CRAWLEY TOWN 0 CARLISLE UNITED 1 Hope springs eternal for much-needed win
CARLISLE boss Keith Curle continues to look for the magic ingredient which will set his side of talented individuals on the road to consistent success but the manner of this victory will have done them no harm.
Keeper Jack Bonham returned to the starting line-up following a midweek brace of howlers from Liverpool loanee Shamal George which had cost the Blues the game against Stevenage.
The game parked itself in midfield for much of the opening 15 minutes as neither side found a way to pick a path through to creating anything even close to what could be described as a half chance.
Things warmed up just after the quarter hour when Crawley keeper Glenn Morris showed signs of real nerves as the home crowd started to question his decision making. He first felt their wrath when he miskicked a regulation backpass behind for a corner as he came under pressure from Miller.
And he gifted the Cumbrians a chance from nothing with a poor clearance that went straight to Etuhu. The lively midfielder fed it through to Miller, who shielded it with his back to goal before sliding it to Adams on the overlap. Hope was on hand to stab the low cross into the waiting net but a flag went up for offside to cut the celebrations short.
Crawley responded with an incisive move which gave Young half a yard to deliver a low ball into the mix from the right flank. Roberts got to it at the back post and Bonham had to be at his best as he spread himself to make a point-blank save.
A lovely pass from out wide from Shaun Miller was controlled on the chest by Hallam Hope. He took a step to beat his man but his shot was blocked at source before it could trouble the target.
United were nearly caught on the break again when a huge kick forward sent Evina clear. He crossed early and Smith worked hard to get on to the end of it. His measured volley had goal written all over it until Bonham once again got down to make a vital save.
The game took a while to get going in the second half with the referee contributing to the feeling of general malaise around the ground when he had to restart the action twice due to a faulty stopwatch.
Carlisle took the bull by the horns to get themselves in front on 51 minutes when they passed the ball from left to right courtesy of Etuhu, Jones and Joyce. Nicky Adams took over, dropped a shoulder and delivered a deep cross which was perfect for Hallam Hope to latch on to. He didn’t disappoint as he buried his closerange header into the waiting
net. The Cumbrians carved their hosts open moments later when Adams sent Joyce on the overlap and into the area with a lovely pass from the outside of his boot. The midfielder had plenty of options but he lost his bearings and whipped an awful cross on to the roof of the net.
It was a comfortable afternoon for the visitors but their task was made harder with just 15 minutes to go when Richie Bennett was shown a straight red card for an alleged use of an elbow on Josh Yorwerth.
The Red Devils looked to turn up the heat with their oneman advantage but they couldn’t find a way through the stubborn Cumbrian back line as every man defended with their lives.
A fracas deep into time added on reduced the Blues to 10 men, as a fight between Parkes and Yorwerth saw them both sent from the field, but that did little to change things as the visitors dug deep to brush the moment aside.