Van leaves it late then drives home to save Stevenage
Butterworth fires in his first goal
STEVE EVANS admitted Stevenage got out of jail as a late Houdini-act kept their League One play-off hopes on track.
Terence Vancooten stabbed home a closerange rebound in the sixth minute of stoppage time to salvage a draw as Evans’ side climbed to seventh, a point outside the top six.
They are without a win in the last five games and looked dead and buried at two goals down with eight minutes left after a double from Dan Butterworth.
But a late penalty from Alex Macdonald started the comeback and boss Evans admitted: “We were fortunate to get away with a point. With where we are and where Carlisle are in the table we’re not celebrating a draw here but my heart bursts with pride at the way we fought back.
“For more than an hour I didn’t recognise my team but we hung in there and once we pulled one back I thought we might even go on to win.
“A point keeps us right up there with the big guns going into the final stages of the season.”
The Cumbrians took a deserved 13th-minute lead in a move started by ex-stevenage loanee Harrison Neal, whose pass into the area found Jack Ellis who set up Butterworth for a simple finish at the far post.
Taylor Charters should have made it two after the break but the midfielder’s poor first touch saw the chance go begging.
From the resulting corner, Butterworth struck a stunning second, cutting inside his man on the edge of the box to beat goalkeeper Craig Macgillivray with a curling left-foot effort.
Stevenage didn’t muster a shot on target until Macdonald pulled one back from the spot with eight minutes left after he had been fouled in the penalty area by Dylan Mcgeouch. Deep into stoppage-time Vancooten (above) reacted first to a loose ball when goalkeeper Harry Lewis saved from
Vadaine Oliver.
Rock-bottom Carlisle remain 15 points from safety after one win in the last 14 games.
Boss Paul Simpson said: “It’s a harsh penalty. There’s not a chance that the referee could have seen it clearly, there must have been 10 players in between him and the challenge.
“We didn’t show the composure we needed to see it out and not for the first time this season we’re massively disappointed not to hold on for the three points.”