Carlisle United 1 Morecambe 1: The boardroom at Brunton Park on Saturday must have witnessed a rare old conversation. "Our financial saviour still isn't here after 606 days." "That's nothing - ours turned up, failed to bring any money and then scarpered."

Black humour, or however else these clubs compared notes, will have been one way of passing the time whilst United and Morecambe did what they usually do at Carlisle's ground: draw.

From five encounters at this stadium it has been four draws and one Blues defeat: last season, when Shaun Miller and Jamie Devitt were shining for the Shrimps. This latest even result will have been enjoyed more by the visitors, not least because of what they are dealing away from the grass.

An absentee owner who can't be contacted (Diego Lemos), a transfer embargo, a touchline ban for the boss and only five substitutes. For getting useful performances against this landscape Jim Bentley should be a fair candidate for manager of the month.

United are not exactly staring over the abyss by comparison, even if their own "investment" talks are moving at the speed of a three-legged tortoise. On the eve of this game they did something Bentley can only dream of - sign a player - yet despite Gary Liddle's very capable debut they were unable to convert their advantages into victory.

At least a run of two straight defeats did not mushroom into three, against a side cut to 10 men when Dean Winnard saw red on 74 minutes. At least Charlie Wyke's finishing is the most reliable thing in town right now, allowing Keith Curle to talk about a slow turning of the corner after a meagre start to 2017.

"The last run we went on started with a couple of draws, and that built momentum," said United's boss. This did not feel like a launchpad, exactly, but it was understandable that Curle would draw an optimistic conclusion after the disappointing pair of defeats to Grimsby and Colchester.

One point from a possible nine suggests, though, that this is the iffy spell that always awaited Carlisle even whilst on their best form. Their destiny in League Two's promotion race now depends on whether they can build on this draw and recover a little of the reliability which has been lost in recent weeks, not helped by a cluster of absent bodies.

Still without Danny Grainger and Mike Jones, along with Jabo Ibehre (ill here) and with Michael Raynes only deemed fit enough for 45 minutes, Curle certainly tried different things in a bid to provoke a change of fortune. His first ideas did not really work but United did improve after a rather confused first 20 minutes, and they could have toppled Morecambe by the end.

They did not, despite Wyke's 17th of the season, and now they can feel Portsmouth's breath on their collar. "It's a long season," said Curle, asked about pressure from the chasing pack. "There's going to be twists and turns. And this is character-building."

Nobody can deny that Carlisle seem to like a challenge to overcome every so often. Here, their opening line-up, featuring Tom Miller at left-back and Alex McQueen on the right, either side of debutant Liddle and Macaulay Gillesphey in a new-look back four, took time to settle and in the wobbly first period Morecambe broke to score.

United's early energy was not especially consistent and, after Reggie Lambe had tested Barry Roche, Bentley's team cleared a free-kick and sent 37-year-old Kevin Ellison bearing down the left. He eluded Luke Joyce and then created enough space against McQueen to cross impressively for Aaron Wildig to tuck home a volley.

This was effective counter-attacking against a side ill at ease with itself. The following spell could easily have seen more Morecambe goals, but an offside flag thwarted Peter Murphy, Lee Molyneux went close with a free-kick, Mark Gillespie bounded off his line to thwart Ellison and, from another set-piece, Michael Rose hit the post.

Bentley, from his directors' box seat, must have been highly encouraged, for Carlisle sorely needed to add some reliability to their shape and movement. Unsurprisingly Nicky Adams was at the heart of their better efforts from here as their midfielders started winning better ball and sending it wide for the winger and his right-sided counterpart, Lambe.

With Morecambe sitting on their lead, an equaliser almost came when Adams' deep cross was attacked by Jason Kennedy but after one Roche save, an even better one followed to push Wyke's follow-up against the bar.

Carlisle's quality now emerged in stages. Adams dinked Miller through a gap but the makeshift left-back's wrong foot let him down. A few meaty challenges followed while Lambe whipped a low shot wide. On the right, McQueen emerged in useful space but too often his crossing was a disappointment.

There were more scrambles and skirmishes, Devitt never quite close enough to the Morecambe box to risk slicing them open, and at half-time Curle made a couple of key changes, hooking both full-backs, sending on Raynes and Shaun Miller and switching to a three-man defence as well as a two-man attack.

Miller's runs across the forward line helped Carlisle have a more persistent presence in the final third, while Liddle showed composure on the right of the reshaped defence. A cluster of bookings suggested the visitors' discipline was wavering, but they did spring into United's half a couple of dangerous times in the second half, Murphy shooting over after Paul Mullin had beaten Gillesphey, and scorer Wildig testing Gillespie from 25 yards.

These were, though, interruptions to Carlisle's territorial advantage. Substitute Miller twice did well to cross through the six-yard box but found no team-mate there to convert. Devitt failed to dispatch a free-kick but then another was earned when Winnard rashly upended Miller and saw his second yellow.

From there, familiar sights happily returned: a pinpoint Adams delivery and Wyke's clinical header. No Carlisle player has been faster to 17 goals since Ian Stevens in 1997/8 and, even if the striker continues to cool any departure talk, the next 15 days may still crawl by for fans worried about predators in the transfer window.

The shame on Saturday was that nobody else could join in, even with the Shrimps a man light. While Morecambe had a couple of penalty shouts, Gillespie cleaning out Wildig and Aaron McGowan later going to ground after getting past Gillesphey, it was a finale of frustration at the visitors' end, with Raynes heavily involved in United's aerial salvo.

The closest of all the scrambles came three minutes from time, when Luke Joyce's dink was headed by Wyke and saved by Roche, the ball breaking for Derek Asamoah on what may be his final cameo appearance (his contract is up today).

Alas, the veteran couldn't find scoring space through the bodies, nor did the rebound fall any more kindly. The game's very last chance was then headed wide by the 35-year-old and so the search for the real upturn continues. At least the wait for 2017's first win shouldn't last quite as long as United's hunt for new money.