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Across the middle were Brendan McGill, Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon and Zigor Aranalde, making his return from injury. Many Blues fans had wondered about the combination of Aranalde and Murphy on the left but had expected it to be the Dubliner who would push in on midfield with Aranalde returning to his left-back spot. It was the Spaniard though who took the midfield berth which, the way the game went, he looks unlikely to do again in the future.
The forward duo were Michael Bridges and Karl Hawley as Derek Holmes dropped to the bench where he was to sit with Anthony Williams, Simon Grand, Adam Murray and Raphael Nade.
Neither side started the game particularly brightly on a cold pre-Christmas afternoon, Carlisle should really have been a couple of goals up by the half-time whistle but overall it was a relatively quiet opening period.
It took until the fourth minute for the Cumbrians to get a sniff at goal when the ball was sent up by Arnison to the edge of the Wrexham box. Bridges looked like getting a shot in on goal but his effort was quickly cleared away from danger by giant Wrexham centre-half Dennis Lawrence.
Lawrence will more than likely be at the heart of the Trinidad and Tobago defence next summer when they face England in the World Cup. On his showing this afternoon Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney will have very little to fear against Lawrence who seemed to give the ball away with alarming regularity.
On 7 minutes, Darren Ferguson, son of Manchester United boss Sir Alex, lined up to take a free-kick for the Welshmen, Westwood did well to claim the ball though as it came floating into the United box.
Westwood has done well since he came into the side in place of Williams. His handling on crosses is excellent and his huge goal-kicks often cause problems for retreating defenders on the back-foot. Sometimes his decision making can go awry but hopefully that will come with experience.
Bridges made some nice space for himself two minutes later when he got on the end of a low Murphy ball in from the left, he struck his effort almost too well though and it flashed wide of ex-United loanee, Michael Ingham’s goal.
Shortly afterwards Hawley laid the ball through into McGill running down the right-hand channel, his shot was well blocked by ex-Chester defender Dave Bayliss however and looped up into the arms of the grateful Ingham.
Hearts were in the mouths of all but 6000 Blues supporters on the fourteen minute mark in front of a crowd of 6213, 214 away fans making the journey up from North Wales . Matt Crowell picked the ball up for the Red Dragons 30 yards out from the United goal and tried a long-range effort that Aranalde came inside to block. It almost turned into a horrendous moment for the Blues though when the ball flew up off the Spaniard and over Westwood only to crash back off the inside of the post and bounce back across the Cumbrians’ goalmouth. Fortunately for Carlisle Arnison was the first player on hand in the action as he booted the ball out for a corner.
United broke away well down the right-hand side five minutes later when McGill played in Bridges who hit a low cross in for his strike-partner Hawley. Bayliss had the seen danger coming however although he only succeeded in slicing his attempted clearance inches past his own post with Ingham rooted to the spot.
In the 20th minute Aranalde almost scored a similar goal to his one at Cheltenham earlier in the season. Murphy sent in a free-kick conceded by Lee Roche which Lee McEvilly cleared out to the ex-Walsall man 20 yards out, Aranalde struck the ball sweetly but it just drifted wide of the Wrexham goal.
It was United’s top scorer Hawley who was to be in the thick of action as the next three Carlisle chances came and he will be sorely disappointed not to have added to his 15-goal tally with the second of those three opportunites.
After 22 minutes Lumsdon curled in a free-kick which seemed to fly up in the air off the shin of Bridges. The smallest player on the pitch in McGill was the first to the loose ball as he headed it back in to Hawley, Carlisle’s hitman got too much on his aerial effort though and could only nod it over Ingham’s bar.
Bang on the half-hour mark and Hawley missed one of the best chances he’s had this season as he failed to score in a one-on-one with Ingham. Lumsdon played the ball up to Bridges who flicked a delightful touch through a static Wrexham back-line for Hawley to run onto and in on goal. Hawley seemed to take an eternity to decide what to do and only ended up hitting his effort straight at the legs of Ingham, the ball flying back away to safety.
Hawley seems to take his chances better when he has his back to goal and little time to think about what to do. When he has too much time he seems to struggle to make a decision about what to do and often lets the opportunity slip away, although it does seem a little trite to complain about his efforts so far this season.
Just two minutes later he showed his better side when, following a by-line cross in by McGill, Hawley controlled the ball, spun and shot in one quick movement, Ingham doing well to dive low and push the ball around the post for a corner.
