The New Year started how the previous one had ended for Carlisle. A win at home to Boston United, Carlisle’s on loan striker Matty Fryatt scoring the winner just after the hour mark. Carlisle then lost 2 of their next 3 games - against York City who themselves were beginning to be pulled into the relegation survival battle, and Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground. They did manage to beat Yeovil Town though with Player/Manager Paul Simpson and Craig Farrell, both hitting the back of the net. February started with a win for Carlisle, as they did the double over Bury. Simmo again found himself on the score sheet along with centre back Kevin Grey. League leaders, Hull City were next to visit Brunton Park, but the feeling around the ground was that of optimism. Andy Preece gave Carlisle the lead midway through the second half. Only for United traitor Stuart Green to squeeze the ball home late on for Hull, denying Carlisle the victory and celebrating like he’d just won the World Cup. Two away trips followed and Carlisle brought back a point from each of them. Drawing two all at Cambridge, with Simmo again the inspiration as he scored twice to earn the point and Carlisle also drew away, one all at lowly Macclesfield, with Brendan McGill the United scorer. The long trip to Torquay was made even longer on the way home as Carlisle crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season losing 4-1. it was important that Carlisle showed bouncebackabilty from this set back, and they duly obliged, beating both play-off hopefuls Huddersfield Town, and Oxford United in front of the Brunton Park lights. Duffield scoring the winner against Town and goals from fullback, Tom Cowan and Craig Farrell made sure the points stayed in Cumbria. Northampton were next up and it looked as if Carlisle would enjoy their third league win in a row as striker Farrell gave Carlisle the lead, only for Town’s Trollope to equalise a minute later, as the game finished one a piece. That point meant that Carlisle had only lost 3 times in their last 15 outings. When they had only won once in the opening 21 games. A truly phenomenal turn around in the clubs fortunes. After beating the promotion contenders, Carlisle then took on fellow strugglers, Rochdale at Spotland. Ex-United player Grant Holt managed to con the referee into getting goalkeeper Matty Glennon sent off, giving Dale a penalty they converted. Holt continued to frustrate the United followers as he grabbed Rochdale’s second of the game, and thus the 3 points. An exciting game then followed as one of the performances of the season unfolded away at Glanford Park, the home of Scunthorpe United… Carlisle took the lead on 14 minutes as Brendan McGill set up Peter Duffield to fire Carlisle in front. Scunthorpe hit back in the 24th minute as top scorer Maclean shot past Matty Glennon. Into the second half and Carlisle regained the initiative as Cumbrian born Adam Boyd hit a 25 yarder into the Irons net. Scunthorpe came from behind again as Brian Shelley brought down winger, Taylor in the box. Maclean converted the penalty making the scored level again. Carlisle then took the lead again as Chris Billy hit a powerful shot across the keeper and into the net. United then managed to hold onto the lead till the end, winning in the end 3-2 with a fantastic display of appetite and desire to win. The gap at the bottom was closing all the time, as Carlisle kept on picking up points and others around them began to look over their shoulders. As at Christmas it looked all but over for United. Clawing back the deficit was a hard process and made even harder as Southend came and took the points, beating Carlisle 2-1 at the end of March. April began with a trip to the Vetch Field, with goals from Craig Farrell, from the penalty spot and Peter Duffield giving Carlisle the deserved 3 points. The next game saw Craig Farrell become United’s hero again as he netted the only goal of the game as Carlisle beat Kiddeminster. United then came from behind as they drew their next game 1-all away at Leyton Orient. It was getting close now. Carlisle had managed to continue their superb run that started back in December. They were gaining all the time on the teams around them and were now only 2 points away from getting out of the relegation zone. United’s penultimate home game was against a well-organised Lincoln team. Lincoln took the lead just after the interval. United pushed for an equaliser but couldn’t find one, and in the dying minutes Matty Glennon came up for a corner only to be left helpless as Lincoln scored from 65 yards, an accurate shot found its way into the gaping United net. As results around Carlisle didn’t go their way, they were left with a 5 point gap to reduce with only 3 games to go. Next up was an away trip to Mansfield who found themselves 6th in the table and still fighting for automatic promotion. Kevin Grey set United on their way as he bulleted a header home from a corner. Mansfield replied soon after as Collin Larkin scored from close range. Andy Preece then had a free kick charged down by an early break from a Town defender, referee Scott Mathieson moved the free kick 10 yards forward and from there, Andy Preece drilled the ball home, giving United the lead again. As half time drew near Liam Lawrence broke past 2 United defenders and dinked the ball over the on-rushing Matty Glennon to send the teams in level at half time. Into the second half and just past the hour mark on loan striker Kelvin Langmead struck home for United following good work by Richie Foran. This was Kelvin’s first league goal. Into stoppage time and it looked like the dream of survival was to continue as United were holding on to their slender lead until Tom Cowan brought down the menace, Lawrence. The referee didn’t hesitate in pointing to the spot and as I listened to the game on BBC Radio Cumbria, couldn’t help but burst into tears as my worst nightmare was unfolding before me. All I could think was “Why?” “Why is this happening to us? All the hard work we’ve put in for this and now it’s all but over” There was no way Liam Lawrence was going to miss. He had put away his previous 13 penalty kicks, until Matty Glennon dived desperately to his right hand side and forced the ball away from