Big match verdict: Carlisle United 3-1 Hartlepool United

…for all of about two seconds. The alarm instantly trips. First to respond is Jordan Gibson, who tears back to make a tackle. Callum Guy then reacts like he’s offended he didn’t get there first. 

The midfielder steams across, judders the ball against the Hartlepool player, wins United a throw. Danger averted, alarm reset. You can all go back to your rooms. 

It is this, as much as Carlisle’s energy and bravado, that defined the night. Yes, Kristian Dennis is a marvel at this level of football, a master at finding space and the net. Yes, Morgan Feeney’s goal gave the Blues a perfect start on this jaunty evening at Brunton Park. 

Yes, Owen Moxon’s delivery remains of supreme quality. Yes, Paul Huntington is the sergeant major you need against willing and big, albeit limited, opponents. Yes, yes… 

The collective, though, is greater than the individual. Carlisle are now within biting distance of the top three because they refused to allow anything other than victory last night. There was a spell, after Hartlepool made it 2-1, when you could have imagined an earlier, lesser Blues losing their nerve, gradually shedding control. 

Not here. Not these. They regrouped, redoubled their positive efforts, got a third through Dennis’s second goal of the night, and - albeit against the division’s third-bottom side - it can all go down as another reason why Paul Simpson’s side are up there and likely to stay there for the duration of an absorbing promotion race.

Kristian Dennis makes it 2-0 (Image: Ben Holmes)

Dennis is now on 17 for the season, a total that does not flatter him a jot. He is the perfect finisher for what this vibrant team are creating. How good it is to know Carlisle have someone so capable of unlocking doors, given the many defining and, all in all, harder contests they have down the line.

How good, too, that, before it all started last night, there was no need for Simpson to rush someone of Joe Garner's calibre into the team. The 2-0 win over Newport County had made a comfortable case for John-Kymani Gordon’s retention, as well as the others who had helped United tighten their grip on fourth place. 

Hartlepool arrived in 22nd, but buoyed by a victory over Rochdale at the weekend, when most others in the division were frozen off. Yet Carlisle’s bench, let alone their XI, looked as strong as it has been this season. Garner, who received a warm welcome before the game, tucked himself amongst their subs as Simpson’s starters began on this calm, crisp night.

They did so with a sharpness and spikiness. There was an urgency from the first minute, Gordon’s pace on the counter an instant weapon, one such break earning a corner which allowed them to punish Pools.

Moxon’s set-piece was smartly aimed to the near post, where Dennis lurked. Goalkeeper Ben Killip could only parry his glancing finish, and Feeney was there to gobble it up. 

“Going down, going down” echoed around a merry Brunton Park, home fans teasing the away. A smoke device landed in the Warwick Road End penalty area. There were only six minutes gone.

Forward they surged. Further Moxon deliveries tested Killip, Gordon remained on his toes, Carlisle kept facing forward. A low cross from the animated Gibson ended with an acrobatic Gordon attempt which the visiting keeper saved. 

JK Gordon on the attack (Image: Barbara Abbott)

United then punched some holes in Pools’ right defensive side, Dennis ricocheting the ball off the post. There was a brief period of away-side control, Hartlepool working it better, making Carlisle run. Then the Blues scored again. 

The second was picture-book in its creation: an outside-of-the foot pass perfectly lifted by Callum Guy into Jon Mellish’s rumbling path. His cross was scuffed by a defender straight to Dennis, and Dennis did what Dennis does. 2-0. 

However – seconds later, 2-1, an underhit Moxon pass giving Josh Umerah the space he needed to beat Tomas Holy with a firm low finish. Frustratingly, it came just as Pools were ripe for the burying. That added an unnecessary layer of tension to things.

Carlisle, though, continued with optimism and a sense they knew where things were still heading. As fans in the Warwick set a rattling good atmosphere, Dennis warmed Killip’s gloves from 25 yards then fired wide from a tough angle. Their midfield of Guy, Moxon and Gibson always looked ahead of their opponents in thought and deed. Mellish, meanwhile, kept on doing Mellish things: stepping in, dropping the shoulder, driving from defence to the Hartlepool byline and various points in between.

Had Carlisle’s final pass, in some of those moments around the box, been played in slightly colder blood, they might have re-extended that lead before half-time. The interval, though, was mainly a period to reflect on their gusto. With their central and wide defenders also giving a committed showing, it looked like a place from which a victory could be further built. 

Dennis celebrates the third (Image: Ben Holmes)

After the break, Hartlepool’s big frontmen, Umerah and Jack Hamilton, looked to force Carlisle’s defenders deeper. It had the desired effect to a point, the Blues having to guard the edge of their box more, not that Curle’s side could particularly make use of the extra space it created - and not that Huntington and co were anything less than solid and attentive.

United’s attacks were, early in the half, more sparing, but they were still there. A Gordon raid on the right saw Moxon and then Dennis almost convert. The relentless Guy then almost scored in stunning fashion, his dipper from 25 yards forcing Killip to tip over. 

Other moments saw Blues team-mates bail out each other when errors seeped in. There was a tight spirit even at the looser occasions. The third goal duly came, started and finished classily by Dennis from Moxon’s pinpoint supply.

That was the 66th minute. The rest was about Carlisle’s fans taunting their 342 counterparts, and their players doing the necessaries. Huntington blocked a Joe Grey shot, Dennis and Joel Senior came close to a fourth, then came a cluster of substitutions, the most popular seeing Garner on for his fourth debut with just over ten to go. 

It was, by then, less a contest, more a carnival; no anxiety or jeopardy, just merriment for the home supporters. There was pain, in added time, for Hartlepool’s Rollin Menayese, stretchered off after being hurt in a Garner tackle, but pure joy for Carlisle in how they cruised their way to full-time: confident, assertive, together. On they go.