Carlisle United claimed a magnificent 3-1 win at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday – but what did we learn from the game? Let’s take a look…
1 HAT-TRICK HEROES
Jordan Gibson joined a select group of Carlisle United players with his hat-trick at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
He was United’s first treble-shooter since Nathan Thomas at Forest Green in January 2020.
In League One, meanwhile, it was Carlisle’s first hat-trick since Gary Madine at Hartlepool in September 2010.
In third-tier football (and not including the old Division Three North days), Gibson became the sixth different United player to score three in a game at this level.
The others are Gordon Staniforth (twice), Pop Robson, Ian Stevens, Danny Graham and Madine.
Gibson’s treble, meanwhile, was the 94th hat-trick in United’s league history.
The midfielder is in illustrious company indeed when you look back at all the men to have achieved the feat down the years.
It includes the club’s record scorer Jimmy McConnell, who scored a ludicrous 14 league hat-tricks, prolific 1950s marksman Jimmy Whitehouse (six), the club’s greatest of them all Hugh McIlmoyle (three), other legends such as Ivor Broadis (two), Bobby Owen, Stan Bowles, Billy Rafferty and Malcolm Poskett, and heroes from more modern times including Michael Bridges, Karl Hawley, Jabo Ibehre and Charlie Wyke.
See the bottom of this article for a rundown of all United’s hat-trick scorers in the league since the Blues joined the Football League in 1928:
2 DECISIVE SIMMO
One of the first things Paul Simpson did to reverse Carlisle United’s fortunes was make a very deliberate system change.
The manager did not waste any time having a look at things before executing the change. His judgement, in reverting to a back three at Leyton Orient in February 2022, paid short and long-term dividends.
If it is the mark of a manager to know when to make such alterations, and have the nerve to carry them out, then maybe Simmo has done it again early into United’s League One return.
The back three has been an article of faith for most of Simpson’s second reign but in the last two games he has switched things up.
This, against Peterborough, involved the dropping of captain Paul Huntington – something that would have been unthinkable last season.
Yet, Simpson has trusted his players to cope with the shift to a back four, and four points against two of the division’s big hitters rewards that trust.
Further forward, initial evidence says the manager has hit upon a way to get better things from other members of his squad.
Sean Maguire’s ability to menace teams with his running intelligence has brought dividends since Simpson moved him to the right, with Jordan Gibson able to cut in brightly from the left.
The new system has also enabled Joe Garner to be the bulwark at centre-forward and his work at Bolton in this regard was supreme, allowing others the room behind him to get to work, eight aerial wins (more than double anyone else) the foundation for his line-leading display.
United’s struggle for wins so far this season appeared no baggage at all as this rejigged side went after Bolton. It’s an undoubted win for Simpson, and something fresh for Carlisle now to consider.
3 McCALMONT THE BUTLER
For a long time it seemed doubtful whether Alfie McCalmont and Jordan Gibson could or would slot into the same United side.
Last season it tended to be a case of one or the other in the number ten position, Gibson starting the season in favour but McCalmont tending to get the nod after his January arrival.
Simpson’s change of formation, though, has offered a way back for McCalmont this season after a few games on the bench.
The former Leeds man, at Bolton, gave his most influential performance of the season in how he worked, linked United’s play, found pockets of space and generally provided the assistance for Carlisle’s other attack-minded players as they spread out.
McCalmont is a better player than his previous run of displays suggested and Saturday hopefully lit the way towards a real revival for him in the Blues’ midfield.
The 23-year-old has natural attacking instincts but impressed just as much with his industry at Bolton. In terms of defensive midfield it was not simply a case of Callum Guy doing his usual thing.
He had good and determined help. McCalmont covered miles and should also have had an assist when he put Sean Maguire through early in the second half.
It was more evidence that good players can work together, should the formula be right. Perhaps Simpson has now found it.
4 GOAL BOOST
Roughly a quarter of the way into the season, it’s still striking how one good day in front of goal can make the outlook a lot healthier and more settled.
