Official attendance 4565.
Maybe not as big as we all had hoped for, but nevertheless a great success. It was good to see the Beehive full for the first time in ages and more atmosphere at the game which certainly gave the team a boost. Brightwell was out with a stomach bug and Billy Barr lined up alongside Whitehead and Bowman in central defence. Pitts and Clarke filled the wing back positions. Durnin, Dalton and Prokas provided the midfield with Tracey and Dobie up front.
We couldn't have had a better start with Weaver's long ball up field well controlled and put away by Scott Dobie in the first minute. Carlisle sat back again after taking the lead (how many times has that happened this season?), allowing Chester into the game, although they rarely threatened Weaver. Chester did play some neat football in midfield but some of their passing was appalling; a badly cut up pitch didn't help either side.
Durnin linked well with Dalton at times and Carlisle put together some well structured moves without looking particularly threatening, Tracey again looking particularly weak on the ball.
The second half saw Harries replacing Tracey to play alongside Dobie. The swap changed the course of the match. Both Dobie and Harries looked effective when running at the Chester defence, that started to concede free kicks at will. Dobie's "man of the match" performance was rewarded when he met a Dalton corner to head the Blues two up after 51 minutes. Carlisle were now well on top but you could sense the need for another goal for comfort. After a number of good Carlisle moves a corner at the Warwick was only partially cleared and the ball fell to the feet of Harries, on 71 minutes, who struck the ball home under the body of the Chester keeper. The relief on the terraces could be felt; surely we couldn't concede a three goal lead. A number of good opportunities went begging, as Dobie went looking for his hat-trick, to the detriment of others who were often in better positions. Any way you could hardly blame him for looking for his moment of glory. Dobie was unlucky when he broke through only to be pulled down with everyone shouting for a penalty. The referee saw the challenge outside the box, dismissing the furrow 2 yards inside the box, made by Dobie's body. The Chester defender should have been sent off but only received a yellow card; Chester off the hook twofold.
Chester got a consolation goal back after 85 minutes, when number 31 with no name, turned the ball in when we failed to get in an adequate challenge. All hell broke loose in the last minute when, following a two footed challenge by Prokas on a Chester defender. The guy bent down and butted Prokas, who was still on the ground, with around a dozen players then piling in on each other. Unfortunately the referee appeared not to appreciate the misdemeanour on Prokas but chose to see Durnin's flailing arms and promptly sent him off. Prokas and the Chester defender were both booked.
However, Richard Prokas had the last laugh. Harries was sent away down the right, who cut back to cross a perfect ball to Prokas, who provided an equally perfect diving header to the right of the keeper to make it 4-1 and a perfect start to the new year.
Chester's Luke Beckett, a supposed Carlisle target, showed some good touches but was certainly not in the same class as Dobie on the day. It will be interesting to see if Cooper's/Wilkinson's interest is still persued.
It would be nice to think we could get something at Torquay, but it is a long journey and we traditionally don't travel that well.
Any way, here's hoping.
Mike Corry
Well I think it was a success despite a couple of choruses of "Knighton out & Fat Greedy B*****D" An increase in crowd numbers, a decent performance & 4 goals
Radio Cumbria seem to think That Brian Hall organised SOS 2000 & he did put the situation right on the phone in after the match. Hopefully I rectified this by mentioning Mark,Malcolm & Lee who really deserve the praise.
David Clark & Eric Martlew also mentioned the london branch & their meeting.
P.S. 2-0 to the group
1st score - Nick Wright email campaign which achieved National success
2nd score - SOS 2000 3PTS, 4 GOALS
maybe we should try & be the public relations service for the club.
Ian Winter
carlisle 4 - 1 chester dobie 1, 50 someone 88 harries 70 prokas (!) 90
a poor first half with dobies goal after 51 seconds the highlight. he held up the ball from weavers punt and poked the ball in. harries came on for tracey at half time. dobie got his second when he headed in a corner and then harries scored from a corner as well. dobie was cruelly denied his hat trick when he raced through on goal only to be fouled right on the edge of the box. unbelievably the card was only yellow. chester pulled one back and then prokas two footed someone and all hell broke loose. the referee (biased get) who had early been so reluctant with his red card now couldn't wait as he fired off durnin and booked prokas this after 89 mins. prokas had the ;last laugh when he turned in the ball at the far post from harries good run and cross down the rightin the 92nd minute.
crowd was 4500 and something. was this the best of the season? if so SOS was a big success, if not we still won and had a big crowd so well done t'y'all.
Chris Kearton
The SoS 2000 match was a great success in every sense with the crowd getting behind the team for nearly all of the game. Scott Dobie was deservedly MOTM with twol goals and a dogged persistence. A close second was again Richard Prokas, both for his persistence and headed goal that all but sealed the game for The Cumbrians. All the players put in real effort and were rewarded by the crowd of 4565 getting solidly behind the team.
Although the attendance was not as high as was hoped for SoS 2000, the end result was as hoped for.
Dave Atkinson
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