What did we learn from Carlisle United's draw at Stevenage?

Let's take a closer look...

1 RESULT DESERVES RESPECT

Carlisle may have shared a division with Stevenage last season, but there is a case for saying Steve Evans’ side gave the Blues the most persistent examination they’ve had since stepping up to League One.

The pressure United had to contend with across the game was repeated, regular and of reliably testing quality.

Take set-pieces. Stevenage totted up 11 corner kicks in the game, comfortably the highest number Carlisle have had to defend in a third-tier game so far.

Carlisle, through Paul Huntington and others, had lots of defending to do at Stevenage (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Evans’ side are notably strong from such positions and came very close from one when Carl Piergianni hit the crossbar.

Otherwise, though, Carlisle worked doggedly to minimise the risk from Dan Butler’s dangerous and recurring deliveries.

Then there is the shot count. Stevenage had 16 attempts, the second most that Carlisle have faced so far in 2023/24 (Port Vale had 17), while Evans’ men were comfortably the most accurate on average, with half of their attempts landing on target.

In other words, the Blues had to be on their defensive mettle. Twice they weren’t, when conceding, but their work to stay in the game despite this deserves fair credit.

2 THE ICEMAN COMETH

Jokull Andresson is likely to have been many supporters’ man of the match for his defiant display at the Lamex Stadium.

And with good reason. It was an excellent shot-stopping performance without which Carlisle could not have hoped to take the point they did.

Andresson was always ready to use his legs to repel Stevenage’s low shots, one smart, stretching save from the dangerous Jamie Reid in the first half a case in point.

Jokull Andresson had an outstanding day in United's goal (Image: Barbara Abbott)

The Iceland international kept the frontman out similarly in the second half when Reid might well have put things beyond United’s reach.

There was a defiant stop from Carl Piergianni, an athletic leap to prevent Elliott List late on, and other occasions when Andresson, under heavy aerial pressure, was wise to punch deliveries clear rather than scramble to catch them as Piergianni, Dan Sweeney and Evans’ other big men bore down on him.

There was one reprieve for Andresson, when Stevenage were flagged offside as they pounced to score after the goalkeeper spilled what looked a routine cross.

Had that cost United it would have put a tarnish on their loan keeper’s day – and offered brutal reminder of the price attached to isolated mistakes.

Andresson, with three starts, is clearly still bedding in. But he more than earned his plaudits on Saturday with a display of eyecatching character – and the right to leave his former club with good feelings.

3 LITTLE AND LARGE

Or a 'flicker and a runner'. That would be the cliched description of the varied strikeforce Simpson sent out against Stevenage.

It might not be quite like that but Joshua Kayode and Sean Maguire is probably most fans’ idea of United’s likeliest front two just now, a combination of different qualities worth sticking with.

It was not a day for Kayode to get the opposition goal in his sights. In his 56-minute outing, he didn’t get a single scoring opportunity.

Sean Maguire's anticipation, in a new strike pairing with Joshua Kayode, earned Carlisle a way back in the first half (Image: Barbara Abbott)

It remained clear enough, though, what the returning loanee can bring in terms of stature and a combative willingness against big defenders such as Stevenage’s.

It was not a headline-grabbing or even particularly impressive day for Kayode but as a focal point there were signs of how he can benefit the Blues.

With Maguire offering a decidedly different attacking trait, it at least gave Stevenage a range of quandaries in those sporadic moments when Carlisle did string together good attacking things.

Maguire’s intelligent running had already featured amid his wait for an opening goal. The ex-Preston man’s antennae were twitching early in this game as he almost pounced on a sixth-minute dither by home keeper Taye Ashby-Hammond.

The frontman seemed to tuck that into his memory bank when he bustled onto the later  chance which, with the Stevenage No1 hesitant again, Maguire eventually managed to take.

Carlisle, in that counter-attacking moment, managed to bring the hosts onto them just enough to leave a long-ball gap for Maguire to enjoy.

He is now off and running – and United’s strikeforce starts to look a little more usefully stocked.

4 GRINDING IT OUT

If ever there was an example of outcome trumping performance on Saturday, it lay in the contribution of Owen Moxon.

According to the stats site WhoScored, the midfielder had one of his less impressive days and that tallied with what the naked eye saw.

It was unusual, in particular, for Moxon to produce a passing accuracy figure of just 28 per cent in the 2-2 draw.

Although not at his best in the game, Owen Moxon's quality still told in the end (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Carlisle’s midfield were industrious but never had the game under any kind of control – something Stevenage’s style can easily force opponents away from.

It was, then, a contest when other qualities had to come to the fore, as Evans’ side peppered Carlisle with missiles forward and sought to trouble them by landing on second balls between the lines, United often having trouble in deciding whether to engage or stand off.

One of those qualities was patience, something Simpson and, to his credit, Moxon showed.

On a sweltering day it was not until the latter stages that the Denton Holme star showed his more familiar colours.

Yet show them he did, first getting a reasonable sight of goal from the edge of the box, then coming very close to setting up a leveller from a free-kick – then landing the decisive last-gasp corner on Joe Garner’s head.

If it really is not how you travel but how you arrive then Moxon, on an otherwise unremarkable day, still managed to leave his mark – something the best players can do.

5 SMOKIN’ JOE

It is not long since some were writing Joe Garner off as an effective third-tier goalscorer. Some had him away before the transfer deadline.

The latter notion was firmly dismissed by Paul Simpson. And the former has taken a hit in the last two league games.

Saturday’s equaliser was his 150th career strike and the enduring fact is that Garner has been operating at this and higher levels for most of his career, and those wiles came back to the fore against a Stevenage defence that is robust but not, all in all, as experienced as Garner, and who lost the old stager at the decisive moment.

Joe Garner's enduring eye for goal has returned to the fore in the last two league games (Image: Barbara Abbott)

A little reminder, then, of class being permanent and, for Garner, a welcome little purple patch in these autumn days of a fine career.

It is the first time he’s scored in consecutive league games since the tail end of the 2021/22 season with Fleetwood Town.

For Carlisle, it’s his first two-in-two since November 2012.

Even though the 35-year-old was signed to help the Blues in other ways – with his influence, his nouse, his game-management skills – goals are still the main currency and always have been for Garner.

You don’t enjoy the journey he has without a cold-eyed acceptance of what, in the end, pays the bills. It’s been rewarding – and hopefully salutary to others in United’s attacking ranks – to see him back in the old routine, and still relishing it so very much.