Last updated at 12:05, Monday, 26 January 2009

Tranmere 4 Carlisle Utd 1: The only thing to do with a second half performance like this is to screw it up, fire it down Birkenhead Tunnel and hope it doesn’t reappear at the other end.

Top scorer: United striker Danny Graham

Or reappear in Hartlepool in 24 hours’ time, to be accurate. Carlisle United’s winter revival disappeared down a rut on Tranmere’s bobbly pitch, and Saturday’s defensive shakes need to be chased from the system before Greg Abbott’s men hop across to the north-east for tomorrow night’s derby set-to.

These are management’s most bruising days. Abbott skipped into his weekend work with talk of “positivity” and “progress”, but by close of play he was picking through the debris of a four-goal “mauling” (his word, again) and fielding questions on the imminent departure of a player he does not want to sell.

News of Simon Hackney’s proposed move to Colchester diverted some supporters’ annoyance away from what they saw in the second 45 minutes at Prenton Park.

But the only way to lift the suddenly-dropping mood in the blue masses is to put something better on the table tomorrow, with or without the departing winger. “It’s good we have got a game coming up quickly,” said Abbott. “Hopefully this is a minor blip. The second half performance wasn’t acceptable, but we have got to start thinking positively now.”

United have advanced far enough in recent weeks for the violins to remain in their boxes today. It’s more sensible to flag up the deficiencies which emerged on Saturday and then give Abbott’s team the chance to retrieve the form which took them through memorable engagements with such as Leeds and MK Dons prior to this wasted trip to the Wirral.

In no particular order, the faults are: a sudden defensive uncertainty which was punished quite clinically by Tranmere’s two-goal hero, Ian Moore; an inability to carry a consistent mark of performance through a full game, after a sprightly first half; and a squandering of chances when the force was with the Cumbrians, thereby exposing them to ambush when the home side snapped back.

Some supporters will tack Ben Williams’ comeback in goal onto that list, but while the returning custodian did not exactly make a nerveless return to the colours, he does not deserve to be recast in effigy any more than, say Scott Dobie, the Cumbrian striker whose season refuses to properly launch itself; Michael Liddle, the young full-back who is currently suffering a performance dip; United’s two centre-halves, who were comfortably second-best in most of their confrontations with Moore; or most other Carlisle players, to be frank, from minute 46 onwards here.

That’s the exact point from which Tranmere started looking like play-off contenders and not bottom-half dwellers. For most of the first half - other than an anxious start, when Chris Shuker almost punished a weak Williams kick - Carlisle had resembled the more plausible force.

In the seventh minute, Dobie lost his man and headed a Graham Kavanagh corner wide. Then the striker lobbed just off target after Ben Chorley’s weak header back to Danny Coyne triggered panic. Then Dobie and Joe Anyinsah linked to supply Danny Graham, whose battered shot was saved – just – by Tranmere’s Welsh ‘keeper.

There was plenty more from Carlisle, and – beyond a misdirected Paul Thirlwell header which skimmed his own post, and an Ed Sonko drive into the side-netting – little else from the neurotic hosts. From a David Raven cross, Graham plopped a header into the net, but saw it ruled out for Cleveland Taylor’s foul on Coyne.

Then United’s top scorer found a chance at his feet after Liddle and Kavanagh’s positive press down the left, but could only rattle the base of the post. Minutes later, the persistent and dangerous Taylor obliged Coyne to tip a left-wing cross against the crossbar. Other than the goal their pressure required, all was well with the Cumbrians.

Then the second half happened. Then Gareth Edds happened (the Tranmere sub thrown into battle at this point by Ronnie Moore). Immediately, the dynamic midfielder put a sparkling pass onto Sonko’s feet, with the winger’s cross millimetres beyond the sliding Moore.

Soon enough, the first goal arrived, after United failed to release pressure from a right-wing corner, and Moore nudged past Raven and turned his scoring shot past Williams.

Four minutes on, the newly-dominant Rovers struck again, this time when a hasty Williams kick was quickly returned into United territory, Moore beat Murphy in the air, Sonko pressed into the box, and the galloping Edds smashed his chance in off the bar.

Somehow, United then plundered a rapid goal of their own, when Paul Thirlwell’s lofted ball was detected by Graham, whose attempted volley spun off the outside of his right boot and looped comically over Coyne. But it was the briefest of reprieves, as Tranmere spun back downfield, forced a throw-in, and Steve Jennings sped in from the left and ripped a low shot through Williams.

It was the moment that finally did for Carlisle, who tasted half-chances through Murphy and sub Gary Madine but were then punished again 13 minutes from time, when Taylor tried to Cruyff-turn his way out of trouble but only donated the ball to Sonko, who duly supplied Moore for the striker’s unstoppable, curling finish.

It was the act of carelessness that had come to define United’s day, and was accompanied by the sight of League One’s top half – “an achievable target,” in Raven’s pre-match view – vanishing down that tunnel.

“If it happens on a regular basis, you have to do things about it,” was the second-half verdict of Abbott, who now seeks an immediate about-turn at Hartlepool. One defeat in five is the stat which should introduce sanity into today’s pub debates, but if United trot back from Victoria Park without any more points, and without Hackney, just watch how quickly public anxiety will jump back up from the manhole down Warwick Road.

First published at 11:29, Monday, 26 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk