Carlisle United 1-1 Harrogate Town: Jon Colman's verdict

Yet so meagre were the servings at AFC Wimbledon a week before that it’s tempting to fall upon the better aspects of this game as a starving man might a steak. This was a draw and not a win, after all, because United do not have the confidence of a winning team.

So let us flag up the potentially confidence-lifting bits and see if it helps. The amount of ball they had, the number of attempts on goal they forced. The fact they responded so swiftly to going behind.

The fact their structure looked better for a couple of players back in the team. A couple of isolated moments either of flair or determination: Cameron Harper dropping the shoulder to beat a man in the first half, Dominic Sadi sprinting back to rescue a situation in the second, Harrison Neal preventing the absolute belly-flop of defeat in the closing stages, Ethan Robson showing touches of the midfield ball-play they’ve so sorely lacked.

All ticks. In the psychological column, Mike Williamson may as well play those moments back, pause, rewind and show them again. Each was a little cameo of belief, of will.

Taylor Charters shoots on his first start of the season (Image: Ben Holmes)

They have to be small building blocks for something more substantial, otherwise there is no hope at all. This is going to be a long haul, a challenging and complex route to safety, clearly. United are still a matter of what they don’t have as what they do, and that was as plain as day as they tried and failed to defeat Harrogate here.

So the better bits have to grow enough so that they can cover up the flaws. Lacking, in the full picture on Saturday, was the conviction to punish a mediocre opponent, the wit to make home dominance irresistible, the initiative and cold-blooded intent to hurt an opponent who are sitting in. The result to give belief a proper inflating.

Will all that come? We’re not closer to knowing, in truth. Carlisle, in their current, changeable form, are not a team you can rely on. Right now it is a striving from their head coach and his colleagues to find something that might work for 90 minutes, let alone a sequence of games.

That tells you they are in no shape to shoot up League Two, much as that would ease our worries. At present they must simply be prepared to scuffle and battle and torment us all on the way to enough points. This might not be a lucrative bargain right now but it is the position.

Luke Armstrong cups his ears to the Harrogate fans after his equaliser (Image: Ben Holmes)

Brunton Park shimmered in the autumn sun, the ribbon cut on impressive new facilities in the East Stand, guests from Jacksonville trying them out, the 8,000 mark topped thanks to a £10 ticket offer. Good numbers, considering the league table. The players came out of the tunnel and, against convention, faced the east side of the ground, where Carlisle’s owners stood.

One day, their largesse will see United climb again. Until then…stressful times. Carlisle broke the game open 30 seconds in, Sadi at wing-back almost burgling an immediate goal out of Jasper Moon, and the Blues continued with an opening sharpness that had been grimly lacking (along with everything else) at Wimbledon.

Callum Guy, back in his midfield station, was a mighty reassuring sight while Taylor Charters added balance and good attacking intent on the left. The latter fizzed a shot over the top corner after more Sadi endeavours, while Carlisle often isolated an extra man on the right, and sometimes that man was Terell Thomas, up from defence.

Callum Guy made a solid return to the starting XI (Image: Ben Holmes)

There were glimpses at an idea here, at least. Harrison Biggins hammered the bar with a free-kick, Guy almost set up Sam Lavelle, Harry Lewis twice denied James Daly on the counter but most of it was in the Harrogate half; not enough to send the Visit Jacksonville pint glasses into the air, exactly, but encouraging.

What it lacked was a scalpel. United were often in the last third but not precise enough in their decision-making. Sadi, with a cross, and Neal, with a powerful shot, threatened again, and James Belshaw was appearing annoyingly defiant in Harrogate’s goal.

Then came the moment that could have brought the gloom back to stay: Carlisle turning uncertainly, ref Richie Watkins playing an advantage after Neal felled Dean Cornelius, Matty Foulds sweeping down the left, Matty Daly volleying in the cross. A clinical moment that exposed United’s lack of them.

Ethan Robson, left, and Tyler Burey, right on the attack during his second-half debuts (Image: Ben Holmes)

Yet they dealt with conceding far better this time, and were soon level: Luke Armstrong alert to the first chance, and then the rebound after Belshaw’s save. After his looping finish, the striker cupped his ears to the small travelling support who’d been berating him earlier. Fair dos.

Taking this uplift and making it count, though, is a step Carlisle cannot yet reach. The second half was not as energetic – understandably, in the case of Guy and Charters, who were subbed just after the hour mark – yet Sadi kept offering himself, kept his head up, curled one shot just wide, engaged Belshaw with others, but not dangerously so.

Robson and Tyler Burey, the new signing, came on, yet United looked more anxious as things went on, Moon missing a good Harrogate chance, Carlisle never seeming sure that they could see things to the end on a good footing. Simon Weaver’s side were never, thankfully, truly threatening, even if sub Sam Folarin’s pace caused the odd tremor.

Charlie Wyke fails to reach a late chance as Harrogate keeper James Belshaw saves (Image: Ben Holmes)

The closing acts were nearly-moments at both ends. Robson, showing a deft passing touch, carved a ball through for Charlie Wyke, but Biggins couldn’t profit, while Burey’s flutterings of skill came with rust attached. Wyke did not have the legs to deal with another chance, and Neal bailed out a Jon Mellish header which gave Folarin a late Harrogate glimpse.

And this, all in all, is where Carlisle are: trying but trying, signs of life but also of strain, the whole thing still crying out for a day, a scheme, a performance that convinces, enough in this one – just about – to make you think a kind of recovery might be possible. And cling onto that, at this tormenting time, we probably should.