On 34 minutes Carlisle went close once more as they continued to make all the chances but were unable to take any of them. After a Murphy corner had been part-cleared Aranalde swung the ball back in to the six-yard box. Livesey met the cross with a thumping point-blank header which, if it had gone anywhere else but straight at Ingham, would have put the Blues 1-0 up. As it was, Ingham, who seems to have done a bit of "weight training" on the top half of his body since he was on loan to Carlisle, was able to push the ball over for another flag-kick.
Seven minutes on and Arnison received the first yellow card of the afternoon for a foul on Mark Jones. It was a bit harsh on the United right-back as it was his first offence of the afternoon when Roche had already given away three or four free-kicks by this point. It wasn’t to be referee Jonathan Moss’s last "intriguing" decision in the match though as he officiated very poorly and inconsisently throughout with neither side getting the better of his bizarre refeering.
After having just booked Arnison for a meaningless shoulder-to-shoulder challenge he was all but forced to book Roche two minutes later when the Wrexham man brought down Bridges on the United left.
Just as the clock was running into first-half injury time ex-Hull City man Jonathan Walters ran on from midfield towards the United goal and unleashed a fierce 25-yarder which Westwood did well to parry before picking up the shot.
So the two sides went in for their interval cup of tea with the scores level at 0-0, it was the Blues though who had bossed the opening period and should have been a goal or two ahead. It didn’t look like Wrexham’s McEvilly would be enjoying his half-time refreshment though as he was last off the pitch clutching his jaw and seemingly in a lot of pain after an unseen aerial challenge moments before the whistle.
McEvilly didn’t come out for the second period and it later transpired that on the coach journey home he was still troubled by the problem and left the bus to go to a hospital in Liverpool for medical attention.
Straight after the break Wrexham boss Denis Smith brought on Andy Holt for the injured McEvilly and Simon Spender for Alex Smith. Spender was in some ways a double substitute following his promotion to the bench after Dean Bennett had been the victim of a back spasm in the pre-match warm-up which forced him to miss the game altogether.
Five minutes into the second-half and United paid for their earlier profligacy in front of goal as the Welshmen took the lead with a hotly disputed penalty. Ferguson was put clear in the Carlisle box from a flicked Jones through ball and Lumsdon appeared to win some of the ball as he challenged the Wrexham skipper from behind. Ferguson went to the ground under the tackle though and referee Moss from Leeds seemed to take a few seconds to make up his mind before eventually pointing to the spot.
Even more strangely, Lumsdon, who looked to be the last man, was only booked for the challenge when the Brunton Park faithful were expecting much worse. It was a case of buy a bad decision, get one free seemingly although Gray and Livesey were only a yard or two behind the tackle and their close proximity might just have saved Lumsdon's bacon. Murphy was also booked for dissent by the official as he contested the award of the spot-kick.
Eventually Crowell stepped up to take the penalty and hit his effort from 12 yards low and hard into the bottom-right corner as he sent United keeper Westwood the wrong way.
Immediately Carlisle started to push forward in search of an equaliser and that movement up the pitch almost cost the Cumbrians a second goal when Walters was sent clear. The Wrexham striker took his shot early though and could only hit it straight down the throat of Westwood as Blues fans puffed out their cheeks in relief.
On the hour Aranalde hit a long ball up to McGill whose first shot was blocked and the diminutive Irishman was only able to send his left-footed curler from the rebound weakly into the arms of Ingham. That was the signal for Holmes to appear off the United bench and start his warm-up exercises on the touchline.
Play went straight up to the other end where Gray did well to nick the ball off the feet of Walters after Roche had played a sweet low ball in from the United left. It was still the Blues who were having the better of the exchanges though as the Paddock cried out for Paul Simpson to freshen things up with a substitution.
That change eventually came in the 68th minute when Holmes came on to replace Aranalde. The Spaniard had looked like a fish out of water on the left-hand side of midfield all afternoon with the Blues having to play very narrow on that wing with no-one able to go past the Wrexham right-back and get in behind. It looks like a one-off experiment that is unlikely to see the light of day again as the Cumbrians immediately had a better shape with Bridges pushing on from the left and Holmes and Hawley as the front two.
