With only three matches remaining Carlisle's Third Division status hangs by a thread following a courageous point against champions designate Brighton. At any other time the point would have been welcome but with relegation rivals Barnet and Lincoln picking up surprise wins against promotion chasing opposition the long suffering Cumbrian support is guaranteed another nail biting finish to the season.
One ray of hope came with the news that Torquay had lost the Devon derby to Plymouth leaving them three points adrift of the Cumbrians having played the same number of games.
Carlisle's lack of goals - two in the last six games - will not be helped by the sorry figure of Scott Dobie hobbling off after an hour with a hamstring injury, likely to keep him out for the rest of the season.
Manager Ian Atkins squad is now down to the bare bones and will be further weakened with the suspensions of Hopper, Birch and Carr for the last game at home to Hull, following their red cards at Scunthorpe on Easter Monday. Atkins said after the game: "This was a good point. At the end of the day you wanted the three at this stage of the season but Brighton showed today that they are a very good side. They had already guaranteed promotion, which allowed them to play with no fear. It allows them to do what they want and that's what makes them dangerous. We knew we had to change things to stop their full backs coming out and went to a flat back four after losing Mick Galloway with a twisted ankle at half time. We had to put Stuart Whitehead into midfield in the end it was a good performance and a very good point. I thought the effort that everybody put in was absolutely superb. We are short of numbers now and we are going to have to play a certain way and hope it gets us out of trouble. It certainly isn't going to be pretty now we've picked injuries and suspensions up but we'll just keep sticking in there." Carlisle had the ball in the net after three minutes but Jon Cullen had strayed offside before slotting home.
On 7 minutes Scott Dobie should have done better than shoot weakly at Michael Kuipers after Ian Stevens overhead kick had found him unmarked. Brighton's controlled passing game allowed them a lot of possession but a cutting edge was missing where it mattered in the box with the Carlisle rearguard outstanding.
The Seagulls prize asset, Bobby Zamora, went close on 19 minutes heading over from Paul Watson's cross and the division's top scorer was only a whisker away from getting on the end of a Paul Brooker cross two minutes later.
On 31 minutes Mark Birch could only shoot weakly at Kuipers when the ball broke invitingly to him on the edge of the Brighton box.
As the Brighton pressure mounted Brooker struck a 41st minute shot past the post and then shot straight at Matty Glennon from the edge of the box followed by a Richard Carpenter pile driver over the bar from 20 yards.
The non appearance of Mick Galloway at the start of the second half allowed Steve Halliday a rare opportunity to shine and forced Atkins to change to a flat back four with Stuart Whitehead moving into midfield.
Five minutes into the second half Zamora almost gave Brighton the lead after ghosting in on an Oatway cross but failing to get sufficient on the ball to beat the well positioned Glennon.
Three minutes later Brighton had strong penalty appeals turned down when Maddison appeared to hold back Zamora.
On 74 minutes a Mark Winstanley error let in Gary Hart but Glennon saved the defenders blushes.
In a frantic last ten minutes as Carlisle pressure mounted Lee Maddison's left foot shot, from a Stevens layoff, was pushed round the post by Kuipers. From the resulting Cullen corner Dave Morley's goalbound header was cleared off the line by Brighton captain Charlie Oatway, then Carl Heggs forced Kuipers into a full length save with a shot from 20 yards.
Carlisle then almost paid the penalty for pushing forward as Brighton broke away for Lee Steele to crack a shot against the post but the Cumbrians somehow managed the clear the danger and get that vital point.
Mike Corry
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