The game see-sawed from one extreme to the other, with Carlisle within seconds of winning through during normal time only for the visitors to grab a last-gasp goal to take the game into added time and then on to a penalty decider. The Shots went 3-1 up and appeared certain to knock United out only for Matty Glennon to make two brilliant saves and leave Danny Livesey the opportunity to slot home the decisive spot kick and take the home team through. 10,803 turned up on a slightly blustery night to see if the Cumbrians could overturn Aldershot's 1-0 first leg advantage. Glenn Murray was selected to start up front with Derek Holmes, while Brendan McGill came in as a wide man in place of dropped Adam Murray. At the back, Livesey came back after suspension with Dave Beharall switching to right back. From the off, United set a high tempo and pushed up on the visiting side. United had few clear openings despite spending a lot of time in the Shots half during the opening exchanges. But on 13 minutes they made the vital breakthrough with their first clear attempt on goal. Peter Murphy swung his right-wing corner towards the centre of the box and Livesey marked his return to the side with a downward header into the far corner of the net. Four minutes later another Murray dead-ball from a free-kick found Murray's head but the ball was fractionally over the bar. In the 24th minute McGill's pace got him into space to deliver a good cross that Murray again headed wide of the target, the ball floating just beyond the near post. Shots keeper Nikki Bull punched away a Lumsdon corner than the visitors got a corner themselves that Tom Cowan headed away under pressure. The second goal arrived in the 34th minute when McGill was put clear down the right and delivered a measured early cross to the near post that Chris Billy arrived to meet perfectly and drill into the bottom corner. It was the midfielder's first ever goal at Brunton Park, to bring delight to the home masses and put United into an aggregate lead for the first time in the tie. Darren Barnard's cross 2 minutes from the interval was met by striker Tim Sills but Glennon made the save. A minute from the break a Nick Crittenden shot sailed over the bar. At the interval the home team were on course to reach the final. The visitors upped the ante in the second half and pushed more men into attacking positions, immediately giving United a lot more to think about. Crittenden fired wide with his right foot in the 49th minute. Will Antwi blasted off target from 30 yards out before the visitors came very close to levelling the aggregate scores on 53 minutes. Steve Watson saw one shot blocked but then followed up with another left footed effort which curled towards goal and beat Glennon only to come back off the inside of the post. Barnard floated a free kick on to Brett Johnson's head but the ball drifted narrowly wide. The visitors were looking a lot more dangerous and Carlisle had to defend with a lot more vigour to keep them out. Watson fired another effort over the bar on the hour and Jon Challinor entered the fray as Terry Brown gambled on another forward. Murray headed wide for the home team whose attack had not been seen as much in the second half. Watson set up a good chance for Challinor to bring the Shots back into it on 69 minutes but he fired high over the bar after the ball was placed on to his left boot. Tempers flared a few minutes later when Barnard and Murray clashed near the half-way line and both players were booked. Jamie Slabber came on with 11 minutes to go for Town. Murphy fired over with just 2 minutes left on the clock. The ref added on five minutes as United filtered back to keep out the increasingly desperate visitors. McGill blocked a Crittenden shot to concede a corner that Cowan headed out as the game moved into the final seconds. With the last throw of the dice, Crittenden delivered a good side footed cross and Slabber rose well to head over Glennon into the near corner of the goal and dramatically bring the aggregate scores level at 2-2. Even then Carlisle had one last chance themselves as a Billy cross bounced across to Beharall who couldn't control his header which bounced on the top of the netting. Extra-time saw neither side look quite as positive as before. Lumsdon's early corner was flicked over the bar by captain Kevin Gray. Will Antwi shot narrowly the bar for the Shots. Billy fired a free kick well wide with his left foot. Crittenden had a shot in the second period go wide from the right edge of the box. Challinor was booked for a late challenge on McGill. With no further goals, it all came down to a penalty shoot-out, the first to be staged at Brunton Park. Antwi put the first kick away with aplomb, sending Glennon the wrong way. Lumsdon stepped up and drilled firmly into the left corner despite Bull guessing right. Dave Lee was equally confident with Town's second kick, firing into the right corner with Glennon again wrong-footed. McGill took Carlisle's second kick, but Bull was on hand to dive to his right and push it away. 2-1 to the visitors. It became 3-1 as Slabber, the injury time hero for the visitors, beat Glennon once again. Murray was next up but the pressure seemed to get to him as he fired tamely to Bull's right and the keeper saved comfortably. 3-1 down and United seemingly doomed to defeat. Chris Giles simply had to beat Glennon with Aldershot's fourth effort to put the southerners through. However he went for power and his shot cracked the underside of the bar, coming down apparently on the line and out. A lifeline now for the Cumbrians. Magno Vieira had to score with the next one and to the home fans' delight he was spot on, firing into the bottom right. Crittenden had another chance to settle it but this time Glennon was the hero, diving to his left to keep the ball out. 3-2 now and Murphy had to score the fifth kick to keep the shoot-out going. The Irishman drilled into the bottom right hand corner to make it 3-3 and now sudden-death. Gary Holloway used pace to beat Glennon and get the visitors nerves back in order. Chris Billy needed nerves of steel himself to level things up at 4-4 and so a second set of sudden death kicks was needed. Up stepped Challinor who fired to Glennon's left but the burly keeper made a brilliant low save to give Carlisle the chance they needed. An immediate mass pitch invasion threatened mayhem but the pitch was cleared to allow Livesey the chance to step up to the plate. The defender drilled into the right corner to make it 5-4 to the Cumbrians and clinch a final spot at Stoke City's Brittania Stadium next Saturday, amid scenes of mass delirium. Al's verdict: The most dramatic scenes at Brunton Park since Jimmy Glass's saving goal saw us reach the play off final. Carlisle never like to do things the easy way and just as it seemed we'd done enough to claim a straightforward aggregate victory, their substitute headed an agonising goal to take it into added time. Up to then the high tempo that United had maintained seemed to have been more than adequate to keep the visitors at bay, with both first half goals taken extremely well and the early dominance a good reaction to the poor first leg display. Over the two legs, extra-time was probably justified and the penalty shoot-out, the first of its kind at Brunton Park, a fairly inevitable way to settle things. Well done to Matty for rescuing us, he reminded me of Tony Caig who did a similar job at Wembley in the '97 AWS final. Stevenage will now be a tough nut to crack, seeing as they have become our bogey side and United will have a chance to settle a few scores down at Stoke. |
