Waspish Hackney Taxis In to Sting Bees

Hackney - winning goal

That meant a starting back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Zigor Aranalde, Danny Livesey and stand-in skipper Peter Murphy. Strung across the midfield were Chris Lumsdon, Chris Billy and Adam Murray, with Derek Holmes and Karl Hawley upfront, Michael Bridges sitting in the hole just behind the front two.

Barnet meanwhile had all sorts of selection problems with Tresor Kandol, Ross Flitney, Richard Graham, Simon King, Damian Batt, Lee Roache and Stevland Angus all unavailabe for selection for one reason or another. The Bees had two things in their favour though as they started the game kicking down the Underhill slope with a fiercely cold and strong wind behind their backs.

That proved to be a real help to the home side and they had the Blues on the backfoot for most of the opening period with Carlisle often struggling to get the ball out of their own half as they played against the inclement conditions. Just three minutes in the Bees had a chance when Bridges brought down ex-Watford striker Jason Norville on the left-hand side. Rangy midfielder Ben Strevens swung the free-kick in but centre-half Ismail Yakubu could only head wide of the Cumbrians far-post from 12 yards out.

With Barnet having the territorial advantage it wasn’t long until they were pressing again and two minutes later good work by Norville saw him exchange a one-two with old Carlisle nemesis Giuliano Grazioli.. Norville had found a good shooting opportunity but from there he dragged his shot from just outside the United box well wide.

The Carlisle defence had been working hard in the early stages as they closed down crosses and got in vital clearances as the home side looked to make the most of their first-half advantage. In the 11^th minute Bees midfielder Nicky Bailey tested his luck from range, a tactic the home side really should have tried more in the opening 45 minutes, but fortunately for the Blues his well-hit effort went straight at Westwood. Seconds later Yakubu sent a header narrowly wide from a cross in by on-loan right-back Barry Fuller as the Cumbrians just couldn’t seem to get the ball out of their own half.

In the 16^th minute it was again the home side in action as Arnison brought down Norville on the right-wing. Strevens put the set-piece in which was initially cleared by the head of Holmes, only for it go straight to the feet of the 40 year-old Andy Hessenthaler on the edge of the Carlisle box. The veteran ex-Gillingham manager hit a volley in which hammered into Norville, Adam Murray hoofed clear but the ball was soon back in the Blues box again from Bailey but Yakubu’s header was an easy one for Westwood to collect.

The game was starting to descend into a midfield battle now with both sides struggling to keep hold of possession due to the terrible conditions which made passing difficult. In the 26^th minute Barnet missed a good chance through Strevens who fired well over the Carlisle bar with his left-foot from just inside the area after some neat approach work between Norville and Grazioli.

Shortly afterwards United came as close to scoring as they would in the opening period. Holmes was fouled by Bailey in the Barnet half of the centre-circle and Murphy stepped up to punt a nice ball up into the box. Holmes did well to take the ball in on his chest and looped a lovely volley over young, on-loan from West Ham, keeper Matthew Reed, the shot seemed to hold up in the wind before eventually crashing back out of the angle of post and bar. Lumsdon started to get forward a little bit in this better passage of play for the Blues but he had two long-range efforts blocked by Bees centre-half Anthony Charles and then by Fuller.

Chances started to be at a premium now, although in the 37th minute Livesey’s header at the back-post from a deep Lumsdon corner was thumped away from the line by Barnet’s Welsh left-back Adam Gross as the effort looked to be heading goalwards. Three minutes later Aranalde gave away a free-kick for a foul on Grazioli 25 yards out on the right-wing, Gross put the set-piece in but another header from Charles was off-target as it sailed over the Carlisle bar.

Charles once more was on the end of a Barnet dead-ball situation when sixty seconds later he headed wide from a Strevens corner when well placed ten yards out. United seemed to be giving away free-kick after free-kick under pressure in the latter stages of the half and in the final minute of the opening period Lumsdon brought down Charles 25 yards out from the Carlisle goal. With the wind behind him Strevens opted for a piledriver which was expertly tipped over the top of his own crossbar by a hard-worked Westwood, much to the relief of the 952-strong Blue Army. From the resulting Bailey corner in home midfielder Dean Sinclair sent his close-range header narrowly wide of the Blues near-post when he really should have done better.

Just one minute of added time was signalled, although two were played, and United held out nicely to make it into the break at 0-0 with the best of the conditions to come in their favour in the second-half. The only worry was a head injury to a groggy Hawley after a clash of heads with Charles in an aerial challenge, the Blues’ top scorer receiving lengthy treatment from Carlisle physiotherapist Neil Dalton before returning to the fray.

