Blues Out Of Luck Against Tame Shrews

Last updated : 21 March 2006 By Thetashkentterror

Chris Lumsdon
United boss Paul Simpson kept faith with the same starting eleven and attacking 4-3-3 formation that had demolished Chester City 5-0 and drawn 0-0 at high-flying Leyton Orient in the Blues’ previous two games. The Shrews, however, were at far from full strength and manager Gary Peters was forced to hand two YTS lads their first-team squad debuts on the Town bench with no less than seven regular players missing in action through injury.

So, that meant a back five of Keiren Westwood, Paul Arnison, Kevin Gray, Peter Murphy and Zigor Aranalde. Adam Murray, Chris Lumsdon and Chris Billy were the three men working hard in midfield, with Michael Bridges, Karl Hawley and Derek Holmes together as part of a triple forward line. Infact the only change to the Carlisle sixteen came on the bench where Brendan McGill came in for the injured Glenn Murray, who had a turned an ankle at the Matchroom Stadium last Saturday afternoon against the O’s. Murray, however, is expected to be fit for United’s next league game, at home to Rushden and Diamonds, in four days time.

The Blues couldn’t have got off to a better start as they took the lead just 106 seconds into the game. That was pretty much as good as it got for United though on the night thanks to some wayward finishing, some good Town defending, an utterly appalling refereeing performance and some downright rank bad luck. Aranalde hurled a long throw-in to the Shrews box from the left-hand corner where centre-half Gavin Cowan headed the ball straight up into the air to Holmes who used his muscle to nod the ball on well from the near-post to the far. Left-back Kevin Sharp could, again, only head the ball straight to a Carlisle shirt and this time it was Lumsdon who was left completely unmarked just six yards out to volley the ball home past England under-19 goalkeeper Joe Hart, put Carlisle 1-0 up and leave the Blue Army hoping for another Chester five-niller.

Four minutes later and it was once more a long throw from United’s Basque left-back which was causing the Shrews problems as Holmes and Bridges combined, the ex-Leeds man sending a low cross in which flew into the grateful arms of Hart. Sixty seconds later referee Johnathan Moss gave an astonishing decision as Hawley was pulled back on the half-way line by Shrews centre-half Richard Hope as the ex-Walsall striker looked to race clear and bear down on Hart’s goal. Moss gave the free-kick but then, unbelievably, he didn’t even book Hope for the offence when some overly strict officials might have shown the one-time Chester defender a straight red card for a professional foul.



In the ninth minute the visitors missed an excellent chance to grab an equaliser after the Blues midfield had been caught upfield in attack. Cowan hit a long ball up which was nicely flicked into the path of veteran forward Mark Stallard by ex-Livingston striker Colin McMenamin. Stallard was in the clear in the left-channel only 15 yards out but his left-footed half-volley was extremely weak and Westwood was able to collect it easily.

The equaliser did come for the Shrews three minutes later however and it came shortly after Holmes had sent a looping header from a Bridges cross straight into the chest of Hart when Hawley had been well placed for a kock-down. After the Hawley non-card challenge it was the second of many dreadful decisions on the night from official Moss and his assistant referee on the Paddock side when they combined to give the visitors a free-kick for an extremely innocuous looking challenge by Aranalde on one-time United loanee Kelvin Langmead. Sharp swung a good set-piece in which was headed away by Gray to the edge of the Carlisle "D", the ball fell straight to the unmarked Neil Sorvel though and he drove an excellent finish through a packed penalty area into Westwood’s bottom left-corner to bring the scores level. A good ball in and a good finish but it was never a free-kick in the first place and from that moment on it seemed obvious that United were never going to take three points from the game.

It was easy to see the goal gave the visitors some confidence and deflated the Blues a little and Shrewsbury had their best spell of the game for a while in which Billy was also harshly booked for bringing down the hard-working McMenamin in the centre-circle. McMenamin also had good chances twice in quick succession, firstly forcing Westwood into a sprawling save from 20 yards out following good work by right-back Ben Herd and then after a cleverly worked move between Stallard, Langmead and the Scot. McMenamin could only send Langmead’s back-heel into him flying over the bar from only eight yards out with his left-foot though and it was a big left-off for a Blues side who were looking shellshocked after giving away such a soft equaliser.

With 21 minutes on the clock Carlisle began to boss the game again and from a Lumsdon corner in, one of 15 flag-kicks on the night from the Cumbrians, Gray could have done better when he sent his far-post header straight at Hart. The Blues started to pile on a bit of pressure now and Hart showed his England credentials when he pushed an Adam Murray piledriver from fully 25 yards out past the post, a good passing triangle between Hawley, Bridges and Billy setting the chance up for the ex-Derby midfielder.



Murray again found the ball at his feet three minutes on but he seemed stuck between two thoughts as he could only attempt a chip over Hart from 30 yards out which drifted harmlessly past the Shrewsbury keeper’s far-post. Seconds later and United were denied the first of 43,276 penalty claims for handball in the game as Holmes fed Hawley whose powerful drive struck the arm of Cowan only for referee Moss to wave Carlisle’s vehement protests away. Shortly afterwards Hawley got another effort in on the Shrews goal from a Holmes knock-down on the edge of the Town box but it was only a car-bonnet denter as it flew miles above Hart’s bar and over the Waterworks End wall.

After 31 minutes Lumsdon made a strong run into the Shrewsbury box but he was just unable to get his head to a Bridges cross in from the left which had curled in nicely on the gusty wind. It was Holmes who was next up to the plate five minutes later on a night of missed opportunities for the Blues but his 18-yard shot went sailing wide after Bridges had touched on a long Westwood goal-kick. Bridges’ flick-on was one of only a few headers the United forwards were able to win cleanly as they seemed to be continually pulled around or pushed in the back, all to no avail from a free-kick perspective.

Leading up to half-time the out-of-sorts Hawley again should have made Shrews keeper Hart work when he fired his drive well wide after some neat interplay between Bridges and Lumsdon. It was bang on the half-time whistle though that the Blues were, not for the first time, extremely unlucky not to regain the lead. Murphy swung a corner in from the far side which seemed to ping off a few bodies before finally falling at the feet of Aranalde twelve yards out, the Basque left-back must have though his shot was in all the way, only for Sharp to somehow stretch his leg out and boot the ball off the line.

The players trooped off down the tunnel after only a minute of injury time and the portly Kojak-a-like linesman on the Paddock side was swiftly away for his half-time lollipop. He must have known what was coming as referee Moss got as big a booing off as I have heard at Brunton Park for a long time. After having the better of the deteriorating weather conditions in the first-half I’m sure I wasn’t the only Blues fan who, at the interval, was nervous of a classic smash-and-grab victory by the visitors.





The main action of the half-time break was the wonderment of who would be replaced by Mark Rivers who was quickly called away from the substitutes knockabout and told to warm up ready for action. As it turned out it was Hawley who was taken off, United’s top scorer having apparently struggled with a sore groin throughout the opening 45 minutes, that meant a change to a 4-4-2 formation with Rivers pushing up to support Bridges and Holmes in the forward line.

In the 50th minute McMenamin should have done for better for the Shrews as the rain began to pour down on a windswept Brunton Park. Sharp curled a corner in from the right which the Scot met with a glancing header at the near-post but he got the height all wrong and it flew over the top of the United bar and out for a goal-kick.

Four minutes later Lumsdon played a great ball in behind the Shrewsbury defence for Rivers to run onto in the right-edge of the Town box, Hart came out well to narrow the angle though forcing the ex-Crewe man wide of goal. Rivers managed to get in a shot however but he was off balance and from a tight position it never had the pace to trouble the covering defenders, Cowan being able to hack it away from danger for yet another Carlisle corner. Shortly afterwards Rivers again got clear, this time down the left, as he floated around, but his low cross in was blocked by Herd, the ball seeming to clearly strike the arm of the Watford-born defender. Once more though, to howls of derision from the United faithful, referee Moss waved play on.

