Depression settled over a crowd of 4,366 as the visitors claimed the only goal of a very poor contest in the 69th minute. Brendan McGill handled the ball near to his own penalty area and referee Roy Pearson awarded Town a free kick. Brian Shelley showed his disgust by flinging the ball to the ground. Pearson showed him a yellow card and marched the kick forward to the very edge of the box. The kick was now in range and Matthew Tipton delivered a wicked curling effort beyond Glennon to the far post where it cleared last man Richie Foran on the line. Up until that decisive moment the game had been largely a stop-start affair with the home side showing little of the form they had displayed in seeing off Rochdale in midweek in the LDV Vans Trophy. With a stiff breeze blowing across the field and bright sunshine, the surface appeared a little slippery and not conducive to flowing football. Macclesfield's Martin Carruthers went close twice with dangerous headers, the second forcing Matty Glennon to scramble across his goal line with the ball just clipping the edge of the post as it spun wide. Carlisle took over 15 minutes to get into their stride and when the first effort of any note came in, it was from midfielder Will McDonagh who poked a shot on target but straight into the midriff of keeper Boaz Myhill. Kevin Henderson collected a painful knock following a challenge from defender Karl Munroe. Then a Foran free-kick almost caught out Myhill who had to scramble to his right to turn it to one side from where McGill returned it into the box but the ball was scrambled clear. Henderson lost his struggle to shake off his injured ankle and had to go off, to be replaced by Craig Farrell. There was little other action of note and a smattering of boos greeted the half-time whistle. The second half saw United keen to get forward but the Moss Rosers backline which was big and strong had little trouble coping with the lightweight pairing of Foran and Farrell. Des Byrne got forward down the left to some effect but the game was still very scrappy with few clear openings. One that did fall to Foran at the far post should have seen Carlisle in front but the Dubliner fired into the Warwick Road End, to continue his recent run of poor finishing. Farrell caught Monroe on the ball and raced down the right but was unable to convert the opening. To make matters worse Foran was again booked after clashing with Wilson as the pair contested a high cross. With 21 minutes left came Shelley's indiscretion and Tipton's moment of inspiration. Tipton celebrated by pulling off his shirt before being instantly substituted by his manager David Moss. What we have, we hold was clearly going to be the visitors motto. They had been content to sit back and collect United's often errant through balls and the goal settled them down and they kept possesion well as United's frustration continued to boil over. Brian Wake entered the fray. Steve Livingstone, who looked a little less secure at the back than he had against Dale, was the next man to go into the book for a shove on Macclesfield raider Colin Little. No harm was done as the free kick was blocked but United were still looking ragged. Despite four minutes of added time, United never looked likely to break the shackles. Discontent fans were streaming towards the exits long before the final whistle. Al's verdict: Where do we go from here? After a string of promising displays that had brought no reward, more than a few had hoped for a poor performance and a scrappy win. Well they got the poor performance. I wish they'd swapped this effort today with Tuesday night and got the 3 points because a place in the LDV Vans Trophy Second Round is scant reward for a club now 7 points loose at the bottom and badly floundering. Very few players can hold their heads up tonight as this was a poor all-round display with no stand-out individuals. The pitch didn't seem to help with our players in particular falling over a lot and the visitors were cynical at times but we didn't have the guile to prise them apart. Neither winger was on form and Shelley after a a decent performance at right back, blotted his copy book with his show of petulance and paid a heavy price with the only goal resulting from his actions. Henderson may be missing again on Tuesday night and we need everybody available and firing on all cylinders to close this alarming gap now. |
