Paul Simpson rang the changes, dropping Paul Arnison and Andy Preece and bringing in Lee Andrews and Kelvin Langmead. Langmead making his full debut after a handful of substitute appearances. Scunthorpe came into the game on a poor run, having lost their previous three games. United made the livelier start although there were no good early chances. A Billy cross on 10 minutes was deflected out of the path of Farrell as he looked set to score. Brian Shelley suffered a painful knock when he was fouled by Taylor but was OK after treatment. On 15 minutes Carlisle deservedly went in front. Billy and McGill working the opening with McGill passing the ball to Duffield who turned sharply and shot across Tom Evans to score. Billy then set up Duffield who shot inches wide when he could have made it two goals in two minutes. A Glennon blunder almost cost United a goal on 20 minutes but Andrews did well to block a Steve Torpey shot after he fumbled a cross. Glennon then made a superb save from a Matt Sparrow effort to concede a corner. Scunthorpe, having been out of the game were suddenly right back in it. On 27 minutes an Andrews error allowed Steve McLean in to equalise. A long ball was misjudged by the stand-in right back and the Scunny top scorer snapped up the chance. Wayne Graves headed narrowly over as the home team got on top. Carlisle righted the ship before the break as the game became a bit scrappier. They went in at the break reasonably pleased with their first half efforts. The Cumbrians forced an early corner in the second half as the rain came down. Taylor broke upfield and forced a good save out of Glennon. Then Stanton put in a handy cross but Glennon was on hand again to gather. Farrell fired in a shot that Butler blocked well. United stunned the home side when Boyd fired in a low 25-yard drive that beat Evans all ends up to restore the lead to Carlisle on 58 minutes. Within a minute Farrell took advantage of a Groves header to bring a great save out of Evans. Gray conceded a free kick which McLean fired at Glennon who parried effectively. United came under a bit of a pressure as Scunthorpe tried to get back on terms. With 16 minutes remaining Shelley fouled Taylor inside the box to concede a penalty. McLean made no mistake to equalise for the second time. Amazingly Billy smashed in a fantastic long range goal with 12 minutes left to restore the lead again in this topsy-turvy encounter. It was Billy's first goal for the Cumbrians. United had to get men behind the ball to defend their precious lead. Carlisle were hemmed in their own half for long spells in the closing moments. Paul Simpson brought on Andy Preece and Adam Rundle to waste some time and time ran out for the Iron. Al's verdict: A great win that showed tons of character. We absolutely had to win tonight and with Scunny being a bit of a bogey side the omens weren't good. However in a roller-coaster game that summed up Carlisle's season in many ways, we managed to eke out the three points with a couple of brilliant strikes from Boyd and Billy. It was Billy's first goal and a great riposte to his many critics from Saturday. The Great Escape is back on - but we need another 3 points on Saturday. |
