Doncaster Rovers 2 Carlisle Utd 2: All things must pass. But not this Carlisle United unbeaten run – not yet. It is now the equal of anything the club have achieved at the start of a Football League season, this typically eventful draw at Doncaster making it 10 games and counting for Keith Curle’s durable team.

Emulating the 1989/90 team was never likely to be done quietly by this United vintage. And so, against a very capable Doncaster side, they took the lead, lost it, went behind, pulled it back, and were kicking and fighting to the very end.

This seventh draw of term was arguably United’s most creditable, for Doncaster will take some shifting from the top end of League Two this season. The Keepmoat Stadium will not be stormed by many.

Yet Carlisle gave it their best, starting and ending the game well, and staying competitive enough (and surviving a penalty) during a flawed middle period to emerge with overall credit. It means Colchester now become the latest team to try and knock the Blues out of this impressive sequence.

The men from Essex shall not have it easy - that is one thing we can say without dispute about sides who face the Blues in 2016/17. Against Darren Ferguson's team, who extended United with some quality passing and movement at times, they nosed ahead thruogh Shaun Miller, and later fought back well as Jabo Ibehre powered in their equaliser.

It is not good for the nerves, but the league table still approves, for United are in the play-off zone at this double-figure stage.

Hopefully they can last the pace better than the side they have emulated, for the 89/90 team later tumbled out of promotion contention. The seasons that followed were among the thinnest in recent memory for Carlisle supporters. All the more reason for Curle’s men to set their own mark in history.

Even before kick-off this encounter looked their hardest examination yet. To try to evolve into a consistent winning side they had to give Doncaster an unpleasant surprise in what the home club expect to be a bounce-back season to League One.

Curle, an adept away manager, will have relished the challenge. His only selection change saw Jamie Devitt return to increase Carlisle’s attacking midfield options, Charlie Wyke dropping to the bench, while at the back Danny Grainger was hoping to mark his 100th United appearance with another positive result.

Carlisle’s strategy faced a further opponent: the moving of advertising boards close to the pitch, seemingly to disrupt Curle’s liking for long throws. While Ferguson had clearly done his homework, United have not exactly been scoring prolifically from that approach so far. And it was through more conventional methods that they forced their way in front in an intriguing opening spell.

First, they passed up a couple of golden early chances, Shaun Miller lobbing too heavily after Tom Miller’s long ball, and then the striker denied by keeper Marko Marosi when sent through by Nicky Adams.

Already these were signs that Doncaster could be unlocked, and while the hosts were certainly threatening themselves – using the width of the pitch well, Macaulay Gillesphey doing well to block an Andy Williams attempt – Carlisle were alert to further opportunities.

So it was when they scored: a long Mark Gillespie free-kick, Adams pouncing on the clearance, and his shot diverted past Marosi by Miller for his second in four days.

If only this could have seen the Blues establish a period of control. Instead, they were punished two minutes later, and it will not have impressed Curle to see his side cut open by Doncaster’s gliding counter-attack, which started when Matty Blair tackled Adams, and then continued down the middle when Tommy Rowe was fed in space to score.

As things went on this reflected a fair picture of the contest, to which both sides were contributing keenly. Doncaster pushed onto United well, the canny James Coppinger at the heart of things, and John Marquis taking an air-shot at one good low cross from the hosts’ long-serving captain.

Later, Coppinger fizzed an attempt wide after a rare Mike Jones mistake. At the other end, Adams thumped one close as he arrived onto the latest of several Carlisle set-pieces which were breaking around the edge of the box. This trade of opportunities continued as Coppinger shot across goal, and then Shaun Miller put over a glorious chance after Tom’s bobbling shot had been spilled by Marosi.

The hosts, who often looked menacing when Rowe and Coppinger were plotting in the final third, then came close again through Marquis and Williams, the latter seeing Williams hit the bar after a Gillesphey tackle and a Gillespie save.

United, though, were not able to bolt the door to the next one, as a minute before half-time they went behind when Marquis dropped the shoulder before beating Gillespie with a sledgehammer shot.

Carlisle, in truth, had struggled to tame Doncaster’s passing and movement the longer the half had went on, and now needed a reply of their own. They were almost killed off, though, just four minutes into the second half. Doncaster were awarded a penalty when Andy Butler went down under Tom Miller’s challenge at the back post, but United were reprieved when Rowe’s spot-kick hit the outside of the post.

Things still remained too open for Curle’s liking, as Marquis again nearly scored on the break, and the manager sent on Ibehre and Wyke, for Devitt and Shaun Miller, to try and give United a more solid shape and a more robust platform up front.

It did not, it must be said, temper Doncaster entirely, as Coppinger made more mischief out wide and in the centre. But there was a glimmer as Ibehre and Wyke started engaging Ferguson’s defenders and United scrapped to stay alive. One break down the right earned them a free-kick which Adams swung onto Michael Raynes’ head, and only a fine save by Marosi kept the hosts in front.

Reggie Lambe was on next as United sacrificed a defender, trying to capitalise on a period of pressure as Doncaster retreated a little.

There followed a series of testing crosses, Grainger and the elusive Lambe among the suppliers, as Raynes again headed wide. Gillespie stopped a Williams header at the near post as Donny tried to kill it, but Carlisle then came again, Marosi again athletic to keep out Ibehre’s shot after Lambe had beaten his man.

An even better chance followed, as Raynes failed to get enough meat on his header when an Adams corner curled into his path. Wyke was then denied a penalty after a tangle – but United kept on coming, Adams starting to exert some real influence.

And Doncaster allowed the winger space once too often, as in the 79th minute he accepted Grainger’s pass and crossed expertly for Ibehre to power his header home.

Further drama followed, as Grainger bounced into Williams but survived loud penalty appeals. Wyke, meanwhile, popped up on the left but couldn’t quite find a decisive gap – and then the sub took a fierce Marosi clearance in the face for his troubles.

So it continued, bruising and engrossing, United spending the final minutes on the front foot, and ending the game with that record still unbroken. And on they go.