Carlisle United 1 Swindon Town 1: Sometimes you can spend so much time talking about one man that you lose sight of all the others on the pitch. Why does it always have to be about him?
I know, I know. Problem is, if Jack Ellis plays like this every time he pulls on a Carlisle shirt, he’s going to make it difficult for us to look elsewhere.
Well, who else did you think we were on about? The guy with the bleached and blue hair? Nope – not this time. If Harry McKirdy was the noise, 18-year-old Ellis was the quiet. Yet it was the latter who deserved the greater acclaim after this baking 1-1 draw.
Ellis emerged as a bright new defensive option for Paul Simpson at the tail end of last season. Since then, United’s manager has rebuilt a back line with more senior options.
Yet the teenager from Staveley was always there, working away, waiting for his next chance. How impressively he took it when an injury crisis saw Ellis’s name climb back up Simpson’s list on Saturday.
This was a tribute to the young man’s preparedness, his fledgling professional standards. How many first-year pros are this reliable in performance from the very off?
James Phillips, on BBC Radio Cumbria, said the best tribute to Ellis’ performance was that you barely noticed him. That was largely true – other than the moment, late in the first half, when he blocked a McKirdy cross and then served just a little by way of afters to Swindon’s attention-magnet.
McKirdy nibbled, though it didn’t develop into much. Things were hot enough without anything else boiling over. But that little cameo still underlined Ellis’s readiness, in its own way.
As for his other duties, the youngster was steady and unruffled and, all in all, must have put a very welcome conundrum on Simpson’s desk after the manager has seen so many of his squad go down lately.
Given Ben Barclay is now out for eight weeks, Morgan Feeney is sidelined for a shorter while and Paul Huntington is not ready for immediate action, how reassuring that a kid from the academy is looking this adept.
“He’s got a really good temperament,” Simpson said. A run in the side may now await, as Carlisle try to transfer Ellis’s composure to the other end of the pitch.
Once more, this was a tale of good things bookended by obvious frustrations when it comes to Simpson’s front-foot United. Once more, they had great chances to put a game to bed and tuck it in.
Once more, they were reliant on one cool finish from Kristian Dennis, as well as grateful to those in a reshaped defence to see off the best of what Swindon offered and get another point on the board.
McKirdy, on this latest reunion, showed some deft touches and determined pace in the second half but also found Jon Mellish snarling down some dark alleys. There was the usual low-level pantomime when decisions did not go his way, but nothing like the bitter melodrama of his last visit in February, which triggered so much change at Brunton Park.
This time, Carlisle were in more organised shape, had a clearer identity, even without so many senior players – and even though they did not have things all to their liking as the game unfolded.
After Dennis saw an early header fall victim to an offside flag, Swindon worked a patient passing game in which Jonny Williams, their Wales international, showed quality and cuteness on the ball.
United had spells when they piled it on, Jack Armer and Dennis having chances, but also one damaging moment when they encouraged Swindon on, Callum Guy’s mistake on the ball allowing Jacob Wakeling to drop the shoulder and rifle Scott Lindsey’s side in front.
Carlisle, at least, did not sag at this. As at Colchester, they showed good bite and intent. Fin Back, excellent at right wing-back again, put a perfect chance into Omari Patrick’s path, of which two things can be said: one, a fully-fit and in-the-groove Patrick surely buries that blindfolded; two: he was offside, Simpson insisted, when he skied it from sitter range.
Both parties were reprieved, then. Carlisle, though, ended the half potently, Dennis fed for one chance he couldn’t take, then supplied for one he did: Guy and Jordan Gibson linking, and Dennis cruising clear to score his fourth in four games.
That was in the 45th minute, and Dennis and Back had chances to put Carlisle ahead even before the end of a half delayed by the necessary drinks break. One wondered if things at any point would truly slow down in the stifling sun.
To both sides’ credit – no. Early in the second half, Patrick was denied again, before McKirdy gave Mellish the slip only to find Tomas Holy’s enormous frame blocking the path to goal.
That was as good as it got for McKirdy, who was keen to play on Mellish’s shoulder but rarely broke free of him again. As substitutions dotted the sweaty second half, there were scrambles and skirmishes, breaks and battles, and one belting chance for Carlisle which Dennis and Jack Stretton both tried to take, the ball alas clearing the bar at the Warwick Road End.
Swindon had a few nearly moments of their own, and looked trickier than a side who’d had to wait until Saturday to get their first goal of 2022/23. Carlisle for their part resembled a team who, for their quite evident gusto and character, still need a bit more ice in their veins: the sort of stuff Ellis, in Saturday’s boiling heat, offered aplenty.
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