Walsall 0 Carlisle United 0: Paul Simpson cast a withering look to the fourth official, then his mouth moved. “Wow,” the Carlisle manager seemed to say. It was not, safe to say, the issuing of a compliment.
About 80 minutes had gone and we had long passed the point when the displays of the officials could be described in conventional terms. This was not the only reason for this Easter Monday stalemate – the wow factor really didn’t turn up in any great respect – but, dear me, it didn’t help.
There were certain decisions at the Poundland Bescot Stadium that could probably have been easily made by those still stuck on the M6. The ball strikes a red sock and goes out of play. Do you give, a) a Carlisle throw (hint, hint, it’s this one) or b) a Walsall throw?
Option b) was duly chosen. More than once. And sometimes the opposite happened in United’s favour too. And sometimes there was…ah, too much to mention. It was a bleak standard, capped off by more Simpson claims that the ref had “laughed” when players complained, and that the fourth official’s approach had also given him cause to talk to refereeing body PGMOL.
We don’t have Declan Bourne’s side of things on the record, of course, nor those of the referee’s assistants. What’s clear, though, is that this fixture is destined never to go calmly. After November’s FA Cup set-to, which ended with a mass confrontation and fines for both clubs, we had this bitter reckoning from a 0-0 draw which sent the Blues out of the top three with five games to go.
Monday’s game was a bitty, patchy, edgy way to go nowhere (in terms of goals). Simpson felt it might turn out a good point, and we’ll know that after the Brunton Park humdingers up ahead.
On its own, it showed Carlisle competitive but lacking poise in the last third. Their urgency went up after Hayden White’s red card saw Walsall’s numbers cut to ten, but United could not introduce any fluency into their attacking.
They almost did not need to, if only a couple of late set-pieces had been better finished. Alas, Owen Moxon failed to power one header past Owen Evans, while in the 100th minute, a slight glance from Manny Monthe, according to Simpson, led Ben Barclay to head wide from an enviable position.
At that agonising moment it felt more like two points dropped against an depleted mid-table side. Simpson, keen to keep his players (and us all) upbeat, spoke more about Carlisle’s work-rate, their defensive strength, their still lofty position with some massive fixtures ahead.
A huddle, in front of the latest thousand-strong away support, was also designed to emphasise that message. And, let’s be honest, whatever happened here…it's going to the wire, this, isn’t it?
United are fourth on goal difference, and now face second (Northampton Town) and third (Stockport County) at home. This is where things could be settled, yet even then, don't be surprised if things are no clearer in 180 minutes' time.
May both those mighty occasions at HQ at least come to the boil more obviously than this tussle with Michael Flynn’s side, who killed time, worked beyond a few edges, but also displayed an amount of resolve to keep Carlisle at the gates.
To begin with, whilst United’s fans hunted a way to Walsall amid heavy motorway traffic, their team hunted a positive way into a game which, it appeared early on, would never be an easy spectacle on the eye. Walsall, for their part, made a few early ventures off the big front two of Jamille Matt and Conor Wilkinson, but finished them off like a side with their paltry recent winning record.
They fashioned the first chance after fully 11 seconds, a bit of trickery from Wilkinson which ended with a wayward volley, and later Liam Gordon found space in which to shoot and then cross from the left, entailing some deep defending from the Blues. Defend they did.
Carlisle, in a busy spell after this, tried to pin Flynn’s side back, Alfie McCalmont a buzzing presence with one delivery that almost put Kristian Dennis in, but other times left them short of a sharper touch to truly open something up, or the ability to make the ball stick upfield against Flynn’s sizeable defence.
In the absence of this, Walsall took encouragement – while Carlisle were further disrupted when the right wing-back curse returned once again, Jack Ellis down after 21 minutes and unable to continue. This brought Jordan Gibson into the game, as Ellis disconsolately took his leave, and for a while afterwards the hosts looked more likely in United’s territory, the size of Matt and skill of Wilkinson stretching them, and Tom Knowles’ long throws also engaging the Blues rearguard - where Paul Huntington was once more outstanding - and goalkeeper.
This contributed to pressure which led to a free-kick which Knowles sent goalwards and Tomas Holy parried. At the other end, things were on balance too aerial in the strong wind. The denial of a penalty for Knowles’ challenge on Jack Armer incensed the Blues, while Bourne and his dugout-side assistant continued to befuddle many in the ground with a range of unclear decisions.
An additional fear was that one odd indication too many by Bourne or his team could take this game down an avoidable path. What Carlisle failed to do was rule out this risk by grabbing hold of things themselves.
They got a numerical leg-up when Bourne pulled out his red card after White fouled Armer – a challenge high enough on the United man to be worth a straight dismissal, the ref reckoned – and threw themselves at Walsall in a bid to make this count, but came up short.
A series of corners tested the hosts, one glanced on by Dennis but just too far for Jon Mellish to make true diving contact, while for the hosts, Oisin McEntee was denied a home penalty shout.
Carlisle forced further set-pieces but Dennis, their 20-goal man, was too often a stranger to the ball in decisive areas. Walsall’s ten men forced some late pressure, Knowles a threat and Liam Kinsella the latest to be denied a penalty, yet earlier plummets from that Saddlers midfielder perhaps cost him there.
There were other times, when home players delayed or went down some more, when you started to conclude that things would probably end this way. They almost didn’t, but those Moxon and Barclay chances went begging. Not, in the end, quite good enough – in keeping, truthfully, with the game in general, this season’s likely conclusion no more apparent after this frustrating, maddening but also far from fatal old day.
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