Last updated at 12:43, Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Carlisle United 1 Yeovil Town 0: The obvious but pointless question now is whether Carlisle United are counting the physical cost of their forays on so many fronts this season.

Adam Clayton scores

The Blues have been recast in 2009/10 as an entertaining cup team but bodies are going over like dominoes before Wembley’s giant arch has even been glimpsed.

Anyone who presumed David Beckham had the monopoly on cup-related heartbreak should park themselves in Danny Livesey’s head if it turns out the hamstring injury that sidelined the centre-half last night has ripped away his chance of defending United’s cause in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final.

Misfortune spares no footballer. If it did, the fates would swerve Livesey, as honest and clear-headed a professional as walks the earth. Time now, perhaps, to get Uri Geller and The Sun newspaper on board to try to soothe the former Bolton man’s injury in double-quick time. Otherwise, his slow-motion trudge around the perimeter of Brunton Park’s pitch last night will be remembered as the most poignant walk of the season.

Planning permission may now be sought for an extension to Neil Dalton’s treatment room, since Livesey will be jostling for space with a cluster of other injured combatants. Joe Anyinsah, Kevan Hurst, Scott Dobie, Darryl Duffy, Lenny Pidgeley and David Raven remain unavailable for selection, while Ben Marshall will also check into that cramped corner of United’s ground today after going off with a bash to his calf last night.

The theory that a draining fixture list is to blame for all these strains and wounds isn’t entirely flawless, since Raven’s was a long-standing problem, Pidgeley’s was a broken bone and Duffy and Marshall have only been with the Blues since January. But as Livesey pulled up unchallenged in the 70th minute last night it was still reasonable to ask whether the demands of an extended campaign – this was Carlisle’s 50th game since it all began last August – had finally taken their toll on one of their regular and most durable performers.

The degree of pointlessness that comes with these thoughts is there because no club will turn its nose up to a selection of lucrative frolics in cup competitions, whether or not its squad is as modestly-sized as United’s. Ducking out of a possible £500,000 surge to Wembley in the JPT was a non-starter for the Cumbrians this season, given their financial position. The regrettable clause in that deal was that not every man could be guaranteed to be left standing when the big day came around.

Carlisle’s rise to an uncommon feeling of comfort at this point of the season – it is a good 20 years or so since the Blues batted out a campaign’s final overs from mid-table – has not, it turns out, drained the season’s finale of drama. Instead of sweating over the team’s fate, we now turn our minds to the personal sagas of their hurt legions. To classify any muscle strain as a deep trauma would be crude when the Football League’s current charity of choice is Help For Heroes. But it still matters, still hurts, when a professional is deprived of the rare chance to play at the game’s most glittering arena.

That opportunity will not, at least, be denied Adam Clayton, presuming the midfielder negotiates Saturday’s trip to Southend unscathed. The Manchester City loanee summoned the one moment of stellar quality last night to bank United’s second successive win against higher-ranked opponents, and elevate the Blues to 11th in League One.

A game which always looked likely to swing on a single strike was duly settled in the 66th minute, when a cleared corner from the substitute, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, found its way to Clayton on the fringes of Yeovil’s penalty area. The 21-year-old’s chested control and firm, measured volley was a triumph of technique and allowed Clayton to intrude on Carlisle’s goal-of-the-season squabble.

United traded places with the Glovers – and took a substantial stride towards third division safety – not because of the attractiveness of their football but because they showed sufficient willing and spirit to keep pushing at their visitors until the decisive chance came. That Adam Collin was scarcely extended also tells you how comfortably Abbott’s men contained the limited threats of Terry Skiverton’s well-organised collective.

A first half short of obvious openings began with the first of several telling aerial challenges from Jason Price, whose presence forced a corner which Graham Kavanagh duly bent onto the Millwall loanee’s head. Price couldn’t divert the chance on target and the game then descended into an earnest but often grinding contest.

A rare foray by Dean Bowditch – Yeovil’s likeliest provider – led to a smart stop from Collin in the 13th minute, but Carlisle generally took territorial control.

Paul Thirlwell, back in the side for the suspended Tom Taiwo, took unsuccessful aim after Kavanagh and Richard Keogh had made ground down the right.

Kavanagh then failed by a whisker to put Marshall in on the right, and moments later Marshall skinned Smith and served Price with a tricky headed chance which the afro-haired line-leader couldn’t keep down.

Marshall’s next duel with Smith – after Kavanagh had belted a volley just wide – came to the 18-year-old’s cost, as a firmly-contested 50-50 challenge left the winger with a sore calf and led to his half-time withdrawal, as Bridge-Wilkinson trotted on.

Yeovil’s policy of caution, interrupted by occasional breaks around the attacking fulcrum of Sam Williams, kept much of the action in their half after the break and led to another surge from Kavanagh, who followed positive work from Thirlwell and Matty Robson by pinging a deflected shot fractionally over the bar.

The player-coach then gave way for Gary Madine, whose substitute appearance was his first since his arrest for alleged assault last month and who was greeted with a handful of boos from the home support, as other fans tried to shout down the jeering few.

While Brunton Park gets its emotions in order on the subject of the young striker, Abbott has clearly decided that Madine can serve a professional purpose – at least until he answers bail on April 11 – and in the context of this game his impact was noticeable.

With his first act, Madine pressed down the right and won a corner.

He was then beaten to Bridge-Wilkinson’s delivery by Alex McCarthy, but Clayton was quickly onto the clearance and returned his first league goal past the Yeovil keeper with great style.

We then witnessed Livesey’s long goodbye and a late surge of Yeovil pressure – a tame shot from Williams, a near miss from Shaun MacDonald, an off-target header from Craig Alcock and a hash of an injury-time volley from Steven Caulker – before the cost of United’s heartening victory could be assessed.

Carlisle’s advance towards a stress-free conclusion to their league season, if that is indeed where they are headed, should not pass without favourable comment.

Praise can certainly flow Abbott’s way if he can keep his troops on their current promising path.

The immediate hope is that the 50-point tape can be breasted at Roots Hall in three days’ time without any further sprains or strains.

“We have to hope it is not as bad as it looked when Danny hobbled off there,” said Abbott, turning his mind to his stricken defender. “But he never looks the most pleasing on the eye at the best of times.”

Top marks for attempting to lighten the mood on a night which, ideally, should have felt more festive. But just watch those spirits plummet if Wembley’s door now shuts in Livesey’s face.

ADAM COLLIN - The goalkeeper did what little he had to do with sufficient skill and confidence.

RICHARD KEOGH - Mixed fortunes from his attacking runs but was reliable in defence.

EVAN HORWOOD - Alert and responsible at the back and always keen to help Robson attack down the left.

DANNY LIVESEY - Faultless in his defensive work but hamstring injury means he is sweating over his Wembley place.

IAN HARTE - Used the ball well and did enough to keep Yeovil’s limited attackers at bay.

PAUL THIRLWELL - Did the unflashy midfield work as Clayton and Kavanagh attacked, and rarely wasted possession.

ADAM CLAYTON - Tried all game long to inspire Blues and finally cracked it with a peach of a goal.

GRAHAM KAVANAGH - Set-pieces caused plenty of problems and went close to scoring before making way for Madine.

MATTY ROBSON - Not his most sparkling display but put in a tireless shift and stretched Yeovil after the break.

BEN MARSHALL - Grew into the game and looked positive until calf injury cut short his night.

JASON PRICE - Height and presence caused problems for the Yeovil rearguard all game long.

Subs: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (for Marshall 46) – Looked to create. 6; Gary Madine (for Kavanagh 65) – Put himself about. 7; Peter Murphy (for Livesey 73) – Steady and secure. 7. Not used: Mark Gillespie, Tony Kane, Richard Offiong, Tom Aldred.

Goals: Clayton 66.

Yeovil: McCarthy, Alcock, Smith, Caulker, Forbes, Murray (Welsh 56), MacDonald, S Davies, Tomlin (A Davies 68), Bowditch, Williams. Not used: Murtagh, Martin, Downes, Hutchins.

Booked: Forbes.

Ref: Tony Bates (Staffordshire).

Crowd: 3,731.

First published at 11:29, Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk