Carlisle United moved into second place in the National League after an exhilarating 4-2 win over fellow promotion contenders Forest Green thanks to goals from Harvey Macadam and Georgie Kelly and a brace from top scorer Regan Linney.
There was an intense atmosphere at Brunton Park from the off as Forest Green manager Robbie Savage was immediately drawing some flak from the home support, this was underlined by some heated reactions to some questionable bookings received by a couple of United players in the early goings of the match.
The Blues fired the first warning shot however as Chris Conn-Clarke, making his league debut for the club, tried to catch the visitors’ defence out, playing a deep free kick into the inside right channel of the box and finding the run of Regan Linney, but the chance was quickly snuffed out by the Forest Green defence.
Savage’s side had hit a rough patch of form coming into this game taking just one point from the previous three matches, but looked to find the opener in the 9th minute as an in swinging corner from Jayden Clarke was flicked across goal by the boot of Ryan Inniss before the resulting scramble was somehow eventually cleared.
Mark Hughes’ side were coming into this game with a lot of confidence in their attack following last weekend’s 5-2 win against Boston in the FA Cup and found the opener in the 18th minute as Josh Williams seized upon a poor pass before breaking down the left flank and playing infield to Conn-Clarke, who slipped in Linney for Carlisle’s number 10 to fire into the bottom left corner to give the hosts the lead.
A pivotal point in the game came in the 25th minute as Linney was again causing problems for Rovers, finding Georgie Kelly with a fantastic ball from the left but his first time left footed shot was superbly saved by Luke McNicholas when he really should have found the back of the net. The visitors broke away on the counter and Jili Buyabu got the better of Cameron Harper chasing down a long ball over the top before cutting the ball back to Clarke, who found a first time strike into the bottom right corner of Gabe Breeze’s goal.
Forest Green were really spurred on by this goal and largely had the better of the rest of the half, with Buyabu especially causing havoc for Harper down United’s left side. They almost went ahead in the game in the 34th minute as a great free kick from Clarke from the edge of the area whistled past the top left corner following a foul by Archie Davies.
Despite the visitors’ dominance however, it was Carlisle that took the lead just before half time as Linney seized on a poor pass out by the Forest Green defence before driving forward and slotting into the bottom left corner after feigning to slip the ball across to Kelly and giving United a 2-1 lead.
HALF TIME: Carlisle 2 – 1 Forest Green
Unfortunately for United, the second half started largely how the first finished and they found themselves pegged back in the 53rd minute as a poor header by Harper gave the ball to Forest Green in a dangerous area and allowed Isaac Moore to tee up Harvey Bunker, who got in ahead of Josh Grant to fire the ball under Breeze to notch his second goal in as many games and give Forest Green the equaliser.
The real turning point of the game came 10 minutes later when Kelly nicked the ball from Laurent Mendy just inside the visitors’ half before the defender brought down Linney to stop the counter attack, receiving his second yellow card and saw Savage’s side reduced to 10 men.
Forest Green looked to take the sting out of the game in the following minutes and a couple of injuries halted Carlisle’s momentum before they had a fantastic chance to take the lead as Williams got in behind Neil Kengni before driving down the byline, his cross was initially blocked and fell to Harvey Macadam, who teed up fellow substitute Jack Ellis, but he fired his shot well over the bar from 15 yards out.
Carlisle were looking for their third league win in as many games and amped up the pressure on the visitors in the final 10 minutes as Davies made a powerful run inside from the right flank, but his effort was blasted well over from just inside the area.
Just when it was looking like Rovers might be able to keep the hosts out, United’s talisman Linney popped up again on the left flank and found Macadam on the edge of the area with a superb pass, and the ex Morecambe man hit a fantastic first time shot that flew past McNicholas to bag his first goal for The Blues and give them the lead with just 4 minutes of normal time remaining.
