Carlisle were left frustrated after throwing away a 2 goal lead in the last 15 minutes of their first home game of the season against newly promoted Boreham Wood. The Blues had gone into half time 1-0 down after Luke Norris had put the away side in front, but a strike from substitue Georgie Kelly and two goals from Regan Linney had given Mark Hughes’ side what looked to be a comfortable lead, the Wood didn’t let their heads drop though, and a second from Norris and a late goal from Charlie O’Connell meant Luke Garrard’s side went away from Brunton Park with a share of the spoils.
Carlisle were looking to make it 2 wins out of 2 to kick off their National League campaign following their opening day win away at Woking, however they started the game on the back foot as Boreham Wood moved the ball around and kept possession much better than the home side as United’s midfield struggled to get into the game due to a very direct style of play. Garrard’s side were finding a lot of joy in wide areas with constant switches of play and positive runs from the attacking midfield trio of Erico Susa, Abdul Abdulmalik and Charles Clayden, and were often deploying their weapon of Chris Bush’s long throw from their arsenal.
Despite the visitors’ promising start however, they were struggling to threaten Gabe Breeze’s goal too much, and Carlisle almost took the lead as Aaron Hayden headed just wide from an Elliott Embleton corner, Boreham Wood had their best move of the half moments later however as some intricate play almost played Abdulmalik through on goal but he was stopped by a last ditch challenge from Hayden, the Wood’s number 10 threatened a few moments later as his long range effort forced Breeze to make a relatively comfortable stop.
Mark Hughes’ side did improve slightly as the half went on, and almost found the breakthroough on 39 minutes as another Embleton corner found the head of Armstrong, but his low header was fantastically tipped onto the post by Nathan Ashmore in the Boreham Wood goal. The visitors found their deserved opener just a couple of minutes later however, as a lovely reverse ball on the edge of the area from Souza took Carlisle’s backline out of the game and found Luke Norris, who poked the ball through Breeze’s legs and into the far corner.
Tempers threatened to flare at points in the first half and things almost came to a boiling point as an altercation in the technical area saw Blues’ manager Hughes and a member of the Boreham Wood coaching staff both receive yellow cards.
HALF TIME: Carlisle 0-1 Boreham Wood
Carlisle looked to make an immediate response in the second half, as Hughes’ introduced Georgie Kelly for the largely ineffective David Ajiboye, the ex Rotherham man made an immediate impact, superbly firing into the bottom left corner after some good work from Armstrong forced Boreham Wood’s defence into giving the ball away. Carlisle could well have taken the lead almost immediately as a superb cross from Embleton found Harvey Macadam, but the midfielder somehow fired over from just a few yards out.
United continued to maintain the pressure however, and they took the lead moments later after deft feet from Regan Linney took him round Cameron Coxe before he fired a shot that squirmed past Ashmore to make the score 2-1. The visitors were far from out of the game though and could have equalised shortly after, as United captain Terrell Thomas failed to deal with a long ball over the top and was muscled to the floor by substitute Matt Rush, but the ex Maidstone man dinked his effort just past the far post.
Carlisle remained the better of the two sides in the opening half an hour of the second half, and continued to threaten the visitors’ backline, with Armstrong almost being played in on goal by a great through ball by Callum Whelan, only to be denied by a superb challenge by Charlie O’Connell.
There was nothing anyone could do about the Blues’ third however, as Regan Linney produced a moment of absolute brilliance as he nutmegged his man on the left wing before firing an absolute rocket into the top right corner from 25 yards out to bag his second goal of the game.
The home side should have been comfortable at this point, but Boreham Wood refused to let their heads drop, and a mishit cross from the goalscorer Norris almost looped over Breeze’s head, but he was able to tip the ball over for a corner. The away side refused to be denied however, as a great ball in from O’Connell found Norris in acres of space in the United area, and he easily headed past Breeze to put Boreham Wood well and truly back in the game.
United’s defensive woes continued and 5 minutes later they failed to deal with a free kick to the back post from substitue Tom Whelan, and O’Connell was able to nod in a free header at the backpost to complete the Boreham Wood comeback, much to the chargrin of the 8,500+ Carlisle fans in attendance.
The home side almost found a late winner after a poor clearance allowed Jack Ellis a late chance, but he could only fire his effort over the bar to confirm that Carlisle would have to settle for a share of the spoils.
Carlisle: Breeze, Ellis, Hayden, Thomas, Harper, C. Whelan (Robson 80′), Macadam, Ajiboye (Kelly 45′), Embleton, Linney (Luamba 95′), Armstrong (Wearne 80′) Subs not used: Lewis, Davies, Mugabi
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Coxe, O’Connell, Bush, Ilesanmi (Dixon 62′), Reynolds, White, Sousa, Abdulmalik (Rush 56′), Clayden (T. Whelan 56′), Norris (Benton 97′) Subs not used: Henry, King
How Did United Perform?
