What did we learn from Carlisle United's defeat to Leyton Orient?

Let’s take a closer look…

1 THE GOALS VOID

This is now officially Carlisle’s worst goalscoring run of Paul Simpson’s second spell in charge.

The previous time they went four in the league without a goal was at the point of last season’s first crisis – the last three games of Chris Beech’s reign and the first after his sacking.

This is also unfortunate new ground for the Blues under Simpson generally, since the manager never suffered four league blanks in a row in his first spell.

Jon Mellish missed United's best chance at Orient (Image: Richard Parkes)

That includes the 2003/4 relegation season or the double promotions of 2004/5 and 2005/6.

United must clearly avoid extending the sequence any further to avoid more unwanted comparisons.

The last time the Blues went five without a goal, for instance, was in 2017, when Keith Curle’s promotion-chasers managed to go seven league games in total without troubling the net.

That side at least recovered to salvage a play-off place – but Carlisle can still aim higher than that if they sort things out pronto.

2 COSTLY FREE KICKS

Here’s a quiz question. When was the last time Carlisle United scored a free-kick?

November 2021 is the answer, when Jordan Gibson curled home at Morecambe.

That, though, was in the Papa John’s Trophy. In the league the wait is even longer.

Not since Nick Anderton scored against Stevenage in December 2020 has it happened. And even that wasn’t a direct free-kick as such, since the ball was touched to him before the defender struck it.

Jordan Gibson went close with a free-kick late in the first half (Image: Richard Parkes)

If we’re being really picky, the last free-kick United aimed straight into a rival net in league football was that taken by Jamie Devitt against Exeter City at Brunton Park on February 9, 2019.

That’s more than four years ago. A whopping 187 league games have been played by the Blues since then without it being emulated.

As impressive as United’s 2022/23 scoring was until this recent barren run, this is one area where they haven’t managed to make anything happen across the piece.

Gibson came fairly close with an attempt at Orient late in the first half, but the days when Carlisle could unlock an opponent through a piece of Devitt or Danny Grainger dead-ball magic remain elusive.

It would be helpful if, somewhere along the way, they could get a little of this back.

3 ANOTHER SET-BACK

It was impossible not to feel for Fin Back as he made his crestfallen way off the pitch after just 39 games of his comeback appearance.

Another hamstring injury has hit the wing-back. Let us pray it’s not another serious one.

It is extra frustrating because there were, in those 39 minutes, signs of what Back could have brought back to this United side.

Fin Back shows his frustration after a chance goes begging at Orient - before injury curtailed his day (Image: Richard Parkes)

The Nottingham Forest loan man made a couple of telling forays down the right and combined brightly with Alfie McCalmont.

One particularly neat interchange almost opened up a killer chance, which only lacked a more decisive set-up from an understandably undercooked Back at the moment of truth.

The attack-minded defender was a key player in this regard before November’s injury, and these were all too brief glimpses of his ability to affect games in that area for Paul Simpson’s side on his return.

Carlisle had to readjust not just then (with Jordan Gibson’s arrival) but with Ben Barclay’s introduction for the hamstrung Morgan Feeney too - and Simpson now has a decision to make for Tranmere on Good Friday.

Does he go with Gibson, who started on the right – and scored – in Carlisle’s most recent home win against Grimsby, or do the more orthodox wing-back options of Joel Senior and Jack Ellis come back into consideration?

With United in need of attacking panache out wide, as well as defensive security, it’s going to be a crucial call.

4 STRIKER LIGHT

The irony in Simpson having almost all his striking options available at last is that it has coincided with the worst goalscoring spell of the season.

We are currently back to the early stage of 2022/23 where, if Kristian Dennis isn’t scoring, nobody else is.

The difference now is that Dennis isn’t finding the net either. Carlisle’s output from their strikers has, in recent weeks, been paltry indeed.

Omari Patrick and his fellow forwards are not supplying goals at the moment (Image: Richard Parkes)

Including all of February, all of March and April’s first weekend, 11 games have seen just two goals from attackers – Omari Patrick against Crawley Town, and Ryan Edmondson against Swindon Town.

Others used in that time – Dennis, Joe Garner, JK Gordon – have not netted since January.

The Blues, at their best this season, have spread the goals around, but are now getting minimal returns across the board.

Consider the contrast with Bradford City, where Andy Cook, in their last 11 games, has scored nine on his own – including a winner against Grimsby on Saturday which put the Bantams firmly in the automatic promotion race.

This is the stage in a season when a predator can really put bread on the table. The onus is on Simpson to find the right combination – and for those selected to step up anew.

5 GLIMMERS OF HOPE

Well, there has to be some, doesn’t there?

The glass-half-full reading says Carlisle were one unfortunate goal and one unlikely miss away from at least a point against the best team in their division, on their own patch.

If-onlys, though, don’t cut the mustard.

In the best of what United brought at Orient, there were other signs of improvement, albeit qualified ones.

Alfie McCalmont was central to United's best work in the game at Brisbane Road (Image: Richard Parkes)

In system and shape, they were better than they had been at Gillingham. Their best work, in the first half, saw Alfie McCalmont excellent in his pressing duties.

A side in better and more assured attacking form might have made more of his busy running, chasing and intercepting.

It is, alas, the case that forwards such as Omari Patrick are not enjoying their smoothest run of form. Carlisle must dig deeper in order to get goals back in their team, with players such as Gibson surely worth starting consideration again.

There was at least, though, a more natural balance to their play, and a little more football, not that the Blues had the confidence to rebuild this when the hosts came on stronger after the break.

What they must now do is find a way to impose themselves on a pair of mid-table Easter opponents who are strangers to winning form themselves.

Tranmere, Good Friday’s visitors, have two wins in nine. Walsall, Easter Monday’s hosts, have one victory in 16.

Just the sort of sides, pessimists might say, to bring United crashing further down. Thinking more brightly – opponents with enough flaws for a Carlisle side in need of any uplift they can find.