The late 1980s was a period of low crowds and distinctly underwhelming football at Carlisle United. What, then, were 10,013 people doing at a December game against Rochdale at the bottom end of the Fourth Division?
The answer is easily explained in just nine letters: Liverpool.
The FA Cup third round draw had presented the Blues with one of their most exciting occasions for several years in the visit of Kenny Dalglish’s superstars to Brunton Park.
That was United’s reward for sneaking past Scarborough in the second round – and, come the winter, was the only tale in town.
The Boxing Day clash with Rochdale was selected by club bosses for a voucher scheme with tickets for the in-demand Liverpool clash in mind.
As such, Carlisle’s attendance suddenly spiked from 2,175 – for their previous home game against Grimsby in late November – to something nearly five times the size.
It made for a rather surreal occasion given United’s modest form under Clive Middlemass in the first half of 1988/89. The manager, in charge for just over a year, reached December with the Blues in no great shakes in the fourth tier.
While hope had been supplied by the goalscoring of local-born striker Brent Hetherington, it took them ten attempts to win a league game, and they had only four victories to their name come the Christmas period.
Liverpool, though, had a galvanising effect – and the heavily-attended Rochdale fixture also sparked Middlemass’s team, although only just.
The game was initially played under sombre circumstances. Just five days previously, the region was shaken by the Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 people. Ahead of Carlisle v Rochdale, players and the large crowd stood in silence.
United began the game without their main goalkeeper, Dave McKellar, who was absent from the squad after the death of his mother. Mark Prudhoe deputised while other players to injury missing were winger Gary Marshall and defender Mark Ogley.
With Liverpool legend Phil Thompson watching from the stand, Carlisle applied early pressure but also had to withstand some Rochdale chances. The Spotland club counter-attacked through Andy Armitage and David Frain, but Prudhoe’s goal survived.
Carlisle made painstaking progress in search of an opener. Hetherington enjoyed their first real opportunity on the half-hour mark, bursting into the box and shooting narrowly wide.
Soon afterwards, Hetherington’s fellow Cumbrian frontman Tony Fyfe passed up a better chance, spooning an attempt over the bar after John Halpin and Ian Dalziel had combined down the left.
Halpin’s trickery on the wing appeared United’s best chance of unlocking Danny Bergara’s Dale, who threatened through Chris Beaumont and ex-Blues man Geoff Lomax to no avail.
Halpin, Archie Stephens and skipper Nigel Saddington had further Blues opportunities, Stephens shot across goal later, and while Rochdale remained troublesome on the break, Carlisle appeared to have the better direction of travel.
Middlemass made a 68th minute change, replacing Fyfe with Richard Sendall – and four minutes later the sub helped United into the lead.
A free-kick by Halpin was headed on by defender Simon Jeffels, and when Sendall helped it on, Stephens was there at the far post to pounce.
It triggered loud celebrations in the unusually packed Brunton Park, and Carlisle then set about consolidating their lead. Sendall couldn’t make it two when set up by Paul Gorman, but United had enough to see through a 1-0 win against a visiting side who did not turn to a 19-year-old substitute who would become an iconic player at Brunton Park a few years later: Dean Walling.
The result proved a highly welcome one, since it took United seven points above the bottom two in Division Four – and it sent them towards the Liverpool tie in better heart.
“The conditions were not good, but the players did a professional job,” said Middlemass of the winter victory. “If we had got frustrated, we could easily have conceded a goal.
“But the players were patient and got their reward.”
There were, after the game, some Liverpool vouchers still unclaimed, but two weeks later some 18,556 crammed into the old ground to watch John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Steve McMahon and co defeat Middlemass’s battlers 3-0.
The mid-season excitement also triggered some much-needed and lasting league improvement in a gritty Blues era. A better second half to 1988/89 saw United climb to mid-table, finishing in 12th position with a squad – bolstered by late-season captures like Paul Proudlock – taking shape that could compete at the better end of the table next time around.
United: Prudhoe, Graham, Dalziel, Saddington, Jeffels, Walsh, Hetherington, Gorman, Stephens, Fyfe (Sendall), Halpin. Not used: Robertson.
Rochdale: Welch, Mellish, Armitage, O’Shaughnessy, Sutton, Smart, Lomax, Smith, Beaumont, Edmonds, Frain. Not used: Wood, Walling.
Crowd: 10,013.
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