In the 59th minute, as the game had gone into a period of one-way traffic which would continue right until the final whistle, it was obvious it was one of those nights as the ball would just not go in the Shrewsbury net. Bridges made an excellent run down the left and attempted to play the ball into Holmes, centre-half Hope was covering well though, although he sliced his clearance only inches past his own post. From the resultant corner in by Lumsdon left-sided Town midfielder Neil Ashton cleared the ball off his own line twice, firstly from Rivers and then from Bridges when shots anywhere else would surely have seen the net bulge.

Just after the hour mark it was Billy who was trying to make things happen for the Blues when he drove a rasping half-volley inches over Hart’s bar after the ball had come out to him from a Cowan clearance on an Aranalde long-throw in. In the 64th minute Murphy stepped up to take a central set-piece from 30 yards out after Ashton had brought down Lumsdon, the Dubliner had to hit his effort with power from that range though and lost his accuracy as it flew well over and into the sparsely populated Warwick Road End.



Seven minutes later, after the Blues had built themselves up for a second wind, Adam Murray missed a sitter which would cost Carlisle dear just sixty seconds later. Rivers showed some good pace to get away and get a nice cross in which Holmes headed down into the path of Murray only six yards out from the Town goal. Unbelievably though the one-time England under-21 man completely lost his composure and could only blaze the chance over the bar when it seemed easier to score. Then, just to rub salt into the Cumbrians wounds, Shrewsbury went 2-1 up when it should have been the Blues holding the advantage in the match.

Sorvel picked up a loose ball in midfield and hit an extremely speculative shot from fully 30 yards out which was going way wide of Westwood’s goal until it hit Hope on the head as he tried to get out of the way of the shot. That deflection was crucial though as it pinged off him to leave the United keeper completely flat-footed as the ball flew back across him and into the opposite corner of the Carlisle net. It was cruel luck on the Blues and poor officiating again by Mr Moss who allowed the Shrewsbury players to celebrate for far too long in front of only 124 away fans.

In the 77th minute the chronic refereeing reached it’s nadir as United equalised, didn’t equalise, had the chance to equalise and then didn’t equalise again all thanks to the officials. Murphy curled a corner in which Aranalde met with a firm header on the six-yard line, Hart got his foot to it and the ball bounced up on to the arm of Herd who was guarding the near-post. The Kojak linesman thought the ball had crossed the line and started to run up towards the half-way line as he signalled a goal, the Carlisle players all thinking the goal had been given as well.

For some reason though Kojak went back down the line to talk the incident over with referee Moss, the end result being the awarding of a penalty to the Blues and a red card for Herd for deliberate handball. Regular spot-kick taker Lumsdon took the penalty but Hart, like he had done at Gay Meadow in January with the ex-Sunderland man’s first attempt, read it well and dived full length to push the effort away for a corner. TV replays suggest that the ball wasn’t over the line and seemed to be ball to hand, so the one thing on the night we got in our favour was wrong as well, the story of the night really.

In the 81st minute both sides made a substitution but for differing reasons. The Cumbrians bringing on Hackney for Arnison as they looked to pour bodies forward and centre-half Gavin Cadwallader coming on for frontman Stallard as Shrews boss Gary Peters looked to shore things up at the back for the visitors.



Four minutes from the end of the game it was Adam Murray who again missed a glorious chance to equalise for the Blues as he failed to net with an extremely similar opportunity to his one fifteen minutes earlier. Aranalde swung what felt like the hundredth cross he or Hackney put in in the closing stages from the left-hand side which Hart could only punch straight up in the air as he tried to clear the danger. His punch seemed to go slightly backwards and fell straight to Murray who once more spooned his attempt over the bar when it seemed easier to score from such close range.

The second-half Carlisle goal that you thought would never come finally did come in the 88th minute through Holmes who notched his sixth of the season. Aranalde humped yet another ball in which Sorvel and Lumsdon challenged for in the air, the ball seeming to hit Sorvel on the shoulder before falling straight to Holmes who volleyed home from six yards out past a helpless Hart to finally bring the Blues level.

