Carlisle United got back to winning ways against AFC Wimbledon – but what did we learn from the 2-1 victory?
Let’s take a look...
1 THE STRIKER’S LIFE
Four days is a long time in football, and Kristian Dennis is long enough in the tooth to have experienced this many times before.
As such, there was no obvious baggage from his open-goal miss against Mansfield Town when he pounced for Carlisle’s winner on Saturday.
It often sounds like a cliché when managers say, ‘I’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances / getting into the right positions,’ etc etc.
It was, though, proven beyond doubt when Dennis’s old instincts came to the fore late in the Wimbledon game.
United’s top marksman scented the chance, from Jack Armer’s header, before any visiting defender or their goalkeeper.
Sniffing out opportunities in tiny pockets of time and space is the striker’s stock in trade. This time Dennis finished it - his seventh goal in nine games - and the frustrations of Mansfield were long gone.
2 GREEN SHOOTS FOR PATRICK
It has been a slow burner of a season so far for Omari Patrick, and Paul Simpson underlined some of the reasons behind that after Saturday’s game.
He missed most of pre-season through injury and, because of other injuries since then, has had to start more games than would have been ideal at this stage.
As such, he’s had to work himself back to fitness and form in the front line, and hasn’t hit last season’s heights yet.
Saturday, though, was an encouraging stride in the right direction. Patrick, particularly in a second-half spell on the left, looked much more like his old self.
He had a key part in the winning goal, while just as telling was a moment earlier when he pulled the ball down from the sky, shifted into position and drilled a 30-yard snapshot towards goal.
It was saved, but the attempt was Patrick working off sharper and more confident natural instincts.
If his mojo is returning, Carlisle will be all the better for it.
3 GUY’S GRAFT
Yes, it was a day to remember for Callum Guy, who scored his first Football League goal in such sweet style.
The midfielder also had a game of substance in other respects; what you would regard as the day job for the 25-year-old.
He offered Carlisle some of the security they had missed in their previous home game against Rochdale, when Guy was absent through injury.
In a midfield where others (Jordan Gibson, Owen Moxon) are more natural creators, Guy is able to truly establish himself as the worker, the gap-filler, the ground-coverer, the ball-spreader. The grafter.
Wimbledon’s midfield was tricky for United to deal with at times, with the deep-lying Paris Maghoma an influential figure.
It took Carlisle a few goes to sort that out but, in their own midfield base, Guy was a captain of industry, and was rewarded for a sharp interchange with Fin Back when he scored that lovely goal.
4 SIMMO HOLDS HIS NERVE
When a manager declines to turn to any of his substitutes, the path to criticism is easily cleared.
Paul Simpson, then, deserves some credit for being more creative with those already on the pitch, rather than the more obvious approach to changes.
In that period after Ayoub Assal had equalised for Wimbledon, things were going the wrong way for United. The Dons spotted just a speck of blood in the water.
This is where a tactician earns his corn and Simpson affected the game positively by sending Omari Patrick and Jordan Gibson out wide, asking Jon Mellish to add some strong running to Carlisle’s midfield, and switching to a back four.
Gradually it helped United get back on their toes and move the ball to their most dangerous runners on the flanks.
It shifted the momentum back in their favour, leading to the late winning goal. The subs stayed on the bench, and Simpson was rewarded for holding his nerve.
5 OTHER KEY MEN
A word for Jack Armer, who is covering all sorts of ground in his wing-back role this season.
This continued when United shifted to a back four. A left-back role didn’t temper Armer’s attacking instincts, and Carlisle were thankful for that when the defender launched himself into the box to help Patrick’s cross on to Dennis for the winning goal.
The former Preston North End man, whilst working furiously for the cause, also played more “key passes” than any other Blues player in the match, according to WhoScored.com.
His accuracy rating was high with those too, and he was always available for the run, the pass, when Carlisle raided down the left.
It’s also notable how much responsibility is being placed on Owen Moxon’s shoulders so early into his Football League career.
The midfielder, as well as being the Blues’ go-to set-piece man, had comfortably more touches of the ball than any team-mate.
Moxon is being asked to influence Carlisle in a central way, whilst learning his own craft at this level.
It speaks well of the Denton Holme man that he is stepping up to the challenge as he is.
6 HOLE PUNCHED
One would imagine that a back three of Morgan Feeney, Jon Mellish and Paul Huntington would allow little past them in an aerial sense.
Things, though, came loose at the moment Wimbledon sneaked through for their equalising goal.
It was only a third game together for the trio and, despite a generally strong showing, something in the communication slipped when Josh Davison beat Huntington to a header, and Ayoub Assal was able to run beyond the other centre-halves to score.
It was a frustrating moment, one which tested United’s resolve anew after the positive spell which had come before it.
Simpson, speaking after the game, felt it was the job of the other centre-backs to anticipate such a moment, rather than criticise Huntington for being beaten in the air.
You can be sure it’s the sort of moment Carlisle’s manager will be hot on, when he analyses the fullness of Saturday’s game.
It’s still early in the life of the three-man combination, and increased understanding will surely come over time.
7 SPICE UP YOUR LIFE
For a good half-hour, things were all rather cold and flat. There was little in the game, scant creativity from either side, Carlisle going long without invention, Wimbledon flowing between the lines to zero dangerous effect.
Happily, that changed, and the game became a much more niggly, spicy occasion the longer it went on.
United had to stand up to that aspect of things, and had to rise up a further time when the familiar tall figure of Harry Pell entered proceedings.
He did so seemingly with a brief to cause maximum niggle. Carlisle locked horns with Pell during his Colchester United days and must have been aware of what he might bring here too.
One ‘challenge’ on Owen Moxon might easily have brought a red card. What it did do was inflame the crowd, sharpen the claws of Simpson’s players, and make it a more full-frontal confrontation than it had been.
United, also agitated by some of ref Andy Haines, had to use their anger in the right way. They rode it well when Wimbledon ventured to the edge of acceptability, and can be satisfied in how they fought their way to the points.
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