The game was put beyond all doubt in stoppage time as an Aaron Hayden free kick from just inside the Forest Green half was hit long and found Kelly, who superbly brought the ball down on his chest in the area before being dragged down by substitute Jordan Moore-Taylor. United’s number 9 dusted himself off and fired his spot kick straight down the middle to notch his fourth goal of the season
It could have been 5-2 deep into stoppage time as substitute Jordan Jones slipped the ball across to Ellis who jinked round a couple of defenders before squeezing the ball through McNicholas’ legs, but the Rovers keeper got just enough on the ball to slow it down and allow it to be cleared away by his defence. Carlisle walked away with the three points however and moved up to second, while Forest Green ended the day in fifth.
FULL TIME: Carlisle 4 – 2 Forest Green: Linney (18,45′), Macadam (85′), Kelly (90+2′ pen) – Clarke (26′), Bunker (53′)
Carlisle: Breeze, Davies, Hayden, Feeney, Harper, Gilliead (Macadam 59′), Grant (Ellis 59′), Conn-Clarke (Jones 60′), Williams, Linney (Armstrong 90′), Kelly. Subs Not Used: Lewis, Whelan, Ajiboye.
Forest Green: McNicholas, Kengni, Mendy (red 63′), Inniss, Buyabu (Bamba 83′), Moore (Moore-Taylor 67′), Bunker, Clarke (Long 73′), Knowles, Whitwell, Babalola (Doidge 83′). Subs Not Used: Balagizi, Haughton, Pagel.
How Did United Perform?
I had no idea what to expect going into this match as i wasn’t sure whether we’d see the Carlisle that got such a massive 3 points against Scunthorpe, or the Carlisle that were well and truly outplayed by both York and Rochdale. The performance wasn’t vintage by any stretch but we really dug in, gritted our teeth and used the tension in the game to our advantage.
I’d say Forest Green were probably the better of the two sides when they both had 11 men, but our players held their nerve and didn’t make any silly challenges after we picked up a few questionable early bookings in the match. Feeney and Hayden were very good together again but we got caught out down the flanks more often than not.
Going forward we always looked a threat however and Linney came up with the goods as he so often has done this season while Kelly led the line very well again and kept a cool head being one of those players on a yellow card. Overall this is a massive win for us against another big side in the league and we go into next week against a Yeovil side who will hopefully be licking their wounds after they suffered a heavy defeat to Rochdale today.
Carlisle Player Ratings
Breeze – 5: Potentially a harsh rating here as he commanded his area well and his distribution was solid but he didn’t cover himself in glory for Forest Green’s second goal.
Davies – 7: Caught out a couple of times at the back but going forward made a real difference especially in the second half.
Hayden – 7: One or two iffy balls out of defence but battled really well and kept control of a couple of tough situations.
Feeney – 8: Superb tonight again, won the majority of his battles against a tough opponent in Babalola and is a big voice in that backline.
Harper – 4: A really poor game by him tonight, didn’t deal with the ball over the top for their first goal and a poor header contributed to their second goal as well, had a tough time with Buyabu for most of the game.
Gilliead – 6: Did okay but was largely hampered by the early booking which saw him play more tentatively than usual.
Grant – 5: Not at the races tonight, weak in the tackle on a couple of occasions and should have been quicker to the ball for their second too.
Conn-Clarke – 6: Struggled to get into the game for parts of it but is still working his way back to full fitness and got himself an assist for Linney’s first with a clever pass.
Williams – 7: Had a a good game but lost in the physical battles quite often, worked hard both forwards and backwards and caused problems down their left with his pace.
Linney – 9 (MOTM): Two goals and an assist marked another excellent performance from him and he constantly shows why he’s our main man, always capable of coming up with something special when we need it.
Kelly – 7: Led the line very well again today against a couple of tough centre halves, showed great strength to win the penalty and converted it well.
Subs:
Ellis – 7: Made a big difference in the midfield with his energy and composure, unlucky not to score late on.
Macadam – 7: Same as Ellis, worked hard when he came on and disrupted Forest Green’s play, took his goal fantastically.
Jones – 7: Made a difference when introduced, really struggled in a United shirt so far but there’s a clever player in there and he just needs to show it more consistently.
Armstrong – N/A (Not on long enough)
Please note these are Craig’s opinions and nothing official!
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