More awful officiating was to follow though as Ashton was booked for timewasting on a throw-in by Mr Moss even though Kojak the linesman had asked the Shrews player to wait a couple of seconds as he thought a substitution might be being made. How Ashton received a booking for that when Hart had been timewasting on goal kicks all evening really is beyond me but then it didn’t surprise me either.

United hurled the kitchen sink now at the visitors in the last sixty seconds and four minutes of injury time. Firstly Aranalde sent a pacey curler wide but then just as the Cumbrians were getting up a real head of steam Carlisle skipper Gray let the Shrews off the hook with a crazy challenge on the half-way line that allowed them to run the clock down by a good minute. From a Cowan punt upfield Langmead tried to control the ball only for Gray to go right through the back of the Shrews striker and find himself looking at a yellow card. That left United with little time left to find a winner and only a Hackney shot with his right-foot that swung wide threatened the visitors goal as the final whistle was blown to signal the end of a surreal game.

It was another gauntlet of boos that met the refereeing crew as they left the pitch and the Carlisle players were left to reflect on a game that somehow they didn’t win, the point gained not being enough to stop them sliding down to third in the table following a win for Wycombe at Notts County.




Post-match quotes :


Shrewsbury boss Gary Peters said:

"It's a great result for us. We've had to draft the kids in because of injuries. Our defence was good and we've had some heroic performances tonight.

"The crowd here are fantastic and they can really change the game for Carlisle. I'm disappointed with the penalty, you shouldn't be getting sent off for something like that but it's great to come here and get a point."

United manager Paul Simpson commented:

"I can't fault the effort of the players. We started well but we just didn't go for the jugular. They got back into the game but in the end we deserved a point. We could have won it but they defended well and maybe the result was fair.

"I didn't think it was going to be our night, but I won't talk about the officials. I'm not really allowed to do that."




thetashkenttheory :



Well, if we have that many chances every week then I can't see anything other than the League Two trophy heading to Brunton Park as we'll surely never see another night like that again in a long time, I hope. A corner count of fifteen to one certainly tells it's own story on a night where the ball just kept dropping in the wrong place all the time and the Shrewsbury goal led an extremely charmed life.

We didn't help ourselves at times though with Adam Murray in particular missing what seemed like two gilt-edge chances. Missing a penalty never helps your cause either and I firmly believe that if we'd equalised with 12 minutes left against ten men then we would have gone on to win the game. Hackney and Aranalde put some quality balls in the box at the end but a combination of good defending, poor finishing and Shrewsbury players throwing the ball out for corners meant we just couldn't bag that vital winner.

Hawley going off injured at half-time with the sore groin that has been plaguing him all season and Bridges being suspended for the visit of Rushden and Diamonds to Brunton Park on Saturday could leave us horrendously light upfront in four days time. Hopefully both Hawley, and Glenn Murray, will be fit so we aren't affected too much, Bridges definitely being out though certainly makes a return to the 4-4-2 formation look extremely likely in a match where three points are now vitally important after tonight's disappointment.

The pitch was cutting up badly again with the sheeting rain that was coming down throughout the second-half. With a bad forecast for the next couple of days and home games on Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday to come I dread to think what state the playing surface in by then. It doesn't help us at all the way we try and play football with our more skilled players who like to play one-touch stuff, there is little we can do it about it for the timebeing however although money will have to be no option in the summer in an attempt to rectify the huge drainage problems.

Surely the last word of the night though has to go one of the most inept officating crews ever seen at Brunton Park, although the linesman on the East Stand side seemed to do little wrong. He was let down terribly though by an utterly clueless referee who basically got every single important decision wrong. Added to that a linesman on the Paddock side who seemed to find the abuse he was receiving amusing for getting decisions wrong time after time and it really was a recipe for disaster. The most worrying thing is that the standard of refereeing really is getting worse at a time when full-time officials in the Premiership was supposed to filter down a better quality of officiating in the Football League. Something has to be done, and quick, to improve things as at the moment a lot of games around the country are being ruined by one man with a whistle.


Editorial footnote - Shrewsbury Town appealed against the sending-off of Ben Herd for deliberate handball, their appeal was upheld by the Football Association on Thursday 16th February 2006, and Herd's red card has now been rescinded.