Boss Abbott bowled over by hero Gillespie
CARLISLE ..........2 BURY ..................1
GREG Abbott claimed he’d reaped his reward for keeping faith with the kids after young goalkeeper Mark Gillespie delivered a stunning display to hold off a Bury comeback.
An early Lee Miller penalty and a strike from Matt Robson, both in the opening ten minutes, looked to have eased the Cumbrians to successive home wins for the first time this season.
However, Carlisle were hanging on at the end after Steven Schumacher’s fine second-half header and Abbott insisted Gille- spie’s showing was no fluke.
“Mark was outstanding,” said boss Greg Abbott.“Not many clubs have a 20 year old goalkeeper but we have stuck by him. He showed what he can do today but he needs to repeat that over 200 or 300 matches.
“Our character was unbelievable. The fans maybe expected us to go on and win by 4 or 5 but you never get easy games at this level.
“I was very despondent a few weeks ago with the way things were going against us, but we had a little bit of luck on Boxing Day and we had a little bit more.”
Abbott’s side got off to the perfect start with a goal inside 90 seconds. Bradley Potts, 18, tricked Efe Sodje into a foul and Miller stroked home from the spot.
But Bury responded and should have been level five minutes later. Gregg Wylde whipped in a cross and only a marvelous one-handed save from Gillespie kept out Tom Hopper’s header.
“I thought that was the best save I have seen since Jim Montgomery in the FA Cup final,” added Abbott.“It was an unbelievable header and even better save.”
That proved to be vital as the Cumbrians doubled their advantage soon after. Frank Simek got forward and his low cross was drilled home by Robson.
Bury started the second period with more tempo and were rewarded nine minutes after the resumption.Wylde was the architect and Schumacher did the rest with a powerful header.
Abbott’s side now became nervous and they needed Gillespie to be at his best again to keep out efforts from Sebastien Carole and David Worrall.
And when Carole did finally beat Gillespie, the post came to Carlisle’s rescue.
“It was mistakes in both boxes that have cost us,” said disappointed Bury boss Kevin Blackwell. “We should have won the game but if you concede goals like that and then miss the chances we have you get nothing.
“We dominated at Crewe, we dominated Shrewsbury, we dominated again but it is a lack of quality in both boxes, it is as simple as that. If we had taken our chances we would be in the top four.”