Carlisle United underlined their promotion potential with a storming 5-2 win at Crawley Town – but what else did we learn from the game?
Let’s take a look…
1 THE GOAL TRAIL
You can say that again. Who remembers that three-game run when the Blues couldn’t score?
Ha, ha. Since then, it’s six in two, and they are now very much out on their own as League Two’s leading scorers again.
They are on 54, three more than nearest scoring rivals Mansfield Town, and the detail of their returns also impresses.
For instance, they have now scored 15 more goals in 33 games than they managed in all 46 league games last term.
After failing to hit three goals in a single league match in 2021/22, they have done so nine times already this campaign.
United’s potency on the road is also significant – they’ve now scored more on their travels (28) than at home (26), and from one fewer game too.
Saturday’s win also bumped their goal difference back up to +20, meaning that, in their last two games, they have already dealt with the negative statistical effects of that 4-0 defeat to Mansfield.
2 SPREADING IT OUT
United’s gluttony in front of goal was all the more impressive for the fact that nearly half their team joined in at Crawley.
Their five goals were all scored by different players, with Joel Senior, Omari Patrick, Owen Moxon, Morgan Feeney and Jon Mellish all helping themselves.
It is the first time United have had five different scorers in a game since the 6-0 win over Oldham Athletic on Boxing Day 2018.
Gone are the times when, earlier in the season, it seemed that if Kristian Dennis didn’t score, neither would the Blues.
The striker remains far and away Carlisle’s leading scorer, but they are gradually sharing things out better now.
For instance, Owen Moxon and Jon Mellish have now contributed a combined ten to their league tally.
They are neck and neck on five apiece after both netted at the People’s Pension Stadium – Moxon with a stylish solo goal, Mellish a poached effort after a corner.
Those two are United’s second highest scorers and, after the efforts of such as Patrick, Feeney, Senior, Alfie McCalmont and JK Gordon in recent games, the Blues will need to continue finding goals from a number of sources over a demanding run-in.
3 MOXON’S MASTERY
You can look all the way across Carlisle’s team for reasons why they won so well, and why they’re riding so high. On Saturday you could pick any number of individuals.
Invariably, though, you have to return to one man.
Owen Moxon.
Once more, this was a demonstration of why the midfielder is at the front rank of League Two players this season.
With his passing, awareness and anticipation, he made Crawley look vastly inferior and, as much as we may not want to accept it, his showing will only have impressed any admirers from a higher level keeping a check on the Cumbrian’s progress.
His elusive dribble for United’s third goal was another of those moments destined for the end-of-season highlights compilation.
A calmly-weighted pass had, by then, set up Omari Patrick for Carlisle’s second, and later his searching free-kick saw Morgan Feeney make it four.
According to stats site WhoScored.com, Moxon played four ‘key passes’ in the match, did his bit in terms of defensive contribution, and emerged with a star man rating of 9.14 out of 10.
No arguments there. In Sussex, he was simply a cut above.
4 GOING TO THE END
It’s true that Carlisle did not execute the second half as mercilessly as they did the first.
This is often the case when a side has a ravenous first half. Seldom do you see the same in the second 45.
All the same – one glance from the pitch to the bench will have reminded United that they wouldn’t get any thanks for easing up in a general competitive sense.
As they continued running, pushing and pressing, the mind went back to a pre-season friendly at Kendal, when Paul Simpson was issuing fervent demands for standards even as the Blues ran in a load of goals against non-league opposition.
On Saturday, as injury-time ticked down, Jack Armer – statistically the most involved player in United’s overall performance – was in the left attacking corner, harrying a Crawley man as if the Blues were trying to protect a narrow lead, not mark time before a thrashing could be completed.
These little glimpses at attitude tell you a lot about Simpson and what he has instilled.
5 GOALS AGAINST
The way Crawley suddenly opened Carlisle up in the second half might prove useful in the long run.
You can bet it won’t have got past Simpson, and will not be glossed over in his post-match analysis.
The home side, although heavily beaten, still got in twice down United’s left side, firstly with the move that resulted in Aramide Oteh scoring, and later when Dom Telford netted.
The first of those in particular found the Blues wide open in their own box, after so much impressive stuff going the other way.
Any side with designs on riding high will have cursed that moment. An opportunity for a 14th clean sheet was plainly there on Saturday, and it drifted away in that Crawley attack.
Of course, it stands to reason that a side trying to fill an enormous deficit will perhaps force a chance or two more than they would in a cagier affair.
And – let’s be honest – there are very few reasons to quibble with a game when you score five, win with something to spare and go second in the table.
Simpson, though, will still be hot on the way United let one of the division’s weakest sides in. They’ll need to be tighter, more ruthless, when the likes of Stevenage, Salford and the rest head to Brunton Park in the coming weeks.
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