Swindon Town 0-2 Carlisle United: Jon Colman's verdict

Never mind. Carlisle’s travelling supporters, certainly, were having no truck with the idea that Butterworth, who swapped United for Swindon on deadline day, might not have been making a totally unreasonable point when he argued that a side with seven defeats from eight, and two days into a new head coach reign, might be one you could get at.

Instead, there was much fun to be had. The merriment you could hear from the 483, with apologies to Butterworth, was a genuinely lovely sound, even when they were describing, in unflattering terms, the player himself after one of his injury-time shots had cleared Harry Lewis’s goal.

Frankly, anyone who got in the way of Carlisle’s fans on a day like this stood no chance. This was quite some build-up of bad days and angst finally being let loose. With a performance of effort and opportunism and the odd lucky break – plus a first glimpse at some new footballing principles – Mike Williamson’s team unlocked that mood.

So that’s the first place to start: the scenes, the vibes. The feeling, at full-time and, indeed, pretty much from the moment Luke Armstrong put Carlisle 2-0 up...hello, again. Been a while, hasn't it?

It felt, as much as this was one win and lots of work lies ahead and all those other sensible things we have to say at a time like this, like something fresh, or at least something coming back after a long time away. So let’s wrap ourselves in that glow before United try to make us feel it again, in another week’s time, and then again and again. That sensation has been too rare, over the months, for us to greet this result only with caution and scepticism.

Sam Lavelle, centre, forced United's opener (Image: Richard Parkes) Williamson, who received a generous and enthusiastic welcome from those fans before, during and after this victory, is a measured individual who you cannot imagine giving it the Wildean fistpumps too often. His first comment to the News & Star was to put praise for the result onto the players he has inherited, rather than grab it for himself.

Fair enough, and right enough. Yet the argument that this is an able group just in need of some new and thoughtful direction received its first tick at the County Ground. Armstrong, after the game, spoke of the simplicity and clarity of the instructions the players had received since Thursday. This, then, was something carved out by the boss and his staff, even if the chisel has only had limited use so far.

Harry Lewis saves after Swindon's indirect free-kick seven yards out (Image: Richard Parkes)

Swindon were willing accomplices to the extent that they never looked among League Two’s more dangerous sides, to be kind. Yet a team as accustomed to conceding, and losing, as Carlisle have been must accept the compliments first. Lewis, in goal, was excellent, Armstrong defended relentlessly from the front and there was not much in United’s competitive approach in the areas between those players that you could pull up for lack of graft.

On the questions of style, some early answers emerged. Carlisle, under Williamson, are evidently going to pass the ball, look for angles, “solutions”, even if this is going to entail patience and an acceptance of risk and flaw. Williamson, though, trusted the players to work it this way from game one and that sends a certain psychological message to a browbeaten side in itself.

Dylan McGeouch goes in for a tackle (Image: Richard Parkes)

For the first half-an-hour or so Carlisle in their new clothes had to be defensive. Swindon were onto them, pressing a losing side trying on a new technique. There were nearly a couple of splinters early on, such as the shanked crossfield pass from Ben Barclay which ref Carl Brook interpreted as a backpass when Lewis handled it. The keeper charged out to save the George Cox shot which followed Swindon’s indirect free-kick from seven yards.

United had also relied on their keeper when Kabongo Tshimanga broke through on eight minutes, while another moment of trepidation came when Paul Glatzel cut out Jon Mellish’s pass. Early days, early tremors...but, crucially, Carlisle survived them.

After an eight-minute stoppage enforced by an injury to assistant referee Ravel Cheosiaua, things continued on a similar vein, United’s opening attempts to construct attacking moves offering brief promise but no meat at the end. Will Wright went close from a Swindon free-kick and Carlisle had more defending to do from Butterworth’s flits and crosses.

Jon Mellish heads a good chance wide (Image: Richard Parkes)

Defend they did, and so the Blues could work things out better from an even position, not the more familiar chasing status. A couple of improved cameos of Willo-ball got Carlisle up the pitch in creative style and a pair of corners were won. From the second, Cameron Harper’s delivery was attacked aggressively, and Sam Lavelle’s head, amid the aerial cluster, did enough to score.

Ten added minutes followed, Lewis saving again from Cox and United’s penalty-box defending sound at other key moments. Mellish then missed a great headed chance from Jordan Jones’ corner. It was never going to be easy, was it?

And it wasn’t after the break, either – but equally, it was never as anxious as one might have imagined. Cox kept trying with deliveries and set-pieces, a man trying every key on the chain but never the right one. Lewis punched and fell on other balls. A couple of United passes and clearances were cut out dangerously close to source and this was the risk of the Williamson way in practice. Yet Swindon were not good enough to profit and Carlisle, refreshed by Josh Vela and Dominic Sadi’s arrivals, then turned things against the hosts.

Vela burgled a corner through some persistent pressing, Carlisle kept on at Swindon in this little period and then the next set-piece cracked it: Mellish winning the header, Sadi scuffing his shot and Armstrong scoring the kind of unsightly goal that all strikers privately adore: a shot, a save, a collision with the post, a dribble over the line, the raised flag, the outcome just the same as a netbuster or pass-and-move classic.

Luke Armstrong watches on as his shot eventually finds its way in for the second goal (Image: Richard Parkes)

And curiously – this is Carlisle, still – the remainder came without undue stress but plenty of vocal enjoyment from the 483. The bottom line of their defending was sound, the work-rate remained tip-top. Butterworth hit the post with a rasper in the 87th minute but Swindon’s other efforts were blunt.

With three minutes left, Butterworth boomed a volley into the Town End. With seconds left, he blasted another shot wide. Nobody else for Swindon was as dangerous, yet that was their problem. It was, as Carlisle heartily discovered and impressively proved on day one of their hopeful new future, a good time to play them.