Carlisle United 3 Rochdale 3: Carlisle United’s fighting spirit is intact. The rest is an evidently movable feast which is not going to settle for some time yet. The Blues were value for their deficit here, and equal value for their comeback. Where it’s all leading is anyone’s guess.
United’s flaws in these formative days under Paul Simpson were laid out in annoying little clusters against a Rochdale side playing more boldly than you might expect of a group with one point from six.
Yet just as apparent was the life-force that continues to cling to this team under Simpson, sometimes in spite of itself. Carlisle had mis-stepped their way to 3-1 arrears but, given what’s happened here since February, the manner of their response didn’t greatly surprise you.
The battle for the good side of their soul is going to go on for some time, you feel. Saving a point in this manner at least keeps spirits on the level. “We’re not the finished article by any means,” said Simpson afterwards, and that looks like being the motif for this eventful start to 2022/23.
There was a touch of Cumbrian poetry in their equaliser, made and taken by Carlisle lads (Owen Moxon to Paul Huntington) with enough time for United to go on and win it. That outcome would, though, have been a shade more than they merited – and harsh on Jim Bentley’s Rochdale, who looked a few degrees better than 24th out of 24, and have clearly been given sharper elbows by the deadline-day signing of Scott Quigley, who scored twice here.
They were comfortably the better side in the opening half hour and then, after United rediscovered some zip, tore Carlisle open twice early in the second half. Quigley, with clinical finishing, in between the pace and positivity of Devante Rodney and Tyrese Sinclair, looked like being the defining figure of the day.
United, in the end, could be glad that all Rochdale’s issues were never likely to be swept away overnight – and also pleased with their refusal to go quietly into the night. Kristian Dennis found a sliver of space to bring them back into it and then Huntington scored a classic set-piece goal.
The sixth goal of the game was accompanied by some refreshing boisterousness in the stands. By the corner flag, Denton Holme’s Moxon was on his knees, punching the air. In front of the Warwick, Huntington gestured his delight.
Carlisle’s set-piece abilities – which also produced an impressively-taken goal from Jon Mellish – are clearly in good order. What they haven’t cracked yet by any means is starting games well, their momentum perhaps impeded by all the recent injuries and Simpson’s need to figure out different solutions on a game-by-game basis.
The manager went with Jayden Harris for his legs and size in midfield to start with, but it is undeniable that the Blues finished the game better thanks to Jamie Devitt’s extra poise. That is one obvious poser for United’s boss.
Others popped up in the way Carlisle struggled to get any sort of vigour to their game for the initial spell. Other than a Moxon shot in the 13th minute, it was a wasteland where United chances were concerned.
Gradually Rochdale looked more useful, Rodney a weapon on the left and Quigley and Huntington engaged in some old-school defender-v-striker needling whilst Carlisle lacked pace, passing quality or ideas. Quigley went close after a free-kick, and then the former Barrow man turned in a deflected Sinclair shot.
That arose from Ryan Edmondson losing the ball, and then the recalled striker lost the rest of his afternoon to an ankle injury which he had sustained earlier in the piece. His replacement, Omari Patrick, certainly injected some urgency into things and this helped flip the direction of travel for long enough to equalise: a corner forced, then floated in by Moxon, Morgan Feeney winning the header and Mellish, with his back to goal, hooking it over his shoulder and past Richard O’Donnell.
This was a bonus for the Blues given the low level of their previous play. They couldn’t kill two great chances to take the lead – Dennis denied by O’Donnell, Patrick unable to turn in a Harris cross – and then they showed a soft centre when Rochdale bit into them early in the second half.
Quigley was key to both, first feeding Rodney to rifle home on the break, then slotting home after Carlisle had coughed up possession on the left. Both reflected poorly on their control and structure, and it was shaping up to be another of those days when the Blues eased a struggling team back to form.
Thankfully their resolve then reappeared, aided by some Simpson tweaks. On came Devitt for Harris, with Jordan Gibson going wide, Mellish pushed up into midfield and a back five becoming a back four.
Devitt then played a silky pass down the right to Gibson which led to Dennis’s close-range goal. Then, after some more end-to-end fayre and the substitution of Quigley (no bad thing for the Blues, it must be said), Mellish went close before Moxon – who kept going through a rough spell – supplied Huntington with his latest corner.
Brunton Park raised the volume to the afternoon’s highest point, but victory was elusive late on, Carlisle arriving at a draw after the most scenic route available, and the wider destination still a total mystery to us all. Probably won’t be boring, though.
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