The Cumbrians were trailing 2-1 with just 4 minutes of normal time remaining when midfielder Will McDonagh headed them level and the young Irishman struck again seconds from the end of extra-time with a low drive to send Carlisle through to the Northern Area Final of the LDV Vans Trophy. United reached this stage of the competition four seasons running in the Nineties and now Roddy Collins must be hoping a lucrative Cup final appearance will provide the springboard to a survival push in the league. United were in control for much of the first half and took the lead when a Richie Foran header was turned past his own keeper by defender Steve Redmond. Bury, although playing some tidy football, never really threatened Matty Glennon's goal. But in the second half the game swung dramatically in the visitors' favour as they scored twice in 10 minutes and saw two efforts kicked off the line. Terry Dunfield grabbed the first with a beautiful drive high over Glennon into the roof of the net and Simon Clegg but the visitors ahead with a low drive which went between the keeper's legs, following a misplaced pass from McDonagh. Bury were so much in command by that stage that United's young heads were visibly dropping and their cup run appeared to be at an end. But cometh the hour, cometh the man and McDonagh proved to be the saviour. Sub Mark Birch delivered an inch-perfect deep cross in the 86th minute and the midfield match-winner got on the end of it to head low into the corner past Glyn Garner. That meant extra time for the third time this season in the LDV Vans for Carlisle. They'd won the previous two extra-time battles so Collins must have been confident. He was even more confident when Bury midfield star Chris Billy was sent off for a wild lunge on Ryan Baldacchino. But it was 10-man Bury who took the game to United for a while and the Cumbrians were once again clinging on. As the heavy pitch began to extract its toll on the depleted visitors, United again looked the more likely but with seconds left, Brunton Park's first ever penalty shoot-out looked inevitable. McDonagh had other ideas and after collecting a pass from Brendan McGill he swept his right-footed effort into the bottom corner to score the golden goal that ended the contest. Manager Collins came charging onto the field to celebrate in the manner of David Pleat when Luton avoided relegation back in the early 80s. United have not avoided relegation yet but Cumbrians there will be more post-match celebratory dashes from a delighted Collins before the season is over. Al's verdict: A match of see-saw fortunes that was a great advertisement for this competition, which not all managers seem to be in love with. After being on top in the first half, we were dominated by an impressive Bury side who should really have put us away as we were so hopelessly second-best for a long period of the game. After that, back we came with McDonagh shrugging off the Brunton boo-boys with two memorable goals, which open up the route to what would be Carlisle's third apperance in this particular final. It may yet turn out to be a serious distraction from the relegation battle, or the springboard to survival. At the moment it's a bit hard to say which. |