United did come out brightly after the break and after 48 minutes they were on the attack. With the wind now at his back instead of in his face Westwood launched a big goal-kick up which Holmes flicked on to Bridges who was running in from the left-hand side. Letting the ball bounce and drop back to his foot the ex-Leeds striker tried a looping half-volley from the edge of the Barnet box with his right-foot but it sailed just over Reed’s crossbar.

Shortly afterwards, Hawley who had been struggling with blurred vision since his knock to the back of the head in the first-half, was replaced by United supersub Simon Hackney. Hawley had seemingly been given five minutes to see if the problem got better and when it didn’t he was forced to go off.

Just as the Blues were looking to get up a good head of steam and grab a goal their bubble was well and truly burst as the Bees took the lead. Murphy fouled Norville 40 yards out in the middle of the pitch and Bailey stepped up to curl the free-kick away from goal on the wind down the left-hand channel. Holmes got in front of Charles quickly at the far-post, outmuscling the Barnet centre-half seven yards out. Sadly for the big Scot though he could only loop his attempted headed clearance back across goal, over the top of Westwood, beyond Murphy and Arnison and into the Cumbrians net to put the home side in front and bag a much unwanted own-goal.

It was the shortest of leads for Barnet to celebrate though as just 80 seconds later Carlisle scored an equaliser. Billy hit a chipped pass from the kick-off across to Holmes down the left-hand channel, the Lanark-born striker bravely, despite a strong challenge from Fuller, laying in a ball across on the volley for the onrushing Bridges . Bursting in beyond Charles, as the ball ran behind the Barnet defender and into the box, the United striker beat Reed with a crisp, low finish that went across goal from the right-hand channel and into the bottom left-hand corner of the young keeper’s net from 12 yards out to finish off an exciting minute and a bit.

United seemed to be spurred on by that quick spell of action and from that point they went on to play the better football and put the home side under pressure right until the final whistle. There was some end-to-end action midway through the second period as firstly Aranalde drove a 20-yarder with his left foot wide of Reed’s far-post and then Strevens, after an excellent run forward, sent a poweful shot from the edge of the Carlisle box straight into Westwood’s gloves. Either corner of the net would more than likely have seen a goal for the Barnet man as the game jump-started back into life after a quiet period.

Hackney was beginning to come into his own now as the Bees defenders began to tire running up the slope into the strong wind. In the 71^st minute, running down the left and onto a long Murphy ball up from the back, the pacey Blues winger cut in from his flank and tried a right-footed curler that sneaked just wide of Reed’s far-post. Better was to follow from the ex-Woodley Sports man four minutes later as he set the Cumbrians up on the road to an important away victory by putting United 2-1 ahead.

Coming shortly after Murphy had sent a long-range free-kick just wide of the Barnet goal, it was a great finish by Hackney and a goal in a similar style to his double-strike against Rushden seven days earlier. A Billy header from the half-way line went nicely into the feet of Holmes who in turn laid the ball off to Bridges with a nice first touch on his left-foot, the ex-Leeds man waiting unmarked 35 yards out in the left-hand channel. Bridges took the ball up to the edge of the Bees box as Fuller tried to hold him up, but the one-time England under-21 star showed great patience and awareness to play in Hackney who was running at pace down the left-hand side of him. United's Billy Whizz chose to hit the ball straight away as it came to him eight yards out and it was a lovely effort on his left-foot which flew across Reed and into the far corner of the Barnet net to give the Blues a vital one goal advantage.

Both sides made substitutions in the 78^th and 81^st minutes respectively with each looking to pep up their flagging frontlines. Glenn Murray replacing Holmes for Carlisle and Liam Hatch, returning from injury, coming on in place of the strangely subdued Grazioli for Barnet.

In the 83^rd minute Bailey brought down Lumsdon in the middle of the Bees ‘D’ as the Blues looked to find a killer third goal to put the game to bed. That goal couldn’t have come any closer either as Aranalde stepped up to take the set-piece, his effort crashing back off the inside of the Barnet post, with Charles on hand for the home side to hoof the ball clear from the rebound. It was the second time in the game that the Cumbrians had hit the woodwork and their bad luck almost came back to haunt them in the very final moments of the game.

Three minutes later referee Patrick Miller of Bedfordshire got his yellow card out for the first time in the game as he booked Gross for a late lunge on Glenn Murray. The notebook nearly ran out of paper in the 89^th minute however as there was some quality handbags between two sides with a history against each other, the melee coming after what looked like a clear elbow by Hatch on Murphy in an aerial challenge. Hatch was very lucky really to stay on the pitch but he was only cautioned, along with Billy and Strevens who had got unnecessarily involved in the row about the incident.