the goal. He had done it, Matty was the hero! The final whistle came as the ball was hoofed away from the United box. The tears were now of joy and my heart was racing for half an hour after the heroics on the pitch. Not only was it 3 points in the bag, it also lifted Carlisle off the bottom of the league for the first time since the 25th August, as York City replaced us as the 92nd placed English Club. Now all wee needed to do was win our last 2 games and hope that results went our way. The next game was at home to Cheltenham Town, who were mid table and had nothing to play for. 9524 turned up to watch the final game of the season and hopefully cheer United on to victory. The game started well and Brendan McGill gave Carlisle the lead. We held this lead until the 86th minute of the game when disaster struck. Cheltenham equalised from a corner and Brunton Park was stunned. We pushed for a winner but it was not to be. The game finished and Carlisle were relegated from the Football League. The final game of the season seemed pretty pointless as Carlisle played Champions, Doncaster. Ending the season on 45 points. The effort that Simmo, Dennis Booth and the lads put in from Christmas 2003 onwards was unbelievable. Amassing 40 points from 25 games. Losing just the 7 and winning 11 times both home and away. A run that put United 4 points of safety come May, which I don’t think any of us thought we would be in. So it was Conference life for Carlisle United, but as we went down, we went down believing that the Conference was ours for the taking. The opening day of the season saw newly promoted Canvey Island come to Brunton Park and take a share of the points in a 0-0 draw. United then drew their next game, throwing away a 2 goal lead as old boy Johnny Allan scored from 35 yards into the top corner, a goal any goalkeeper in the world would have found difficult to save. Then 2 convincing wins against Forrest Green, where Magno Silva Vieira scored on his United debut and the League’s biggest win of the season so far as United pushed aside Farnborough 7-0, with Karl Hawley grabbing a hat-trick and goals from Preece, Vieira and McGill saw a rampant United destroy Farnborough Town. The next 3 games all saw United take a point as they drew with Halifax, Burton, in front of the Sky TV cameras and Woking. The Blues then went on to a fantastic run as they won 5 on the bounce, beating Tamworth, Scarborough, Aldershot, Crawley and Leigh RMI, with comfortable wins, beating Aldershot 5-0 with Vieira scoring a hat-trick away from home and Leigh 6-1 as McGill grabbed a brace, as well as Cowan, Billy, Murphy and Farrell. A nill-nill draw followed away at Exeter before United’s first defeat of the season at home to Barnet, 3-1. a 3 game run then followed as United took maximum points against Hereford, Gravesend and Dagenham & Redbridge. During that spell, United were paired away at Bristol Rovers in the first round of the FA Cup. A brave come back saw United draw at the Memorial Ground before a Vieira goal in the 110th minute of extra time in the replay at Brunton Park saw Carlisle advance to the second round and another away trip to League 1 side, Bournemouth. Carlisle, who were unbeaten away from home then travelled to York City who were just one place above the relegation zone, in 19th. With Murphy getting sent off and United not at their best, York were able to capitalise and run out 2-1 victors, gifting Barnet a 7 point lead at the top of the Conference. The next weekend was FA Cup weekend and brave performance was not quite good enough to see Carlisle be put into the third round draw… but on the up side, Bournemouth only got Chester City! Back to the league and two second half goals from Andy Preece saw off Accrington Stanley. In the next league game, Carlisle went down 1-0 to a Redmile goal for Tamworth, which saw Barnet’s lead extend to 13 points from second place Carlisle. The last game before Christmas was at home to Woking. A physical side, and they took the lead on the 56th minute even though it looked as if there had been a hand ball before they eventually scored. Carlisle left it late, and in the 86th minute, a Chris Lumsdon corner evaded everyone and nestled in the net, levelling the score. Two minutes later and Carlisle again won a corner. Lumsdon took it and Simon Grand leapt above everyone to head the ball off the under side of the bar and over the line. Confusion followed until the referee looked over to his assistant who was flagging, indicating that the ball indeed had crossed the line. Next up for Carlisle were local rivals, Morecambe. As over 1800 Carlisle fans made the trip to the seaside for the early kick off. They were not to be disappointed as leading scorer, Karl Hawley notched his 11 league goal of the season putting Carlisle 1-up. This lead lasted until the second half when Michael Twiss equalised for the Shrimpers. However, the game is likely to be remembered for Morecambe keeper Andy Solitt being knocked out late into the game. So another point for United, which left them 9 points behind league leaders, Barnet… with a game in hand! The final league game of 2004 was again hosted at Brunton Park, as 6712 saw Carlisle take on Aldershot Town. Carlisle trailed at the break 1-0, even though they had the better possession. The second half was one of missed chances, Nikki Bull in the Town goal saved well from two Murray headers as well as a one-on-one. But better late than never, Glenn Murray did bag an 89th minute equaliser for Carlisle as Brendan McGill crossed low and hard, allowing Murray to tap home from inside the 6-yard box. So 2004 is now over and what a year it was. Roddy Collins was sacked by his friend and Club owner, John Courtenay as Carlisle took only 5 points from their opening 21 games. It was left to Carlisle born player/manager Paul Simpson to steer the Carlisle ship into the future, and that he did with an amazing attempt to save United from relegation. Simmo and the lads got it down to the penultimate game before finally bowing out of the Football League. The Conference season is now half way through and Carlisle find themselves 2nd in the table, 11 points off top spot but with a game in hand. Lets hope the second half of this season is as profitable as the last. John Fuller |
