Flashback: Carlisle United v Derby County, September 1990

From the misty drama of Turin to the earthy midweek pleasures of Brunton Park. Very different experiences, one imagines, for the national side’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton and one of its star centre-backs, Mark Wright.

Yet their evening at Carlisle proved no less challenging than that night of glorious agony against West Germany.

Instead of Franz Beckenbauer in the opposition dugout, there was Clive Middlemass. Instead of Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann, there were Rob Edwards, Eric Gates and Keith Walwyn.

And Paul Proudlock. For it was United’s most inventive forward who stole the show against Shilton, Wright and their Derby County team-mates on a League Cup occasion to remember on Warwick Road.

Our back page after the 1990 World Cup semi-final - two months later, Mark Wright was playing at Brunton Park (Image: News & Star)

Derby, managed by Arthur Cox, were still a top-flight side...although not convincingly so. They were joint bottom of the First Division table as 1990/1 unfolded, still without a win by the time their date in Cumbria came around.

All the same, they were some distance above Middlemass’s Blues, who were trying to regroup after the previous season’s collapse of a great promotion chance in the bottom tier.

United’s reshaped team included Edwards, a prodigious 17-year-old Cumbrian left-back. In goal was a new keeper in the shape of Leeds-born Jason Priestley. The popular Walwyn remained an attacking kingpin, while much was pinned on the costly summer signing of former Sunderland, Ipswich Town and England veteran frontman Gates.

With this collection and more, Carlisle were tasked with going up against a Derby squad containing Shilton, Wright, Dean Saunders, Mick Harford and ex-Blues youngster Mark Patterson in the second round of the League Cup. United had overcome Scunthorpe United in the first round, and the first leg against the Rams brought 7,628 to Brunton Park.

Carlisle's Paul Proudlock takes on the Derby defence (Image: News & Star)

Manager Middlemass, boosted by the availability of Walwyn, Tony Shepherd and Simon Jeffels after injuries, spoke with a measured confidence before the big game. “You expect Derby to have more class, but we are the type of side who like to play against that,” he said.

The Blues would have been even stronger for the presence of Nigel Saddington, but the influential defender was absent with the condition which would cut short his career, and which was eventually diagnosed as the chronic fatigue illness M.E.

Without the stresses of league duties, Carlisle began the game unburdened, and played some attractive stuff against their illustrious visitors. The Blues attached flair to their football – and in the 15th minute conjured a truly memorable goal.

Teenager Edwards was involved at the outset, feeding Gates as the experienced forward drifted to the left. The summer signing then showed a superb sleight of foot to outfox the £3m-rated Wright.

He crossed from the left – and found Proudlock in space. The former Middlesbrough man met the delivery with the sweetest volley, which went like a bullet past Derby and England’s No1. “Shilton had the cheek to dive,” he would say many years later.

READ MORE: Paul Proudlock on his Carlisle United days: 'I still miss it - everything about it'

Brunton Park erupted – and then waited to see how Cox’s First Division side would respond. Saunders was a regular menace, almost forcing a leveller via a ricochet following a mix-up between Priestley and Edwards.

Yet Carlisle then very nearly stunned Derby with another, Paul Fitzpatrick slicing open the Rams’ rearguard and Proudlock flashing a shot across Shilton and narrowly wide.

With Gates involved in much of United’s best work with some canny moves and touches, Carlisle were good value for their position, yet had to readjust after the break when Jeffels limped off.

Proudlock won a television for his superb display against Derby (Image: News & Star)

On came Craig Goldsmith, as Dave Miller moved into the middle of defence and Derek Walsh to right-back. This saw Proudlock also go deeper, into midfield, yet he remained on the front foot and saw a further attempt saved by Shilton after Shepherd’s right-sided run.

The Blues’ lead, alas, could not last. It took Derby until the 64th minute, but when their equaliser came, it was with clinical efficiency. Wright, the visiting sweeper, brought the ball out of defence and then saw his curling low pass missed by Miller.

That was enough to grant Saunders a free run on goal, and he drove a firm, low effort past Priestley and into the net.

It was a merciless strike - yet to Carlisle’s credit they did not crumble. Wright missed a good chance to put the visitors in front, yet United could also have snatched victory, Gates, Walwyn and Proudlock coming close late on, and Priestley preserving the 1-1 draw at the other end with a smart save from Craig Ramage.

Clive Middlemass was United's manager for the tie (Image: News & Star)

The draw earned United a warm ovation as they left the pitch, still in the tie against the odds, while man of the match Proudlock received a Rumbelows television. “We gave a good performance, and I know they will have a lot of respect for us when we go down there for the return leg,” said Middlemass.

The dream of an upset, though, was killed off by Saunders, whose goal at the Baseball Ground gave Derby a 1-0 win, 2-1 on aggregate. United reverted to a Fourth Division season which underwhelmed: Gates’ efforts scorned by fans, Middlemass sacked in March, and a 20th-placed finish.

Things were little better for Derby, whose League Cup run lasted until the fourth round. In the league they were relegated, and facing up to a five-year absence from England’s top division, Wright and Saunders then departing in big-money moves to Liverpool.

United: Priestley, Miller, Edwards, Jeffels (Goldsmith), Methven, Fitzpatrick, Walsh, Walwyn (Norris), Gates, Proudlock.

Derby: Shilton, Sage, P Williams, G Williams, Wright, Forsyth, Micklewhite, Saunders, Hebberd, Harford, Ramage. Not used: Gee, Patterson.

Crowd: 7,628.