A Regan Linney strike was all that separated the two sides in what was a largely lacklustre game of football at St James Park as Mark Hughes’ side ran out 1-0 winners in a gritty midweek clash.
The game started off in a fairly high gear as a back and forth affair saw both sides put pressure on the other’s defensive line, the visitors had a good chance early on as some good linkup play from Georgie Kelly and Stephen Wearne saw the latter’s initial shot blocked into the path of Kelly, who hit a side footed effort towards the top left corner which was superbly tipped round the post by Johnny Maxted.
Brackley weren’t sitting back themselves though, threatening Carlisle’s right flank with some good play from Riccardo Calder and Morgan Robets, and Calder’s cross moments later was met by the head of Matt Lowe from just over 12 yards out but the former Accrington forward could only direct his header wide of the right hand post.
The Cumbrians continued to probe the home side’s defence and almost found a breakthrough in the 20th minute, but a superb interception from Zak Lilly stopped a low Linney cross from reaching the feet of Kelly inside the six yard area. Kelly was in amongst the action a few minutes later too, as a Cameron Harper cross was volleyed towards goal by the left foot of Carlisle’s number 9, but again he fired just wide of the left hand post.
The Saints were struggling to contain the former Rotherham man and he was once again found with another cross into the box, this time by Archie Davies, but his header was again just slightly wide of the goal.
HALF TIME: Brackley Town 0 – 0 Carlisle United
Both sides struggled to get going in the early minutes of the 2nd half of the game, trading long direct passes with United’s midfield especially struggling to really get into the game. Brackley had the best chance of the half so far on the hour mark as Scott Pollock was played down the left by Calder, but his shot was easily pushed behind by Gabe Breeze after the angle was against the ex Northampton man.
Both sides toiled to get any real grip of the game before United found the breakthrough seemingly out of nowhere as Jack Ellis was fed in the centre of the pitch by substitute Luke Armstrong before chipping the ball through to Linney, who took advantage of Brackley players being slow to react, and timed his run inside to perfection, took a touch inside the area before firing home into the bottom left corner to bag his 6th goal of the season for his new club and send Carlisle back up north with all 3 points.
FULL TIME: Brackley Town 0 – 1 Carlisle United – Linney (79′)
Brackley: Maxted, Calder, Lilly, Dean, Morrison, Roberts (Hobson 80′), Byrne, Pollock (Lyttle 70′), Price (Brown 75′), Waldron (Hall 70′), Lowe. Subs Not Used: Gregory, Haynes
Carlisle: Breeze, Davies, Mugabi, Thomas (Hayden 90+2′), Harper, Ellis, Macadam, Gillead (Armstrong 71′), Wearne (Grant 82′), Linney (Whelan 90+2), Kelly. Subs Not Used: Lewis, Murray, Ajiboye.
How Did United Perform?
It was far from the ideal performance from us tonight, despite creating a few half decent chances in the early stages of the game, we really struggled to maintain any level of composure or control of the match and it’s tough to say we really deserved to come away with the 3 points. For large parts we found it hard to get our midfield involved in the game and when we did, the passing was often too laboured to really cause Brackley problems.
With that said however, 3 points is 3 points, and after a poor result on Saturday at Sutton, it’s exactly the antidote we needed to hopefully get us back on the right track, plus our defence held up very well and Breeze’s goal was never really properly threatened, we definitely need to up our game still going forward, but the defensive improvements and ability to grind out a result when not playing overly well can only be a positive.
Carlisle Player Ratings:
Breeze – 6: Didn’t have all that much to do, but when called upon he did it well.
Davies – 5: Thought he had a poor game today, struggled in the first half to contain Calder and Roberts, and his passing and touches in the attacking third were generally very wayward
Mugabi – 7: Won virtually all of his aerial battles and largely dominated Brackley’s attack.
Thomas – 6: Couple of questionable clearances again however like Mugabi was largely untroubled by Brackley’s forwards.
Harper – 6: Did okay for the most part, couple of wayward passes let him down again, still arguments that this area is a weak spot for us.
Ellis – 6: Struggled to get into the game for large periods but played a great pass forward for Linney’s goal and worked tirelessly like he usually does.
Macadam – 5: Didn’t impact the game much and when he did get on the ball, his touches tended to let him down, tough to see what his role in the team is at times.
Gillead – 6: Not a bad showing for his debut, generally used the ball well but lacked any real penetration to his game, will hopefully grow into the side.
Wearne – 6: Worked hard as usual, couple of points where it felt like others weren’t quite on his wavelength when he attempted to make things happen.
Linney – 7: The difference maker for Carlisle once again, quieter than average game for our talisman but took his goal excellently and can always be trusted to come up with something.
Kelly – 6: Held the ball up well and was handful for Brackley’s centre backs especially in the opening stages but had to be on a bit of a leash when he received an early booking, will probably be disappointed not to have taken one of his chances.
Subs:
Armstrong – 6: Put himself about well enough when he came on, did well to hold the ball up and feed Ellis prior to Linney’s goal
Grant – 6: Made a couple of decent challenges in midfield but still lacking in mobility.
Please note these are Craig’s opinions and nothing official!
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