Last updated at 12:08, Monday, 19 January 2009

Carlisle United 3 MK Dons 2: Try keeping this one in-house, Greg. Carlisle United’s manager spent most of last week raging at transfer window “leaks” at Brunton Park.

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And then this victory over the division’s most formidable away side brought down the wall of silence on United’s winter revival.

The cat has shot from the bag and is over the horizon. Carlisle are back as a credible footballing operation. Their riotous comeback against MK Dons on Saturday was accompanied by the sight of rival League One teams snapping forward in their chairs.

For that alone, Abbott deserves headline billing today, even ahead of men like Joe Anyinsah, the debut substitute who took United’s winner five minutes after rising from the bench, or Paul Thirlwell, the indomitable, goalscoring captain whose contribution to this startling result is tough to overstate.

Victories off the reel against Huddersfield, Leeds and now the Dons – with a useful point against Oldham stuffed in between – do not happen by chance. To fully appreciate the extent of Carlisle’s resurgence under Abbott, jerk the mind back to those autumn surrenders against such predators as Colchester and Stockport during John Ward’s failing regime.

At no point during that ghastly spell did United display a scrap of the spirit and quality which is taking them through monumental skirmishes like this. Roberto Di Matteo’s second-placed team trotted into battle with eight wins from 11 road trips, one defeat from their last 11 league battles home and away, and were even allowed the ballast of a two-goal half-time lead before Abbott’s tightly-knit troops picked up their weapons to such thrilling effect.

A hideous refereeing display from Andy Haines; Aaron Wilbraham’s bruising first-half double; the latest majestic goal of Danny Graham’s season; Thirlwell’s maiden Brunton Park strike; Anyinsah’s dramatics: they can all get in the queue behind Carlisle’s boss, whose recent talk of “progress” was plainly not just a bundle of cheap words for the microphones.

“We are sending a message that we have turned the corner,” declared Abbott. “Now it is about how far we can carry on walking around that corner. I won’t make stupid predictions, but teams can come late with a surge. If we are 14th now, I’m not happy with that. I want to be 13th. Then I’ll want to move up one more, and keep going.”

There was plenty more of the same from Abbott, who is right to tame his most ambitious thoughts on the remainder of Carlisle’s season, but is equally entitled to say that Saturday’s win has further helped push dark thoughts of a relegation scrap a few miles further away from Brunton Park (they are now nine points above the drop zone, and 13 below the top six).

For that, the manager can send plenty of thanks his captain’s way. Thirlwell’s input into this victory was not just displayed in the 18-yard missile he put past the Dons goalkeeper Willy Gueret to level the scores in the 64th minute, but also the injury-time lunge which kept away a Shaun Cummings cross, as Di Matteo’s rattled players made their final, dangerous surge. “Everyone feels part of it and we’re going in the right direction,” enthused the captain, after claiming his man-of-the-match trinket.

It’s a speech he might not have expected to make at half-time. If the Dons’ two-goal advantage was a touch excessive on the balance of play and the imbalance of Mr Haines’ refereeing, the club who stole Wimbledon’s clothes had still shown many of the qualities which have carried them deep into the promotion race.

With a forceful wind at their backs, they absorbed Carlisle’s early urgency (Scott Dobie skimmed the post in the fourth minute) and then started working the gaps around the home box with admirable speed. Just after the quarter-hour, they plundered their first goal, when Jemal Johnson’s cleared corner was worked back to the winger, who fizzed past Graham Kavanagh from the left and found Wilbraham in acres at the far post.

He battered the chance past Tim Krul, and 25 minutes later - after some infuriating non-decisions from Mr Haines and a squandered Dobie header - Wilbraham claimed his second, motoring onto Peter Leven’s pass, out-grappling Peter Murphy (illegally, according to United’s players) and tucking the ball beyond United’s Dutch ‘keeper.

If this was exasperating enough for Carlisle, you should have heard the roars of disapproval which greeted inexplicable bookings for Graham and Michael Liddle for trifling challenges on the brink of the break. By all accounts, the Carlisle dressing room was foaming with frustration at the Tyne & Wear ref’s odd officiating. Enter Abbott, and his sensible interval sermon: “The ref can’t win or lose you the game. You have got 45 more minutes to do things yourself.”

And how. Minute 46: a deft ball from Danny Livesey, a superb pirhouette from Graham which took him past Miguel Llera, and a convincing finish beyond Gueret.

Minute 64: David Raven’s hanging free-kick, a challenge from Dobie, a half-clearance, and then a low shot from Thirlwell which Gueret could only push into the bottom corner.

And then, with United in a convincing ascendancy against their rattled rivals, with Thirlwell and Kavanagh dominating midfield matters and Abbott’s rearguard rising to the challenge of nullifying the dangerous Wilbraham and Sean Baldock, came minute 77 and their winner.

Raven, a growing force at right-back, pressed confidently forward and fed Anyinsah, who had replaced Dobie in attack. The sub controlled the pass, turned swiftly towards the Dons target, let rip from 25 yards, and saw his shot spin off the sliding Llera and curl happily over Gueret.

As United fans were comparing this drama favourably with similar fightbacks against Port Vale in recent seasons, Di Matteo’s side roused themselves into one final eruption, (following a needless contretemps which drew bookings for Livesey and Alan Navarro): Baldock whipping a free-kick just wide, Wilbraham blazing a close-range chance over after Krul had spilled Johnson’s drive, and then Thirlwell heroically foiling Cummings on the wing.

The afternoon would not be complete without a final act of curiosity from Mr Haines, who watched Gueret wrestle Graham to the floor in the Dons area and then blow for full-time, instead of a penalty. But the day remained the property of Abbott and his feisty players, notably the suddenly-prolific Thirlwell, who has two goals in a season for the first time in his career and is therefore well set to win a personal wager with his fellow midfielder, Chris Lumsdon.

“It’s safe to say I’ve won that one already,” scoffed the skipper: probably the only person inside Brunton Park who will again be so casual in the presence of a two-goal lead.

First published at 11:26, Monday, 19 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk