By Jon Colman

Last updated at 12:23, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Carlisle United 1 Millwall 3: The next centre-forward to be welcomed through Brunton Park’s main entrance is more likely to demand private medical insurance than a signing-on fee.

David Forde tussles with Carlisle's Richard Offiong

Even the healthiest of bodies becomes afflicted by pain as a matter of course whenever it is placed at the front of Carlisle United’s team.

With Joe Anyinsah and Darryl Duffy cut down by injuries prior to last night’s face-off with Millwall, Greg Abbott’s unarguable pre-match claim was that United were “down to the bare bones”. They are now into the marrow after misfortune hunted down Scott Dobie after five minutes of service against his former club.

Dobie, who toiled through his discomfort for more than an hour, is now a heavy doubt for Saturday’s visit of Colchester with a groin problem. This leaves Abbott with one scarcely-proven finisher (Richard Offiong), a teenage winger (Ben Marshall) and not a great deal else to unleash at one of League One’s most physically-formidable defences.

If the Blues thought Millwall set them a tough, streetwise test last night – and hindsight says it was one their striking shortage meant they were always destined to fail – wait until Aidy Boothroyd and his height brigade charge up the country in three days’ time. Boothroyd, whose assistant is Abbott’s and United’s former boss, John Ward, does not tend to prepare teams who you fancy confronting in a state of fragility.

“This is probably the first time I am feeling a bit sorry for myself, and for the players,” admitted Abbott, who can be expected to have mobile phone stitched to face until a new no9 is secured in the loan market. “They put in a good shift and they played some decent football. But we know what we are missing.”

We do, and it is precisely the kind of striker Millwall set on United last night. This game spun on the opportunism of two-goal Steve Morison and the athletic threat of his big accomplice, Shaun Batt. With craftily-taken goals in minutes 12 and 78, Morison cut through the argument and propelled Kenny Jackett’s team closer to a second play-off contest in successive years.

The most damning observation to make on the subject of Carlisle’s own play was the lack of occasions that David Forde, Millwall’s goalkeeper, was extended into meaningful action, particularly after the break.

Only when Danny Livesey’s injury-time header slithered over the line had Forde been obliged to deal with a serious threat to his target from minutes 46 to 90.

The next discomfort for Forde came in the form of a squabble with Offiong as United sought to restart quickly, and ought to have resulted in a red card for the goalkeeper for the hand he raised to Carlisle’s sub. But to linger on that flashpoint would be misleading (particularly as Danny Schofield then bustled upfield to kill the argument with Millwall’s third).

What ought to be occupying more conversation time is the manner of Carlisle’s defeat, which came after they traded some decent blows with their sixth-placed rivals in the areas of possession and tempo, but were a distant second when it came to opportunism and edge.

United’s brisk start promised more than they were ultimately able to deliver. In the fourth minute, Graham Kavanagh stepped forward on his recall to belt a volley from the right which Forde athletically repelled. Moments later, Matty Robson skinned Jimmy Abdou down the left and crossed for Dobie, who was marginally unable to divert the chance on target.

Cue Millwall’s response, which was brutal in its simplicity. An Ian Harte free-kick was claimed by Forde, who returned the ball deep into Carlisle territory. The gangly Batt won an aerial challenge with Harte, and in a trice Morison motored onto the dropping ball and lobbed the stranded Adam Collin.

Twelfth-minute deficits against form teams (Millwall had lost once in their last 11 prior to last night’s game) are rarely on any manager’s to-do list, and Carlisle’s task grew tougher once the Lions started revealing their strengths: a muscular, mobile midfield and a back line marshalled purposefully by Paul Robinson, the captain.

The nuts and bolts of Carlisle’s game remained of a fair standard, but conviction continued to desert them around the visiting box. After the shaven-headed Evan Horwood terminated a threatening Millwall counter-attack, United applied some pressure of their own, neither Richard Keogh nor Robson were able to make scoring contact to headed chances.

As the half drifted along, Schofield sneaked onto Chris Hackett’s cross and planted a free header down Collin’s throat. The United keeper, on one of his less convincing days, then managed to shut down Morison after Abdou had again put the ex-Stevenage frontman behind the Blues’ back four.

The second half opened up with a Harte mistake which Abdou snaffled before releasing Morison, who should have pocketed his second but was denied by Collin’s fingertips.

At the other end, Horwood’s persistence led to a half-chance for Adam Clayton, whose edge-of-the-area blast was blocked.

After Offiong replaced the stricken Dobie, Collin beat away a Batt shot and then Morison tore away from Harte and skimmed the post. This ominous Millwall pressure duly paid off 12 minutes from time, when Chris Hackett pinged over a cross from the left, Collin’s charge from his line hit the roadblock of a visiting body, and Morison soared to nod home the chance.

The goal buried United, who eventually managed a response in the second minute of injury-time when Livesey’s bandaged head sent the ball across Forde’s line, sparking the goalkeeper’s unseemly dispute with Offiong and then Millwall’s final surge in the 95th minute, ending with a Morison cross and a crisp finish from the arriving Schofield.

There in lights was the kind of clinical movement and penalty box work that may very well continue to elude United until reinforcements are sourced at the business end of their XI.

Then all the Blues have to do is sew those new players into a convincing pattern of play in time for the visit of Colchester and then Yeovil, next Tuesday.

An alternative to this, of course, is for Offiong finally to “come to the party” (Abbott’s words) with something other than empties, now he is United’s last standing centre-forward. “Mind is right, ready for the fight, can’t timewaste any longer,” declared the £90,000 man himself on his Twitter page a couple of nights ago.

Nice lyrics.

Now, how about a performance?

ADAM COLLIN - Stranded for Morison’s opener, may have been impeded for second but was far from his best.

RICHARD KEOGH - Tried to get United going, his attacking forays brought mixed results.

EVAN HORWOOD - A couple of purposeful runs but the Blues generally were not as sharp as his new haircut.

DANNY LIVESEY - Squeezed home late goal after wholehearted defensive effort against Millwall’s dangerous frontmen.

IAN HARTE - Caught out more than once by Morison and Batt as the visitors put United under pressure.

TOM TAIWO - Tackled with his usual energy but passing was well below-par.

ADAM CLAYTON - Tried to make things happen but not at his best against quality opponents.

MATTY ROBSON - More threatening than at Wycombe but still not at his most dangerous.

KEVAN HURST - Posed limited danger down the right for all his effort.

GRAHAM KAVANAGH - Used the ball better than many of his team-mates but couldn’t open up Jackett’s rearguard.

SCOTT DOBIE - Thankless task and was hampered by the groin injury that eventually saw him replaced.

Subs: Richard Offiong (for Dobie 65) - Unconvincing; Ben Marshall (for Hurst 74) - Lively but contained; Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (for Taiwo 80) - Minimal impact. Not used: Mark Gillespie, Peter Murphy, Paul Thirlwell, Tony Kane.

Goals: Livesey 90

Booked: Clayton, Harte, Offiong

Millwall: Forde, Dunne, Craig, Robinson, Ward, Abdou, Trotter, Schofield, Hackett (Barron 89), Morison, Batt (Obika 83). Not used: Sullivan, Frampton, Grimes, Smith, Laird.

Goals: Morison 12, 78, Schofield 90.

Booked: Dunne, Morison, Forde

Ref: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire)

Crowd: 3,853

First published at 11:26, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk