I hate the place...I really do!
One change from Saturday, Connolly for Soley. First half was even but we looked more dangerous going forward and were rewarded with a goal from a good Galloway corner. They came back into it late in 1st half but only because the ref gave them everything meaning we couldn't clear the lines.
Dobie came out early for 2nd and was obviously injured, didn't last long and was replaced by Soley.
They looked terrible in the 2nd and rarely created despite having 80% posession, we were guilty of giving the ball away. Then in the last 10 we came back and created some great chances which would have been the killer.
4th official takes 5 mins working out how to use the board, then puts up 2 mins...they score 5 mins later, and that is no lie it was 5 mins. Okay so the lads should play to the end but the end should have been signalled. Very disappointing and if they are runaway leaders then this division stinks!
Glennon - Little to do on the whole but one save from the Reeves header in the first half was
exceptional. 8.
Birch - Again workmanlike but didn't too much wrong apart from giving the ball away too much
in 2nd half.7
Maddison - Looked very good and drifted past his man several times in the 2nd. 8
Whitehead - As good as Saturday. 8
Carr - Completely different to Saturday, intimidated their forwards and was generally forceful. 8
Morley - Excellent, should not have been booked. 8
Prokas - Dicky was back to his industrious self, more quality on the final ball would help
though. 7
Connolly - Worked hard but not as noticeable as others in the midfield. 7
Galloway - He was up for it and it showed, I was disappointed in him on Saturday, tonight the
Chesty fans must be wondering why they let him go. 9
Dobie - Caused problems with pace and skill but injury curtailed his appearance. 7
Stevens - Worked more than any other Carlisle player, especially in the second half, always an
outlet but we should pass to his feet more and not 12 inches above him. 9
To make things worse the fog on the way back over the Pennines was as thick as the Ref.
Here's to Chestyfield getting the book thrown at them tomorrow!
Lee Smith
Great performance by the Blues last night. If we continue to play like this, there is no danger of us going down I can assure you.
Travelled the 2 hours up the M1 from London for only my second away game of the season.... and it was well worth it. We were up for it throughout the whole 90 mins, and seemed to win most 50-50 balls and to be fair Glennon was rarely troubled.
Great inswinging corner for Stevens goal. Stevens should have made it 2-0 mid way through the 2nd when placed with a chance 10 yards out - the keeper got enough of his gloves behind it to deflect away, but the ball, hit hard, was going in.
Gut wrenching finish... I would reckon on this goal being more jammy than the famous Jimmy Glass one. We were all celebrating the 3 points when with virtually the last kick of the game the b*****d Beckett got his head to a hopeful cross into the box and it plunged into the far corner.. it must have been 94-95 minutes. The Chesterfield fans couldnt believe their luck.... a number of them behind the goal came up to the Carlisle end to taunt us.
We were so stunned that we stayed around the players entrance after the game and watched the Carlisle players trooping out dejected into the players coach. Spoke to Prokas, who said little, and was just shell shocked. I asked him what Atkins had said after the game, and he said that he was blaming the ref. Atkins was visibly angry and kept shaking his head when I saw him.... there's no luck going for him right now.
Of the senior club officials on the team coach, I only noted Andrew Jenkins.. clearly visible with his silver grey hair.... just about the only one senior person at the club you can trust. Weaver was on trolley boy duty having to carrying virtually everything (bags, boot boxes, kit etc.) singlehanded onto the coach.
We have to take heart.... it is two points lost... but such a fantastic performance.... we snuffed them out completely.
Nick Dawson
I was at the game last night.
I thought on the whole we were fantastic. The ref didn't have a clue for the whole game, he was utter rubbish and spoilt the game completely. All of the defence were heroic. Dave Morley is an absolute jem of a signing. He was booked for complaining to the ref after he tackled two players and was getting up the pitch with the ball when the ref thought it went out. It was such a terrible decision which is why he went mental. I also thought Conolly was excellent. He ran all over the place in the first half and protected Madison on the left. In the second half he skinned there defence down the left wing on numerous occasions and got great crosses in behind the defence. The only down side was we never committed any midfielders forward to support the forwards. And when Dobie and Stevo went off we had nothing up front. If we had had any sort of a striker on we would have won by at least two. It was quite funny at the end to see the chesterfield supporters wildly celebrating a 1-1 draw at home against the bottom team in the league. If it was me i would have been livid. On this display we should never go down and if we could push forward a bit more we would win a lot more games.
Excellent atmosphere from our lot. You would have mistaken us for the home team, but they are only a "small town in Yorkshire".
Rory Care
Atkins can twine all he wants about the referee (and he will) the fact is we didn't defend right till the end.
I don't think I've ever been more gutted at the end of a match.
Ian Stevens was man of the match a brilliant performance, holding the ball up, laying it off, making runs and scoring his fourth goal in consecutive games.
Carr had a better game after Saturday and played Reeves very well. Reeves was substituted but failed to acknowldged the standing ovation given to him by the Carlisle fans.
The referee was again very very poor. Reeves and Beckett were allowed to lead with their arms and foul our centre halves time after time yet it was only our forwards who were ever penalised. Two of our players booked for dissent whilst not even looking at the referee but their players were allowed to wave there arms in the air and chase a linesman halfway down the pitch yelling abuse at them without punishment. And then he played on for ages. By my watch we'd already played 30 secs over when the board went up. It is very frustrating but the fact is we still should have seen the game out and should take a share of the blame.
The ground was a disgrace - We were in a ricketty wooden stand that was very steep and there were no backs to the seats. The toilets were the worst I have ever seen in a football ground. The home fans have stolen the old away end behind the goal. Didn't see any bricks getting lobbed over the wall this year.
The Chesterfield fans must be very proud of there 3796 attendance when they are 16 points clear.
Approx away following 200.
Chris Kearton
A last gasp equaliser robbed Carlisle of a deserved win against league leaders Chesterfield at Saltergate last night.
An additional two minutes of injury time had been played, on top of the two minutes indicated by the fourth official, when Luke Beckett's header stole a point for the Spireites. It was a cruel end to a commendable performance from the Cumbrians, who had created the better chances and defended resolutely when required.
Manager Ian Atkins was left fuming after the game and said: "We were cheated by the referee. We had played twice as much injury time as given by the referee. Referees just aren't accountable. he said he had allowed an extra thirty seconds because we were too slow taking a goal kick. I don't know where the other time came from. I now have to lift the lads for a big game at Exeter on Saturday. We did everything right tonight and defended exceptionally well. 1-1 was a good result but we should have won 1-0. It's very frustrating."
The first opening of the game fell to Scott Dobie after 9 minutes but the striker shot over the bar from the edge of the box.
On 14 minutes Dobie broke away down the right but his cross was just too strong for the unmarked Ian Stevens.
The Cumbrians deservedly took the lead with 16 minutes gone when Mick Galloway's inswinging corner was flicked on by Dobie for Stevens to force home at the far post.
Chesterfield's first chance came eight minutes later when former Cumbrian favourite, David Reeve's header forced a finger tip save out of Matty Glennon.
Within a minute Luke Beckett latched onto Ingledow's pass to turn and flash a shot past the post.
Chesterfield's half time substitute Lawrie Dudfield went close on 57 minutes with a twenty yard shot past the post.
Carlisle came back and Spireites keeper Mike Pollitt dropped a Birch cross but managed to recover to clear with his foot.
Ian Stevens then found space from Steve Soley's through ball and Pollitt needed two attempts to make the save.
The home side were now seeing plenty of possession but Carlisle, defending in numbers, were never really in trouble until that fourth minute of injury time. Dudfield beat Mark Birch to the byline and pulled the ball back perfectly for Luke Beckett to head home the equaliser.
It was a devastating blow for the Cumbrians who had certainly done enough to win the game.
Mike Corry
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