FC Halifax Town 0 Carlisle United 0: As a spectacle this one was forgotten the minute ref Mark Powell blew into his whistle for the last time. Any benefits Carlisle United took from their goalless draw at Halifax will be taken internally, for it was not particularly easy on the public's eyes.

It was not that individuals played particularly badly. It was just, well, hard going. Inspiration was limited, and a second half spell of constant rolling substitutions meant those who had paid £12 to watch got little back for their cash.

There are no guarantees in pre-season. Anyone attending a friendly does so knowing they may not see events at full-throttle. A manager's desire to tinker and test is at its highest in July, often for good reason.

Other than another afternoon of match-fitness, though, and a fifth clean-sheet against this pre-season's non-league opponents, there was not much for those who travelled to sing about. A few near-misses at both ends, a bit of disjointed play, but little that supporters could take into the rest of their weekends.

Jack Bonham, extended fully for the first time this pre-season, made one fine save and looked generally comfortable in goal. A team that shipped goals aplenty in 2016/17 cannot turn its nose up at any defensive blank.

Ticks in those boxes, then, but going the other way it was frustrating and at times misshapen. At the end of a punishing week's training, including the Cassius Camps trip, it was perhaps understandable that United looked a little jaded in mind and deed.

It counts for nothing, really, given the serious stuff is yet to begin. All that matters is that Keith Curle's small squad can come out firing against Swindon. Between now and then, they have one chance (against Blackburn on Friday) to look the part in front of their home fans; one last game for Curle to find a positive formula.

This one surely told him little that he did not already know. It began with an XI that might well be close to what starts on August 5, but after the half-hour mark, when Mike Jones came off only to reappear a few minutes later, it became a sort-of game, a not-quite contest.

The first half, once it stepped up from its early, slow pace, was a story of rusty finishing at both ends. United opened with a 4-4-2 system in which Nicky Adams often drifted in from the left in search of possession. Up front, the movement of Hallam Hope and Shaun Miller was designed to test and turn Billy Heath's National League defence.

It was, though, Carlisle's rearguard which came under the earliest pressure. Ben Tomlinson, briefly a United player last season, seemed to relish the challenge of leading the line against them for his new club, and he displayed some useful hold-up play as the hosts tried to get at the Blues.

Adam Morgan rifled over the bar in the fourth minute while United were tested by Connor Oliver's passing range and canny movement. A couple of times the Halifax number 10 got inside Carlisle's left, requiring attentive defending around United's six-yard box.

Tomlinson, too, tried his luck with a powerful shot from 20 yards that rose a couple of feet over the bar. Carlisle took longer to find a consistent stride but Reggie Lambe tried to be positive on the ball, at one stage feeding Adams' driving run down the middle that ended with a tumble in the box.

Oliver pleased the crowd with a couple of drag-backs after Kelvin Etuhu had surrendered possession. United came again with a corner routine that led to a Danny Grainger cross and a prolonged scramble that almost benefited Tom Parkes, Hope and Miller.

Halifax then broke through Josh MacDonald down the right, and his low cross deserved better than Matty Kosylo's miscued finish at the far post, Parkes pipping Tomlinson to the breaking ball.

While Hope grew unhappy with what he felt was overzealous challenging from right-back Cliff Moyo, this was a more pressing test for Carlisle than they had faced in four previous friendlies. Next it was Gary Liddle who had to intervene after Tomlinson ambushed Jones.

Then it was Carlisle's turn to carve out a chance that should have seen the home net disturbed, as Miller peeled to the left and saw his perfect cross met with a glancing Lambe header that needed much more conviction.

Lambe and Hope then combined as the latter rifled a shot from the right, keeper Sam Johnson saving well. There was some encouragement in the movement that forced these openings but otherwise it was not a first half of great dynamism from United.

The second half then began in such a manner to render it almost unwatchable, so often were players coming on and off. By the 65th minute, for instance, Shaun Miller had been substituted three times. Jones had also come off again. Curle got through most of his squad, his first-year pros and Shaun Brisley aside, and it was not until the closing 15 minutes that United settled as an XI again.

Other than a Tom Miller break which the home defence did just enough to tame, and a looping Luke Joyce header that engaged Johnson beneath his crossbar, that was that as far as penalty-box action was concerned for a large portion of the second half. A few challenges also went unpunished, such was the "friendly" mood of ref Powell.

Things improved towards the end after Samir Nabi came on to add some invention, trialist Sam Cosgrove also given another chance in attack. The latter tried to set up Joyce, only for a defender to intervene. United's trialist frontman then broke onto a Nabi pass and tested Johnson from the left.

At the other end, Halifax found space down the right and while Bohan Dixon's daisy-cutter was not travelling at high speed, it was accurate enough to test Bonham, and the loan keeper had to be at full stretch to fingertip it wide.

That good stop featured in an end-to-end finish to the match which swung more to Carlisle's end than Halifax's. After Adams had gone very close for the Blues with a curling shot, Halifax threatened repeatedly through loan signing Dion Charles, who bustled past Tom Miller but wasted the pass, and then saw a curling shot blocked by Mark Ellis.

The latter then timed a sliding challenge to perfection as Tom Denton prepared to finish a low cross from the right. Charles, again, skimmed a shot narrowly wide as Halifax ended things positively. The final whistle, though, was probably the best outcome of all.

FC Halifax: Johnson (Nicholson 88), Moyo, McManus (Wilde 77), Morgan (Denton 63), Brown, Garner (Riley 46, Garner 72), Kosylo (Charles 46), Hotte (Lynch 54), Tomlinson (King 81), Oliver (Dixon 58), MacDonald (MacDonald 66). Not used: Hibbs, Barrows, Basic

United: Bonham, T Miller (Nabi 58), Grainger, Liddle (Ellis 52), Parkes, Etuhu (Devitt 56), Jones (Joyce 31), Adams, Lambe, S Miller (Jones 36, T Miller 69), Hope (S Miller 42, Hope 46, S Miller 53, Trialist 65). Not used: Bacon, Kennedy, Brisley, O'Sullivan, Salkeld, Holt, Egan

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