropped in the right place for the Stags, with Carlisle getting no luck at all in the run of the ball. The Blues didn't help themselves at times though and in the 71st minute Bridges tried a speculative scissor kick from a Lumsdon corner in that was easy for Lloyd to clear. Two minutes later Hawley was the next United player struggling to find the target as a deep ball from Arnison found Hawley 22 yards out in the right-channel. The Cumbrians's top-scorer snatched at the chance though and blazed his right-footed half-volley way over White's crossbar.
Arnold was causing the Blues a few problems in the game and went close after 76 minutes when the Stags front-man used his pace to get on the end of a long clearance from Day. The youngster cleverly chipped the ball over Gray and tried to send a long-range curling lob over the top of Westwood which the United keeper was able to watch nervously disappear over his own crossbar and onto the roof of his net. The home side then made their final substitution of the game in the 77th minute when John-Baptiste had to limp off with a hip problem to add to the Stags injury woes. Ex-Macclesfield striker Allan Russell came on to take his place with Barker then having move to back from his striking position into a makeshift centre-half role. The Cumbrians also made a change to their playing ranks sixty seconds later when Glenn Murray was brought on for Gray, United immediately switching to three at the back and three upfront.
Arnold was again in the thick of the action on 80 minutes when Aranalde gave up possession on the edge of the United box. The young striker got a good shot in on goal with his right foot but fortunately for the Blues Murphy was well placed to block it. Carlisle made their last throw of the dice in the 82nd minute when Grand came on for Adam Murray, the one-time Rochdale man going straight upfront alongside Bridges and Glenn Murray. The move seeing Hawley drop back to the right-side of midfield as the Cumbrians looked to get the ball forward even more quickly and direct than normal. Arnold, who was finding plenty of space, with Carlisle pushing up for an all-important equaliser, was guilty of wasting a fantastic chance for the home side in the 87th minute that would have put the game to bed and sealed three points for the Stags. The Mansfield front-man played a neat one-two with Russell as Murphy and Aranalde pushed up looking to play offside. Russell's clever lay-off sent Arnold clear on goal, but he lost his head at the last minute and blazed the ball miles over from just ten yards out with his right foot as Westwood raced out to close the angle down.
That glaring miss from the 18-year old would cost the home side two points as the Blues somehow found an equaliser 90 seconds into the three minutes of allotted injury time. A long Westwood goal-kick was flicked on well by the head of Glenn Murray to Hawley who, with United pouring players upfront, found himself unmarked and running clear into the Stags box down the right-hand channel. Hawley fired a powerful right-footed half-volley in from ten yards out which White did well to block with his legs at his near-post, the ball pinging back out to the edge of the box where Hackney completely missed his kick. It could certainly have turned out worse for the Cumbrians though as the ball sliced straight across to the feet of Bridges. The one-time Sunderland star taking a quick touch to tee up a 15-yard half-volley with his right foot that was destined for the top corner of White's net until the 20-year old glovesman made a fine aerial save to parry the ball away to his left. Luck was certainly on Carlisle's side in the game at last though as the ball fell into space six yards out for Hawley to run onto and side-foot the ball home with his right foot to send both Blues players and supporters alike into sheer dreamland.
Grand dropped immediately back into defence for United and it was he who gave the Stags the chance to regain the lead and win the game. When, in the last seconds of the match, he climbed all over the back of Russell 28 yards out from the Carlisle goal in the right-hand channel. Russell stepped up to try and knock the free-kick into the Carlisle danger area with his right foot. Like many of the Cumbrians set-pieces on the day though, the delivery in was poor as the ball didn't clear the first man, in Lumsdon, who was able to get a good clearing header on it. The Blue Army packed behind Westwood's goal had been baying for the final whistle from referee Drysdale ever since United's equaliser. Then when it finally did come it sparked wild scenes of jubilation in the away end with the news already in that Leyton Orient's draw at Lincoln, and Hawley's late show, had made it mathematically certain that Carlisle had clinched a second successive promotion.
Post-match quotes :
Mansfield manager Peter Shirtliff said:
"I was very pleased with my lads - they applied themselves very well and on another day we would have won the game. Young Jason White did well in goal and he was a bit unlucky to concede so late. It was only right to give him a game today and he did well.