In the midst of an injury crisis, Simpson had to draft in youngsters David Molloy and David Lynn to sit on the bench. Under-fire Chris Billy kept his place in midfield with Mark Summerbell and Simpson himself ruled out. Darren Kelly, Adam Rundle, Steve Livingstone and Craig Farrell were all injured too. The first opportunity came the way of the Shrimpers after 3 minutes when Mark Gower drilled a free kick inches wide after a foul outside the box by Peter Murphy. Murphy then put over a corner that Foran headed down towards Raven but the Shrimpers were able to block. Des Byrne raced to the rescue in the 17th minute when he cleared off the goal-line from Tes Bramble, who had a seemingly simple tap-in from a Maher cross. Seconds later Glennon was forced into an acrobatic save from a long-range effort to concede a corner. The kick produced another chance as Kevin Henderson cleared off the line again. The respite was not for long. Dave McSweeney held off Billy and Raven to fire one into the top corner to beat Glennon and break the deadlock. Within a minute Leon Constantine notched a second, taking a pass from Gower and lobbing a stranded Glennon to leave Carlisle in serious trouble. Henderson managed a header on target but Patterson made a comfortable save. Southend grew in confidence as a result and Richie Foran's frustration boiled over with a late challenge that got him booked. Raven followed him rapidly into the referee's notebook with another mistimed tackle. Corbett broke quickly looking for Bramble but Shelley made a fine interception to save further humiliation for the visitors. On 41 minutes an unmarked Bramble looked likely to make it 3-0 but his header was off-target. Still the pressure came as Constantine shot from 25 yards and Glennon tipped over. Half-time brought a chance to regroup after a disastrous half for a dispirited set of players. The second half couldn't have started much better for United as Murphy made a good run to find Foran who fired in a shot that was rolling in when Henderson got the crucial touch to make it 2-1. Within two minutes Will McDonagh made a poor challenge inside the box to concede a penalty. Kevin Maher's shot was saved by Glennon who palmed away to his right to keep the Cumbrians in the game. Carlisle remained under pressure but held firm as more efforts came in. Byrne fired narrowly wide for United and Billy had a shot blocked. It was end to end stuff as the increasingly dangerous Corbett for Southend found space and time down the left channel. McGill was brought down but the ref waved play on and Shelley fired over when he could have crossed for an unmarked Henderson. Henderson was in a position to chip Patterson with 20 minutes left but the ball bounced off the cross-bar. McGill then had two chances to level it but he mis-hit his first effort and his second was saved. Foran then scrambled in the equaliser 11 minutes left after a melee in the box with McDonagh involved in the build-up. It was a great breakthrough for United who had shown great perseverence. Youngster Molloy came on as a substitute for Murphy. Southend almost forced their way back in front when United failed to clear a ball inside the box and a shot from Constantine was deflected for a corner. Molloy went on a mazy run that almost led to a chance before the Shrimpers got back to stop him. With Molloy looking dangerous Simpson decided to thrown on Brian Wake for Henderson. The points were up for grabs as the game moved into the final five minutes. Drewe Broughton set up Gower inside injury time but his volley was well over. Al's verdict: This really was a game of two halves. The old cliche is rarely true but today this was the case. It was fair to say at half-time, the game appeared to be up. We were only two goals down but it could so easily have been four or five. The second half saw a sleeves-rolled up fightback with two good goals and a great penalty save from Matty who again earns his wages. An honest assessment would sum this up as two struggling sides slugging it out at the bottom and we obviously have a lot to do still but this sort of fightback has been missing in recent months and anything like this is a step in the right direction. |
