In front of a 6,000+ attendance, the Cumbrians toiled all night to break down a stubborn Cobblers rearguard and looked like they had blown their big chance when Craig Farrell missed a sitter with just over 10 minutes remaining. But Farrell made amends soon after when he swept home a Lee Andrews cross only for United to fall asleep at the back and concede a heartbreaking equaliser a couple of minutes later. The result leaves them seven points behind third-bottom Rochdale who drew at Huddersfield. Brian Shelley made a surprise return at left back as Paul Simpson chose to leave Peter Murphy in the middle of defence alongside Kevin Gray. Carlisle made most of the running in the first half, but their final ball tended to be lacking. Early on Farrell wasted a good chance when he was fed by Brendan McGill but clipped his shot wide of the far post. From dead balls United failed to make the most of their openings. Murphy putting a curling free kick high into the Warwick Road End from 25 yards out. Then McGill had the ball in the net following what seemed to be a collision between the Northampton keeper and a defender. The ref saw things differently and disallowed the goal. The closest United came to scoring was when a corner kick was flicked on by McDonagh and Duffield tried to force the ball home but the ball was cleared off the line. Then McGill was controversially penalised after the linesman spotted an infringement and the Cumbrians were denied the resulting corner. The visitors hardly had an attacking moment to worry Matty Glennon. Kevin Gray was booked early on for a mistimed challenge and later in the half McGill fell whilst running through at pace down the right channel and referee Robinson waved a yellow for diving, much to the crowd's annoyance. Carlisle also had a shout for a handball inside the area but their appeals were waved away. The second half saw more home pressure but again without the decisive final pass and a series of corners were also wasted. There were few efforts on goal from the Cobblers. Simpson took off Peter Duffield and replaced him with Kelvin Langmead for his home debut. Will McDonagh who had another industrious game, collected a knock to his knee and was taken off to be replaced by Andrews as Murphy was moved forward into midfield. The Cumbrians had two good chances. Langmead ran onto a high ball forward but failed to get power on his header and keeper Harper saved comfortably. Then the chance of the night came to Farrell when he was alone in acres of space down the left side of the area and looked certain to break the deadlock but somehow managed to sidefoot wide from Langmead's cross. Just when it appeared that Carlisle's big chance had gone, they finally broke through with nine minutes left on the clock. Andrews delivered a tasty curling cross beyond Andy Preece and Farrell charging in, drove the ball home into the corner. The celebrations though, had hardly died down when Northampton struck back. Paul Trollope exchanged passes on the edge of the area and looped a seemingly mis-hit shot over Glennon and just inside the post. It was agony for United, who came again with more pressure but couldn't force a deserved winner. Al's verdict: A night of frustration, but these things happen and after some great displays it was inevitable there would have to be a dose of disappointment sooner or later. The fact is we are still playing well, battling for every ball but tonight we didn't get the breaks. We lacked a bit of confidence in front of goal and our use of dead balls was shocking at times. However we plugged away, never shirking a chance to put Town under pressure and the goal, when it came, looked for all the world like the winner. However we lost concentration and allowed them back into it when they shouldn't have had a sniff. Still, the gap to Rochdale didn't grow and Saturday's match looks very winnable if we continue this type of form. |
