What did we learn from Carlisle United 2-0 Shrewsbury Town?

1 THE WAIT IS OVER

It was Carlisle’s first win of the season, as well as ending a few longer waits.

In terms of winning a competitive game without conceding, Saturday’s triumph was the Blues’ first since they won 1-0 at Barrow back in April.

It was the first time they’d netted two in a 90-minute game since the 3-2 defeat to Salford City the same month.

Joe Garner: Warwick Road End fan (Image: Ben Holmes)

And (thanks to the Brunton Bugle for this one) the result finally ended a long stretch since January 2001 for Carlisle’s previous home league win over Shrewsbury.

Their XI that day was: Glennon, Birch, Maddison, Whitehead, Winstanley, Connelly, Galloway, Prokas, Soley, Stevens, Dobie. Some of those fellas are in their 50s now.

It was also a first goal of the season for Joe Garner, and his third since he rejoined Carlisle.

All of his strikes in this fourth spell have come at the Warwick Road End, and he’s long had a liking for scoring at that end of the ground.

Of the 15 Brunton Park goals he’s scored over the years, ten have been in front of the Warwick.

2 PATIENCE A VIRTUE

The need for performance, especially when you’ve gone up to a new and demanding level, is clear and urgent.

All the same – there has to be leeway when new players are bedding in, reasonable time and understanding allowed.

Sometimes things click instantly, other times it takes a while longer, and in a couple of cases on Saturday there were signs of certain aspects improving notable for Carlisle.

Sam Lavelle gave his best performance since joining United (Image: Ben Holmes)

Paul Simpson reckoned it was Sam Lavelle’s best performance since his summer move and that seems a fair analysis.

The former Charlton Athletic man was United’s leading defender statistically, making more clearances and interceptions than anyone else.

He also won twice as many aerial challenges as any other player, and looked sharp and alert when his contributions were needed.

On the right, Fin Back continued to regain some of his old bite while Luke Plange was the width of a post from capping a strong and involved display with a goal.

In a side still finding its feet, still gaining a collective understanding, these were real pluses – and a reminder that some things simply take time.

3 PRIZE GUY

There is a case for saying that Callum Guy has made the step up as well as anyone in United’s squad right now.

The midfielder has long been essential to Simpson’s Carlisle and on Saturday he was outstanding.

United’s boss earmarked Guy for a crucial role in finding space to lubricate the team’s play, while the 26-year-old was equally pivotal in Carlisle’s defensive attitude.

Guy was United's top tackler against the Shrews (Image: Ben Holmes)

On the latter, he was United’s chief tackler, doing three times as much in this respect as anyone else in a blue shirt.

Carlisle were good at winning the ball back from Shrewsbury – Sean Maguire also nearly opening up a goal chance in this way too – and this helped them get on top of a side less slick at beating the press than some of their previous opponents.

Guy has not had a poor game in these early League One adventures and, while the move up a division is an obvious examination of everyone’s technique, Saturday showed the timeless value not just of game intelligence but sheer work-rate too.

United’s number eight offered both in abundance.

4 SHARP ABLADE

Ok, ‘sharp’ doesn’t really do it justice. How many players, after all, have you seen at Carlisle who’ve looked quicker than this?

Ablade’s acceleration looked more potent even than Omari Patrick’s. Certainly the Fulham loanee appeared a more powerful runner compared with Patrick’s more gliding stride.

Johann Smith, the American loan man of 2006/07, may be the best comparison on this trait alone.

The rapid Terry Ablade gave United's attack a different dimension (Image: Ben Holmes)

Smith was raw technically but his rapid running still opened up some good things for Neil McDonald’s Blues in that season’s, er, run-in.

At times defenders were left in sheer panic and Shrewsbury’s rearguard on Saturday did not look as if they enjoyed having to contend with United’s new pace ace in the closing phase of the game.

Even defenders as accomplished at this level as Chey Dunkley were put on the back foot. Ablade looked the ideal man for United’s particular circumstances – 1-0 up, trying to close it out, needing to take the game far away from their own danger zone – and he contributed impressively.

His assist for Joe Garner’s clincher was a deserved reward. At last it seems Carlisle have someone who can put a certain tactical doubt in opponents’ minds when brains and bodies are tiring.

However raw or otherwise Ablade turns out to be, this is a weapon United needed to add, and thank goodness they seem to have got it.

5 CROWD SCENE

Much has been said about Morgan Feeney since the weekend, not a great deal of it complimentary.

Football never fails to make you marvel at how quickly it can turn a hero into a villain.

A summer departure, a few circumstances which irked his former manager, and Feeney has suddenly gone from admired captain to a man roundly booed by Blues supporters.

Feeney felt the heat from fans - then boiled over at Paul Simpson (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Feeney may feel that reception unfair – he apparently said as much in his hot-tempered post-match response to Paul Simpson – yet there was something in it that maybe even the competitor inside him will acknowledge.

It is that Brunton Park, fired up as it was on Saturday, is an effective beast. Its residents turned up sharp of tongue and loud of volume.

And is this not the way it has to be – the place as hostile as possible, within reason, to opponents who can lay claim to being more established at this level than the Cumbrians?

Is this not one of the ways Carlisle can level things: by their ground feeling downright unpleasant to some of the folk who come to take on the Blues?

Feeney’s reaction at full-time betrayed a feeling that he must have been carrying during the game. As ever, this isn’t a free pass for abuse.

But raising the temperature, now and then? Adding to the argumentative life force of the place? Turning on the enemy? It can make Brunton, and by consequence United, feel more alive, more usefully defiant.