If survival looked a tall order for Carlisle United come January 2004, so did that month’s home clash with Yeovil Town in a different sense.
Up against Paul Simpson’s survival hopefuls was a Glovers side featuring the tallest player in the Football League. 6ft 8in defender Hugo Rodrigues was the giant barrier between the Blues and another vital victory on their unlikely pursuit of safety.
The Portuguese player and his colleagues made the long trip from Somerset knowing they were facing a newly revitalised Blues. Simpson, promoted from caretaker to player-boss after the early-season sacking of Roddy Collins, was starting to make an early, transforming mark on team and club.
The autumn had seen an influx of canny, older professionals and the effect was dramatic. Carlisle remained firmly at the bottom of the Football League but, after ending a record losing run in December, had won three in five by the time Gary Johnson’s Yeovil headed up the country.
The visitors were fifth in the table in a positive maiden season in the league yet Carlisle – who, pre-match, were in talks about turning Hartlepool loan right-back Paul Arnison’s stay into a permanent one – were newly optimistic.
“Every game is a massive one for now, and we’ve got 20 huge ones left,” said Simpson, who had himself scored two league goals since returning to his home-city club under Collins in the summer.
The 37-year-old left midfielder was in the middle of a regular run in the side and named himself in the XI for a home clash that attracted 5,455 supporters.
It proved another of those afternoons when it felt like United’s 2003/4 season might not be such a forlorn cause. Simpson was without Matty Fryatt and Tom Cowan, recalling Lee Andrews and Kevin Henderson in their place, and survived some early scares via a familiar face.
Kevin Gall had scored twice for the Glovers in a 3-0 win over United on the season’s second weekend, and the future Carlisle attacker sped at a backpedalling defence at Brunton Park in the ninth minute, running from halfway before firing just past the far post.
Yet the Blues – and their leader – then struck. Attacking the Warwick Road End, Carlisle constructed an attack through some of their experienced heads. Andy Preece cushioned an Arnison ball forward into the path of Henderson on the right, and the forward crossed to the back post.
Yeovil defender Paul Terry missed it – and Simpson was there to control and drill a trademark left-footed shot past Chris Weale.
Brunton Park roared its approval – and Carlisle then went about safeguarding their lead. It was far from an easy mission given Yeovil’s quality and pressure, and three minutes after Simpson’s 21st-minute opener, they could have levelled when Terry Skiverton cleared the crossbar from a good position.
United were combative in their attempts to prevent further visiting attacks, Chris Billy and Will McDonagh combining to destructive effect in midfield.
Darren Way lashed another Yeovil chance off target after the break and the Glovers’ wastefulness kept the door ajar for United to claim the points.
That they did 16 minutes from time. The towering Rodrigues and his colleagues had no answer as transfer-listed Craig Farrell, who had replaced Henderson on the hour mark, found himself on the end of another Preece assist, as the veteran flicked the ball on for Farrell to skip around Weale and slot Carlisle’s second from a narrow angle.
It proved cushion enough for the Blues. By the end, Gall was a frustrated figure, talking his way into the referee’s notebook, and the Glovers – whose subs included future United keeper coach Steve Collis – couldn’t make anything of token late pressure. Kevin Gray, at the heart of Carlisle’s defence, was a forbidding figure and the 2-0 victory cut United’s survival gap to seven points.
“I’m pleased I scored as, of late, my shooting hasn’t been good enough,” reflected Simpson afterwards.
“We kept a clean sheet, we gave ourselves a few scares, but the attitude and enthusiasm was there. I’m delighted to have come away with three points.”
United had 19 games left to bridge the unlikely gap. Another Simpson goal – his last at Brunton Park – sent them to a further victory over Bury the following month, and Carlisle picked up enough points over the run-in to stay alive.
Given the barren starting point, though, safety was always a far-fetched idea. Carlisle dug very deep to take things to the penultimate weekend, but a draw with Cheltenham Town consigned them to non-league for the first time.
Back, though, they bounced, led by the inspirational Simpson. Two consecutive promotions placed him in United’s managerial annals – and nearly two decades later he is back again, looking to follow a survival job with success at the top end of the fourth tier.
United: Glennon, Arnison, Murphy, Gray, Andrews, Billy, McDonagh, McGill, Simpson, Preece, Henderson (Farrell). Not used: Keen, Gardiner, Rundle, Shelley.
Yeovil: Weale, Terry, Skiverton, Rodrigues, Miles, Elam, Way, Johnson, Reed (El Kholti, Stansfield), Gall, Edwards. Not used: Collis, Gosling, Jackson.
Crowd: 5,455.
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