Carlisle Utd 1-4 Motherwell

Pre-season "Friendly"

They rarely had to break into a run to achieve it ..... Motherwell that is. We were taken apart, they were laughing at us - when they weren't kicking lumps out of us. Some friendly! Both teams have a severe discipline problem - the ref had to recommend quite a few substitutions, which was quite funny as they ran out of subs when Teale had to go! Tracey, Searle (both "sent off"), Prokas and Hopper seemed to enjoy the card-free chance to show what they are quite good at - kicking the opposition. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to bother much about the match - in true hooligan fashion they came for the fights rather than the football.

On that showing, FoutFourTwo are being exceedingly optimistic when they say we'll finish 18th - relegated this century, more like. In all fairness, the weather was more like November but it is the same for both sides. Comes to something when Clark and Barr (late sub) were the best Blues and Hopper scores a good goal. Motherwell have now played five friendlies, scored 26 and Hopper's goal was the first they've conceded. Of the new guys - Agnew was very good but naturally has no pace. Walker holds the ball up well and distributes sensibly - wasted on that lot! As a striker, who knows as he didn't have a shot. Pitts (late sub) is well named. Keen would struggle to get a game for a Sunday League Reserve side - worst goalkeeper I've ever seen play for Blues in forty years. Motherwell were not really trying - they had about five or six decent attempts on goal, scored four. 'Nuff said.

On that showing, we should try to sign Agnew and Walker (if they still want to play for us) and then get eight or nine other players as well. It was that bad. Did Jimmy Glass do us a favour? Discuss.

Rob Scott-Buccleuch

   CARLISLE UNITED 1 - 4 MOTHERWELL
   (Hopper)


Starting line-up:          Ratings:

  Keen                        5
At fault for the first, second and fourth goals and hardly blameless
for the third. Hesitant to say the least when coming for crosses and
looked nervous throughout. If this is what we are to expect from him
the sooner we can get another keeper the better.

  Bowman                      6
Not really put to the test defensively in the first half, was caught
out of position on a number of occasions in the second. Showed little
going forward

  Whitehead                   7
Solid enough if unspectacular, it was some poor control from Whitehead
which lead to Motherwell's second goal. 

  Brightwell                  7
His lack of pace was evident again at times and this could have proved
more costly had Motherwell used the ball over the top which was causing
Carlisle problems whenever it was put into practice.
 
  Clarke                      6
Very hesitant in defence at the start of the game often caught in
posession due to wanting more time than he had. Improved as the game
went on. Did not get forward as much as you would like.
  
  Prokas                      6
His usual self even though it was (only) a freindly. You have to wonder
whether the guy will learn. Often got lost in midfield and unable to
fingd space when we needed an outlet.
 
  Agnew                       7
Got into some good positions at times - if only the others had made use
of it. Looked lacing in pace and match fitness and did not have enough
of the ball to be able to get a good idea of how useful he might be.

  Hopper                      7
Scored a great goal (well by his standards at least) and had a
relatively decent second half. Like Prokas he often seemed to become
lost at times.
  
  Searle                      8
MAN OF THE MATCH. Worked well up the left wing and showed a good first
touch (something the rest of the team was lacking). Often provided a
good option to spread the ball out wide but suffered from a lack of
support (Clarke being a particular culprit).

  Walker                      6
Seemed too interested in settling some personal vendeta against one or
two of the Motherwell team(certainly the Motherwell fans did not seem
to like him too much). Tried to get down to the business at hand in the
second half but a lack of supply from midfield (Deja Vue anyone?) let
him down.
  
  Tracey                      6
Showed some nice touches at times but these were far too rare. didn't
get involved as much as he might and was the first to be subbed.
Subs:

  Barr  (for Searle)          6
Didn't get much of the ball after Searle was forced to leave the pitch
by an over-zealous ref.
 
  Dobie (for Tracey)          7
Always looking for the ball - something the team had been lacking.
looked good when dropping back to collect the ball and the running at
the Motherwell defence. 

  Pitts (for Bowman)          5
Completely flat footed at the back post for Motherwell's third goal. He
may be a superman with the bleep test, but unfortunately does not seem
to be able to jump like him.
    

Now, generally I am not one to stick up for the mighty blues (esp.
after a 4-1 home defeat), but I do not feel that the scoreline does
complete justice to the performance. OK, this was not a game to write
home about (I'm afraid the mailing list will have to be the ones to
suffer) but there were one or two areas that some kind of comfort can
be taken. Firstly, the midfield did look, at times, a solid outfit even
if the distribution was again lacking. The performance did improve as
the game went on all though admittedly this was as Motherwell made more
and more substitutions (I think they made 6 in total). It was also a
bad day for one or two individuals - Keen especially taking a large
portion of blame for the goals we conceeded. The Motherwell goals all
came from individual errors - now I'm not sure if this is a good thing
or not but, well there you are. 

Clearly there is still a lot of adjusting to do (and hopefully signings
to be made) if nothing else this game should give one or two players a
kick up the arse. 

Stephen Smith

RIOA Index

1999/2000 IML reports

Email the webmaster