Big match verdict: Carlisle United 2-2 Stockport County

Yet Owen Moxon, as much as the rest of us, will know very well that Carlisle United rarely do sweet and pure. Anyone who has trailed their fortunes, like Moxon has all his life, will be keenly aware they would rather do complicated and needlessly dramatic given half the chance.

And so, in the wake of a moment Moxon must have dreamed about since childhood, even the scorer cannot have been totally surprised at what happened next: an instant Stockport equaliser, Carlisle’s ecstasy interrupted, 0-1 to 1-1 to 2-1 to 2-2, this season remaining undefinable with 270 minutes of it to go.

That is very much the Blues way. If this campaign is settled to any degree by the time the crown is placed on King Charles’ head on May 6, it will go against the grain and the pattern of 2022/23 itself. Far more likely is that we’ll be deep into added time at Sutton’s Gander Green Lane on May 8 before we know what’s what.

Stockport celebrate Myles Hippolyte's opening goal (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Carlisle’s task is to make those closing stages as packed with possibilities as they can. In order to do that they have to capture Tuesday’s second half, stick a cork in the bottle and take it with them to Barrow, back to Brunton Park for Salford City, then off to south London, and who knows where else after that.

They will depend, to a good degree, on their number four from Denton Holme. In this duel with a strong, equally spirited Stockport County, Moxon was magnificent. A characterful return to peak form was capped by that beautifully caressed 83rd-minute finish which, had it been followed by some colder defending of a Stockport cross, would have restored real gusto to Carlisle’s challenge.

Their performance, from minute 46, still can. It has to. This is what United can do, the team has to believe, when confronted with setback. This is what they can throw at a dwindling situation, at a fine opponent. This is what they have to turn into victories, to give this campaign the best chance of a successful finale.

United’s lack of wins is the context for any frustration coming out of last night’s game which was, all in all, a fine advert for League Two (other than its refereeing): a more honest spectacle than some we’ve seen, one from which Stockport can draw equal credit for also showing their promotion cojones; Connor Evans’ header, making it 2-2, preserved an unbeaten run which keeps Dave Challinor’s side within biting distance of the top three.

Jack Armer shoots - to be denied by an impressive Ben Hinchcliffe save (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Beforehand, an afternoon of golden sunshine had faded into an evening of anxious anticipation. Carlisle’s stodgy spell of six games from seven without scoring ensured that. Paul Simpson began with his preferred formation, altering personnel rather than shape, yet as things went on it transpired that United needed a greater overhaul.

A lively opening spell saw big chances and big attempts, a sense of thick tension hanging like mist. Stockport gradually settled better, Paddy Madden dropping into space and Jack Stretton testing the concentration of United’s defenders with his familiar bustle.

The visitors, in this spell, showed a calmer touch and smarter movement, before a better spell of Carlisle pressing led to Jack Armer testing Ben Hinchcliffe’s reflexes with a 30-yard rasper, and Jordan Gibson, moved into the number 10 position, agonisingly unable to convert a save from the Stockport keeper close in.

The visiting threat remained, Will Collar wasting a good position after creative work by Madden and Stretton, Myles Hippolyte then finding the space in the box that he needed to hook a cross past Tomas Holy.

This took much of the colour out of United’s earlier play. Stockport regained their control, Carlisle offering a fading diet of set-pieces and little else, their frontmen on the fringes, their attacking a case of hope over expectation, the refereeing of Thomas Parsons also haphazard; the opposite in gravitas than that displayed by Rebecca Welch three days before.

Jon Mellish celebrates his goal (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Cue, at the interval, Simpson's change: Jon Mellish into midfield for the first time in a while, a back four now in place, Carlisle attempting to barge Stockport onto the back foot.

It worked. United gained territory, attacked with heart and equalised when a Moxon corner came in with venom and Mellish diverted it home.

Belief, and relief, tore around the stadium. Carlisle’s supporters made magnificent noise; from here, an extra player, more or less. There was new menace from JK Gordon, Moxon terrific in pulling the game under his control, Mellish game-changing in his galloping industry and also an ability to survive Stockport’s inevitable danger – shots by Ryan Croasdale and Callum Camps, some stout defending by those including Corey Whelan, who excelled on his first start since December, then a wonderful, fingertip stop by Holy from County’s dynamic attacking sub, Isaac Olaofe.

Goalscorer Owen Moxon, right, and Jon Mellish, left, celebrate the goal that made it 2-1 to United (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Simpson had also refreshed United by this point, Omari Patrick applying pressure wide and Ryan Edmondson’s timing and perseverance ultimately opening up that opportunity for Moxon.

How the stadium greeted the midfielder’s finish. How, in a parallel universe, it was the glorious goal that put the Blues back on their way...

Substitute Evans ruled that out, heading past Holy, who had stayed at home when the left-wing cross looped into United’s box. Blue smoke landed on the pitch, thrown from the Stockport section. The Hatters ended this wild, maddening game in better cheer, just.

Carlisle, thwarted in this way after a night of determination and Brunton passion, at least have grounds to believe their push is still alive.