This game has to be seen as two points dropped for Carlisle, especially after being two goals up with just 15 minutes to play. The alarm bells should be ringing loudly however as we never really got out of the blocks in the first half, and, full credit to Boreham Wood, we let the visitors totally outplay us. Our midfield never really got into the game and David Ajiboye looked totally off the pace, never really showing any of his blistering speed which he was notable for during his time at Sutton.
We certainly improved in the second half and the forwards can take a lot of credit from the game as some superb finishes really should have given us the three points, even Elliot Embleton who was heavily criticised last season has seemingly bucked his ideas up and was a large part of United’s creativity going forward, including two excellent corners that almost led to a goal.
The biggest disappointment though is how we really stopped playing after going 3-1 up and instead of pressing our advantage, we let them get back into the game and some awful defending from Hayden and Thomas at the back allowed the lead to slip away from us. It’s possible that one of the two of them may do ok alongside a different partner, but the combination of the two of them has already proved last season that it just doesn’t work.
Cameron Harper also looked poor, including some wayward balls forward and never really looking comfortable in his defensive work either. Coming off the game the verdict is pretty clear, if we can utilise our quality going forward we’ll have no problem scoring goals, but we desperately need to shore up our defence otherwise we’ll continue to let games like this slip, Morgan Feeney’s return to fitness can’t come soon enough, and Bevis Mugabi should already be asking the question of Hughes as to getting a place in the next starting lineup.
Overall, 4 points from the opening two fixtures certainly isn’t a bad return, but given that Boreham Wood, with all due respect, aren’t one of the heavy hitters in this league, it’s clear that we need to up our game going forward.
Carlisle Player Ratings:
Breeze – 5: Was nutmegged for Boreham Wood’s opener, and conceding 3 goals is always a mark of a tough outing for a goalkeeper.
Ellis – 7: The only defender to really come out of this with any credit, not as good as he was against Woking, but battled well against a tricky opponent in Clayden
Hayden – 5: Made some bizarre decisions at times at the back, and wasn’t aggressive enough in dealing with a lot of the balls that came near him, did make an excellent tackle to stop a BW attack in the first half, though.
Thomas – 4: Really poor, outmuscled too easily on a number of occasions including one that really should have led to the score being 2-2, passive like Hayden and simply nowhere near commanding enough to be captain.
Harper – 5: Poor outing from him, inaccurate passing and nervy defending put the crowd and some of his team mates on edge on a few occasions.
Whelan – 5: Currently looks off his game compared to last season, produced a couple of dangerous through balls but was wasteful in possession and struggled to impact the game especially in the first half.
Macadam – 6: Thought he did ok, was positive in his pressing and controlled the ball quite well for the most part, struggled in the first half similar to Whelan though and should have scored in the second.
Ajiboye – 4: Again, well off the pace, never impacted the game and whenever he touched the ball he lost it, not helped by our long ball game in the first half but just never looked threatening to the away side’s defence.
Embleton – 7: Carlisle’s main creative force in the game, creating two chances from corners in the first half and constantly keeping the ball moving in the attacking third, looks a much better player than last season so far.
Linney – 8 (MOTM): Quiet first half and could be accused of doing a bit too much with the ball at times but two goals largely of his own making more than make up for that, he always looked dangerous when he was on the ball, constantly driving at his full back and causing headaches for Boreham Wood, including an absolute blinder of a second goal.
Armstrong – 7: Cut a frustrated figure in the first half as he struggled to get on the end of a lot of aimless balls forward from United’s backline, but improved after the break and forced a mistake to set up Kelly’s equaliser.
Subs:
Kelly – 7: Made a real difference coming off the bench, taking his goal superbly and holding the ball up well when called upon too, always a real weapon to have in your arsenal.
Robson – 6: Not really on long enough to properly impact the game, did come somewhat close with another free kick
Wearne – 6: Similar to Robson.
Luamba – N/A: Should have been on earlier.
Please note that these are Craig’s opinions and nothing official!
A Message From Paddock Perception:
We are working alongside Liam and his YouTube channel Blue Army TV this season to make sure we bring you the best Carlisle United content we possibly can. You can subscribe to his channel and follow him on X, his handles are below.
X – @blue_army_tv
YouTube – @BlueArmyTVchannel
Another partnership Paddock Perception has is with Carlisle United YouTube channel CU04, they have amazing content on their channel and we are looking forward to working with them this season. You can follow them here:
X – @CU04_YOUTUBE
YouTube – @CU04
Thank you everyone for reading Paddock Perception, your support means everything! Please don’t forget you can follow Dan and Craig on X for more football content:
@dan_batemannn
@CraigWL1997
Paddock Perception 
Leave a comment