Morecambe 1-2 Carlisle United: Jon Colman's verdict

On the basis that no game is a total irrelevance, even if it’s a dead rubber in a warped trophy watched by 788 fans, United will draw some good things from this occasion, not least a landmark first senior goal for 17-year-old Freddie O’Donoghue and a goalscoring return to fitness for Ben Williams, as well as a fightback of good and convincing application and energy.

The two strikes came in the space of three second-half minutes as United applied some last-third zest to a hitherto sterile if competitive performance. Hallam Hope had given Morecambe a first half lead when the story threatened being, not for the first time, about Carlisle’s attempts to play from the back leading them astray.

In the event, though, it is another win – two on the spin in all competitions, something we’ve not been able to say for well over a season, and also the second game where they’ve grown the longer it’s gone on.

In terms of its effect on the truly meaningful stuff…minimal, perhaps. But Carlisle are in no position to turn down positivity right now and can certainly draw their share here. Some of their youngest players, whether starting or in substitute cameos, did themselves credit. Kadeem Harris, in the first half, also showed some of the quality United are going to depend on in their battle for League Two improvement. Williams looked pleasingly sharp in his 45 minute outing. Put it in the bank, and move on.

A night of knife-edge cup jeopardy this was not. Along with the usual moral caveats attached to this competition since the invasion of the Under-21s, we did not have much sense of drama in terms of the outcome to cling to. Carlisle, after two defeats, were already out; Morecambe, after a pair of wins, were already through, needing a draw, at most, to be assured of top spot.

Morecambe No2 Danny Grainger catches up with United coaches Mark Birch and Jamie Devitt before the game (Image: Richard Parkes)

As such, the gains to be taken were from a more internal perspective: “minutes” for players who needed them, the hope to derive a constructive collective performance from whatever this was in terms of event, hopefully negotiating the spectacle without injuries, and then let’s go home and get ready for Bromley.

The small gathering at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium saw a Carlisle team featuring ten changes, Luke Armstrong the lucky/unlucky one (delete as appropriate) from Saturday’s XI to start again, Harris handed his first start and several youth players making up substitute numbers, along with the fit-again Williams.

Morecambe’s determination to grip first place in the group led to…11 changes, the former United forward Hope among them. Danny Grainger was a familiar face in the dugout as the Shrimps’ assistant manager. However far Morecambe can progress in the Trophy, it is fair to say that bigger fish are bound for the fryer with these two sides, who occupy the EFL’s bottom two places.

The modest crowd was entertained, pre-match, by a young posse of cheerleaders, whose routines included a couple of Christmas numbers. A bit early, or designed to coincide with the presence of 16-year-old Nathan Snowball in the Morecambe side? Who knows.

Kadeem Harris impressed in the first half (Image: Richard Parkes)

Anyway, United lined up with a back three of Jack Ellis, Ben Barclay and Jack Robinson, with Taylor Charters and Jake Allan the wing-backs, Sam Hetherington joined by Cameron Harper in midfield, with Harris and Josh Vela to the left and right of Armstrong.

Initially Carlisle were on the front foot and initially Harris looked like being the game’s most dynamic player. In the seventh minute he left Kayden Harrack chewing the turf before Hetherington hit a shot wide from the edge of the box. Moments later Armstrong headed a Vela cross over the bar but soon enough there emerged signs of how United were going to get themselves in peril. Barclay’s pass enabled Harvey Macadam and Jordan Slew to set up an attack; Carlisle survived it, but the lesson was not heeded.

Their working of the ball from their own box was simply not assured enough as Harry Lewis pinged the ball straight to Hope, who narrowly failed to chip the keeper from distance. A minute later, Carlisle went down another ill-advised alley with their passing and Hope this time accepted the chance from Lewis closer to goal. 1-0.

"We are top of the league," chanted some of the Morecambe fans, and even if that league was Bristol Street Motors Trophy northern group C, one could not challenge them for accuracy. Hope and Slew forced more home chances before Charters, this time, donated possession to the Shrimps, Macadam’s pass giving Hope too tight an angle to score again.

Jake Allan, left, shows his frustration after Morecambe deny Luke Armstrong (Image: Richard Parkes)

Carlisle, looking to break out from this, went long a few times to no avail, yet when Harris was able to receive the ball and turn, he was a lively threat, the teenage Hetherington also among their more inventive players. One break down the left saw Vela feed Armstrong, but his finishing touch in the box was not sharp enough. Later, after Paul Lewis had blasted a loose Barclay touch over United’s bar, more Harris footwork led Hetherington to test home No1 Harry Burgoyne.

Serious chances, nearer the Morecambe target, remained largely elusive by the break. Williams then made his return, taking Harris’s place and going to wing-back as Charters pushed forward, and the fit-again substitute showed some immediate sharpness in his counter-attacking, involved in two moves which might have brought an equaliser.

Alas, the best of them by the hour mark saw Armstrong denied and Hetherington shoot wide, and if those were half-chances, the next one wasn’t: an advantage played by ref Ed Duckworth, Charters’ shot parried and Armstrong arriving to gobble it up, yet somehow failing to do so at close range.

Not, safe to say, the confidence-building conclusion the striker needed. United, though, continued to have more of the ball in Morecambe’s half, continued pushing and playing, and after Lewis had just about dealt with a Gwion Edwards shot, Carlisle finally levelled – and it is certainly a moment O’Donoghue won’t forget, the teenager showing excellent instincts to arrive and convert Williams’ cross at close range; his first touch after coming on along with youth team debutant Jonah Lowes.

Teenager Sam Hetherington tries his luck (Image: Richard Parkes)

And then, like London buses or 1990s England middle-order wickets, one brought two. A couple of minutes on, after good work by another under-18, Hayden Atkinson, Armstrong found space to cross, and did so excellently as Williams slid in to score.

At last it was good, ruthless work, and it earned United the win, Harry Lewis athletically saving from namesake Adam later, and then from Charlie Brown’s cheap free-kick before Armstrong was debatably denied a last-ditch penalty. The used car cup may be no more for another season. But two wins in a row…that’s not a sentence we’re in any position to tire of writing.