Burton Albion 0 Carlisle United 1: Harrison Neal’s shorts were streaked in mud. Josh Vela looked like he was ready to make another run, even after the final whistle, even though he’d gone off injured – just in case. Plumes of steam surrounded Paul Huntington as though he was in a 1980s pop video.
The scoreboard glowed in yellow with black lettering: Brewers 0-1 Carlisle. Finally, finally, finally. A first victory in nine, United’s first points in nine, a first clean sheet in 28: a speck on the page in terms of League One survival but a good, if belated, statement about their fight, at least.
Against a Burton side who frequently sent it forward, Carlisle were even more eager to send it back. Huntington, recalled with this aerial contest in mind, was the emblem for a win which, if described as needed, would win any understatement-of-the-year competitions.
For Paul Simpson, at last a night of fewer grey hairs, maybe not quite so many debates about his own future for an evening, for a few days. For Carlisle’s players, evidence in game 34 that they can join the dots in League One football, even if Burton’s version of it in opposition was from the less refined end of the scale, and even if the route to safety remains highly unlikely.
United need not consider those aspects this once. Above all is the fact that the Blues were in the worst form in the country, and now they’ve put a W in front of all those Ls. They needed a starting point and now they have it. Sam Lavelle’s header, which may have gone in off Huntington, put space between themselves and Burton – then heaps of firm defending and stout goalkeeping, coupled with some hungry attacking and a few dollops of game-management, kept that gap intact.
If only all this had slotted together sooner, it’s fair to bemoan. If they can remain this tight, at least some hope can escape from the cupboard before the cold reality of League Two returns to the calendar. But one step at a time. Reading next – and the pressing need to convert what happened here.
Beforehand, Burton were looking to impose themselves on home soil – their only option, truthfully, in the absence of much grass. Carlisle, after February 13’s waterlogged postponement, returned to this stodgy setting desperate for anything that wasn’t a defeat.
Two weeks on, the surface wasn’t as sodden but areas remained brown and bare, including a large swathe in front of the dugouts. Nothing to put the game in peril, thankfully. Could, though, the worst surface in League One be a leveller?
Well, first it had to be level, so no. In terms of the game, Huntington’s return satisfied perhaps the most persistent unanswered supporters’ question of recent weeks, and his selection grew more obvious when witnessing Burton’s style.
It was not, shall we say, from the third tier’s progressive manual. After Jack Diamond had tested home keeper Max Crocombe with an early rasper, Burton began aiming it high, and then higher, going long, pressing behind it and trying to make Carlisle uncomfortable, deep in their territory: a forgivable route, possibly, given the allotment that lay beneath their boots.
Huntington, the old head, went up against the tall prospect, Ademola Ola-Adebomi, while he and his team-mates also had to bludgeon away some Tom Hamer long throws. Burton’s football, already rudimentary, went further that way when Mason Bennett was injured and on went another big striker in Antwoine Hackford. It was a method which could have toppled a weak defence but United, despite their clean sheet dearth, seemed ready for it. Ryan Sweeney headed one delivery against the outside of the post, but Carlisle did grow into things, playing the better football when manoeuvring men into space, Diamond a bright spark.
Harry Lewis kept things level with a reflex save from John Brayford’s header, then an excellent cameo of pressing by Diamond, Luke Armstrong and Jack Armer set the stage for the opening goal: Armer fouled when nipping in front of his man, Taylor Charters delivering well from the left, Lavelle getting in front of his man to head past Crocombe.
Simpson turned and shook his fists. The Blue Army, loyal to the last, celebrated noisily. Carlisle had taken the lead for the fourth straight away game. No need to dwell on how the others unfolded.
Burton tried to load the box again but Ola-Adebomi was raw with the half-chances he had, heading one far too high and then Hamer rifling a shot into a blue wall. Carlisle seemed, on some level, to be enjoying the physical defiance required, while on occasion they spread play well and opened up some possibilities, Jon Mellish, Charters and Armer combining on the left, Jack Ellis - who performed encouragingly on his own recall - almost setting up Armstrong from the other side, Armer and Charters thumping into 50-50s – Carlisle as honest as the night was long in their first-half endeavours, worthy of their advantage.
After the break, Lewis was called upon early to save from Deji Oshilaja, while Neal was often quick with a meaty challenge to prevent Burton from breaking upfield. Past the hour mark, one could sense an amount of tension. At one point Simpson beckoned Ellis to get in the ear of one of the referee’s assistants. Home manager Martin Paterson, for his part, was a regular guest in the fourth official’s personal space. Bobby Kamwa, the brighter of Burton’s subs, was denied by Lewis with a curler.
Seizing things has not been in either of these sides’ profiles often enough this season, and so it went on – Carlisle a whisker from a second when Crocombe athletically kept out a Diamond 25-yarder, then Lavelle swung at a Kamwa delivery and feathered it through to his own keeper, Lewis safely behind it.
Again, there was no issue with United’s work-rate, their running, their fight. The remainder was, given the predicament, about their nerve – and on this occasion, they passed the examination. Joe Hugill, another striker, came on for Burton, but fell short with his brief chances, while Diamond, gliding across the beach, was often the man to lead Carlisle’s counter.
That he did with unending hunger until he was replaced late on. Vela, who’d ran all night, limped off in the latter stages. In added time, Carlisle fended off some final missiles, while there was a heated exchange between a Burton fan behind the dugout and United coach Dave Timmins and some of his colleagues: some unpleasant language from the home supporter, Simpson later said.
The war was being waged by the bench too. Finally, referee Craig Hicks blew his whistle. Simpson offered a modest fistpump, then went into the handshakes. A few minutes later, all you heard were the 246 travelling fans, the least-rewarded followers of all in League One this season. As much as this was for Simpson, the players and everyone around this struggling team, as much as every person on the team coach home will have felt a little lighter at last, most of all it was a night for them.
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