After the defeat to Wycombe Wanderers the previous weekend, Carlisle’s scoring stats were looking pretty meagre again.
Four in two, against Peterborough and Bolton, make that particular column much more creditable.
Carlisle now have 11 goals from their 12 games, the equal of ninth-placed Port Vale and 12th-placed Exeter City.
At the other end, their goals-conceded total of 15 is the match of…Bolton, who are now sixth, as well as seventh-placed Wycombe.
It’s results that count, rather than the raw numbers, of course. But the last seven days have surely helped Carlisle believe they have the broad wherewithal to compete in this demanding division.
In terms of Saturday’s scoring, meanwhile, it was the first three-goal haul for the Cumbrians in 90 minutes since February’s 5-2 win at Crawley Town.
In third-tier football, it was their first three in a game since Graham Kavanagh’s side beat MK Dons 3-0 in January 2014.
5 DECISIONS, DECISIONS
As if to highlight what often seems a gaping discrepancy in refereeing judgements, Carlisle got two penalties on Saturday having been denied three clear shouts for them last Tuesday.
Things were no less marginal at Bolton than they had been against Peterborough. Sebastian Stockbridge, though, learned towards Carlisle as much as Scott Simpson had leaned away from them.
The first spot-kick, for Kyle Dempsey’s challenge on Sean Maguire, was the sort of decision Maguire has been close to on a number of occasions.
Dempsey protested but it was only a matter of time before Maguire’s quick feet earned him such a decision.
As for the second one, only Eoin Toal knows what he was doing as that ball looped down towards him and he instinctively stuck out his hand.
Again, it was not the most flagrant case of handball the game has ever seen. But, considering the FA’s laws on handball begin by explaining it’s an offence if a player “deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball”, it is hard to see how the Bolton defender could plead maximum innocence there.
For United it was a welcome about-turn, and also in Stockbridge’s case, a matter of the Blues getting a different outcome in other respects.
He was the official who sent Jon Mellish off against Salford City in April after falling for Elliot Watt’s thespianism. This time, Stockbridge was quick with a yellow card when Bolton's Dion Charles took a dismal dive in United’s box.
A last point on penalties. If Gibson was supposed to take United’s first, as Simpson said, then that’s a communication issue that has to be avoided.
Yet it’s not as if Joe Garner was a novice stepping up. He has 150 career goals to his name, including 19 successful spot-kicks, and hadn’t missed one since January 2019.
Gibson will be on them now, but you’d surely back Garner again if the need arose.
**ALL CARLISLE UNITED’S LEAGUE HAT-TRICK SCORERS**
Jimmy McConnell – 14 hat-tricks
Jimmy Whitehouse – 6
Bill Slinger – 5
Sam Hunt – 4
Alf Ackerman – 4
Alan Ashman – 3
Hugh McIlmoyle – 3
William Watson – 2
Hugh Mills – 2
Ivor Broadis – 2
Jack Lindsay – 2
Joe Livingstone – 2
Bobby Owen – 2
Gordon Staniforth – 2
Malcolm Poskett – 2
Ian Stevens – 2
Brian Wake – 2
Karl Hawley – 2*
Davie Hutchinson 1
Arthur Sharp 1
Joe Mantle 1
James Dougal 1
Jack Connor 1
William Gordon 1
Thomas Barkas 1
George Dick 1
Frank Mooney 1
Hugh Fletcher 1
Austin McGill 1
Kenneth Smith 1
George Walker 1
Billy Stark 1
Frank Kirkup 1
Johnny Evans 1
John Rudge 1
Bob Hatton 1
Stan Bowles 1
Frank Clarke 1
Billy Rafferty 1
Pop Robson 1
Andy Hill 1
Paul Gorman 1
Michael Bridges 1
Danny Graham 1
Gary Madine 1
Jabo Ibehre 1
Charlie Wyke 1
Nathan Thomas 1
Jordan Gibson 1
*Karl Hawley also scored a league hat-trick in the Conference, as did Magno Vieira.
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