Can you "Adam and Eve" it. Out of the depths of despair the Blues come up with a cracking performance against one of the better sides in the division. I am still rubbing my eyes in disbelief after travelling back to Co Durham, is this the same team that under-performed so badly in the friendlies. The answer is a heart warming yes and long may it continue. Carlisle started with a new on loan signing from Portsmouth, an attacking midfielder called Steve Soley. Verdict-do not let him go!! We started with the following line up: - Weaver Pitts Whitehead Brightwell Clarke Prokas Hopper Soley Searle Walker Tracey Orient started the brighter and Brightwell cleared off the line twice in early succession. The inevitable goal came in 15 minutes when we failed to close down Inglethorpe on the edge of the box, allowing him to turn and crack a good shot passed a helpless Weaver. Somehow or other the goal triggered Carlisle into action, as I expected them to roll over and die. We started to pass the ball around well in midfield, with few balls going astray. A ball played out to the left found Clarke in space and his cross found Tracey who found the net after 20 minutes. Both teams continued to play some good end to end football. A long time since we have been entertained so well. The second half continued as the first with both teams looking capable of snatching a winner. Orients keeper saved full length from Tracey and Hopper but was unable to keep out a rasping drive from new boy Soley, low down to his right defending the Warwick Road End. The goal came after 70 minutes and the crowd were ecstatic. To be fair to Orient, who pushed like mad to get an equaliser, they will probably be disappointed they didn't get anything out of the game, but on the day Carlisle, to a man, were not going to be denied. This was typified by Weavers full length save, tipping a shot, destined for the top corner, over the corner of bar and post. We rode our luck at times, but considering we had no luck all last season (Jimmy Glass apart) we deserved our day. Man of the match was Richard Tracey who chased everything all day, a la David Reeves, and capped a fine performance with his goal. Lets hope we can keep Soley (apparently he scored a lot of goals from midfield for Leek Town in the Conference, before going to Portsmouth) and keep the momentum going. Leaving the Warwick I was convinced I heard strains of "Going Up, Going Up…". One swallow doesn't make a summer but the little swallow that flew over Brunton Park today certainly chirped our tune. Mike Corry
Probable team was right according to the names on the shirts. Don't know who was actually inside the shirts as the team in blue played better than any Carlisle United team has done for ages - at least three or four seasons. Pass and move, ball to feet and a two one win, coming from behind. All this against probably the best team to visit BP for many a long year. All in all a cracking match - my arms are sore from keep pinching myself! What a transformation! Orient were all over us at first - they are good, very good. Certainties for promotion. But they seemed to lose their way after the goal - as the match wore on, we got better and better. Having said that, I don't know how many clearances there were off the line, usually by Brightwell. Man of the match? Well it wasn't Walker although he had a shot - yes its true!! Other than him take your pick - even if you weren't there, your guess is as good as anyone else's! We were that good!! We need to sign Soley and Weaver and forget Agnew. Soley scored 20+ each season for three seasons with Leek in the Conference but has only been in Pompey's Reserves. He'll do for us - in midfield with Prokas, Hopper and Clarke. Weaver proved he may even be worth paying money for although he nearly threw it away by being penalised for "steps" - conceding a free kick virtually on the penalty spot. Made up for it later with a cracking reflex save. Now we have to convince the missing thousands to forget all about MK and concentrate on supporting the lads. From me saying we'll be down this century, after today we could be looking at going up. Carry on like that and we will be!! Bring on Grimsby! Rob Scott-Buccleuch
So the talking stops and the action begins, a new season is upon us. And what a cracking start to the season this was. Orient, pre-season favourites for many and sure to be among the front runners at the end, started off quicker and sharper and for the first twenty minutes ran us raged at the back. Iysden Christie, signed from Mansfield in the summer, was particularly effective dragging and turning Stuart Whitehead all over the pitch. And it was the visitors who scored first. Orient had been using the ball to the front players who then layed off the ball to those making the runs from deep v. well up to this point and the goal summed up what the Carlisle back four had been struggling against. A ball up to a striker to feet with his back to goal layed off for the advancing midfielder who rammed home from a central position just outside the area. But the goal seemed to galvanise the Carlisle team who were much more impressive after this with good movement off the ball and a midfield actually creating openings. Spaces were exploited, runs were made and the team linked up well from defence to attack. Carlisle's equaliser came less than ten minutes after the Orient goal. An excellent Clarke cross - who was making some useful runs upfield all game - was exquisitly headed in by Tracey from near the penalty spot. Many chances were created from here till half-time, admittedly most of the best came from an Orient team linking up well and really exploiting the space between defence and midfield. Two shots were cleared off the line by Brightwell and another chance was dragged wide with an open goal beckening. After the break the defence pushed up a little more in an effort to cut out the dangerous midfield forward runs and this worked, for the most part, effectively. And Carlisle gave Orient and taste of their own medicine when Soley - the loan signing from Portsmouth - repeated Ingeldow's earlier goal shooting low into the bottom left hand corner which the O's keeper got a touch to but only helped to divert the ball into the corner of the goal. Overall, a pleasing start to a new campaign against a very impressive and dangerous opponent. It has to be said though that for all the improvement that the midfield made in the game the usually solid defence did look expossed at times. Whitehead was pushed and pulled out of position by a highly skillful front line often as a result of Pitts going AWOL. Orient will go away from this game feeling a little agreeved having got nothing out of this game although both sides will take positives from their performances. Certainly if they can continue to play like this they will not be far away at the end of the season. As for Carlisle a promising start with the main cause for concern in the game the defence - which we all know are capable of better things. The midfield and front players suggesting that, just maybe, they are not as bad as feared. Heres hoping for more of the same. Weaver 8 Pitts 6 Clarke 8 Brightwell 8 Whitehead 6 Prokas 7 Hopper 7 Searle 7 Soley 8 Walker 7 Tracey 8 Subs: Skelton Barr Stephen Smith
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