Only four minutes later and that more pressing attacking play brought the much deserved equaliser for Carlisle with what looked like a Lawrence own-goal which Blues skipper Gray will actually be claiming. Lumsdon sent in a mid-range corner from the left-wing which Ingham could only palm over to Gray who was unmarked at the back-post. Carlisle’s stopper powered a close-range header in which came back off the underside of the Wrexham bar and bounced back up into the air a foot from goal. Lawrence turned round to see where the ball had gone and was unable to get out of the way as it came back off his knees and over the Red Dragons’ goal-line into the net to level matters at 1-1.
After 77 minutes Jones went close for Wrexham with an excellent first-time effort. The Red Dragons played the ball out of defence nicely with Crowell finally hitting a deep 30-yard diagonal ball to Jones just inside the left-edge of the Carlisle box. Jones tried his luck straight away with a crisp volley which faded just wide off the outside of his left boot and into Westwood’s side-netting at his near-post.
With just nine minutes to go in the match United turned the match round completely when they were at last awarded their first penalty since the end of World War Two. Arnison hit one of his typically deep crosses into the penalty spot area where Holmes was on hand to head back across the face of the Wrexham goal. Hawley nipped in ahead of Ingham to get to the loose ball where the Red Dragons' keeper then seemed to cut the United striker's legs from underneath him in his attempts to get hold of the ball. Hawley went down under the physical challenge and referee Moss pointed to the spot as he gave what looked like his second dodgy penalty decision of the afternoon.
After what seemed to be an eternity Lumsdon came forward to take the spot-kick and the ex-Sunderland man side-footed powerfully home into the bottom-right corner as Ingham went the wrong way. It was pretty much a carbon copy of the way the visitors’ penalty had been converted as Brunton Park erupted at the sight of Lumsdon wheeling away in celebration in front of the Warwick Road End.
It looked like it would be a nervy end to the game for the Blues as the 6’7 Lawrence was immediately pushed upfront as this time it was Wrexham who were now desperately searching for the equalising goal. The game was seen out by United with little incident though as Gray and Livesey both had a towering match for the Blues at the back.
Pacey Liverpool loanee Robbie Foy, who I was surprised to not see appear earlier, came on for Crowell with four minutes left for Wrexham and Bayliss was the fifth player in the game to be yellow-carded on 88 minutes when he brought down Carlisle’s McGill.
They were the only notable things to happen though as two minutes of stoppage time went by and the final whistle was blown on a match which will be remembered as much for the officiating of referee Moss as it will be for United’s sixth League win in nine games.
Post-match quotes :
Carlisle player-manager Paul Simpson said after the game :
"I am delighted with the win today, the pressure is really on us now that we are near the top of the table. Neither team deserved to lose the match but we have got attitude at the moment and that really helped us.
"I thought Chris Lumsdon made a great challenge despite their penalty being given, and it showed because one of their players actually told the referee that it was a foul. I was really pleased for Lummy to score our own penalty, he has been practising them all week and hopefully it would be the first of many."
Wrexham boss Denis Smith commented :
"It was disappointing to take the lead and then lose the game I thought we started OK and played well for the first twenty minutes. I didn't think that either of the decisions were penalties. We were in control one nil up and then we gave away a poor goal and that's disappointing."
thetashkenttheory :
These are the kind of games that two years ago we would have lost and it shows just how far we have come that we are now taking the bull by the horns when we go behind to grind out a victory. The win today was another big one as it keeps us third in the table and now puts us six points clear of Wrexham who remain in the top non-play-off spot.
If you disregard the poor refeering we had the better of the game and made the clearer chances throughout the 90 minutes. For a side in 8th I thought Wrexham were quite disappointing, Lawrence was poor at the back for an international player and McEvilly, literally as it transpired, was pretty much toothless upfront.
The Aranalde experiment should be put in the locker to grow cobwebs. The Murphy/Aranalde combination was one which a lot of fans had mooted but the other way round with Murphy playing as the midfielder. I can understand Simmo’s reticence in not making changes to an in-form back-line but playing Hackney or McGill (with Adam Murray or Nade on the right) there would surely have been a better option.
Still, it’s nice to be a position to only have tiny things to nit-pick about after yet another win. That’s 22 League games gone and we have won half of them and sit a proud third in the table level with Grimsby in second and only four points off Wycombe at the top whose 21 match unbeaten run finally came to an end in a 2-1 defeat at Bury.
Boxing Day sees the visit of Darlington to Brunton Park and it will be extremely disappointing if the attendance doesn’t hit, at least, the 9000 mark. It will be a great chance to finally win a big game in front of a big crowd against a side that we have struggled to beat at home to recent times, here’s hoping that the good times keep rolling!!