New-look Carlisle Utd hold their nerve against Walsall to claim vital victory - match report

It is the moment you know that, yes, this time it’s going to be ok. Webster appears to have an acre of space when in reality he has a handful of inches. He calmly controls the ticking bomb and launches it towards halfway. Carlisle are safe.

There are of course 18 more sagas to suffer before we can say that of their season. Saturday, though, was a welcome reminder to their players of how it feels to get the upper hand, to tough it out, to avoid one of those calamities which you always feel is lurking in an alley where this United team is concerned.

Not this time. It was, as the law demands, an afternoon of struggle, but its most important feature was not necessarily the goals, scored by Nick Anderton and Ryan Loft (the latter with a little help from a ricochet), or the decent displays of their debutants, Anderton and Lewis Alessandra.

It was that, when it risked collapsing, they held together. Webster and Aaron Hayden, in particular, ensured that Walsall’s fightback started and finished with the goal that made it 2-1. The centre-halves patrolled United’s area with care and commitment. The shoddy pass, the rotten airkick, the marking blunder: none of it reappeared.

The rest of proceedings hardly forms a template for playing your way up the league; Chris Beech was not wrong when he said: “It wasn’t a great spectacle of football.” United’s passing can be better, their judgements safer. But in terms of restricting Walsall, it was exactly what they need.

“The lads are digging in deep, working hard and for each other,” said Beech after only his second league win. With results elsewhere stretching the gap above relegation to seven points, this was the best possible afternoon in terms of numbers – the most important currency in any survival fight.

That is perhaps what Beech meant when, beforehand, he said any victory would be “beautiful”. Carlisle ended a six-hour, 28-minute home league scoring drought in the process and have now joined in at the bottom of League Two, where everyone else has picked up a win of late.

This being United, there remain noises off. Harry McKirdy’s absence was the latest debating point – hamstring-related, Beech insisted – and the head coach also used post-match interviews to declare war on poor hygiene at the club. Too many illnesses, such as the one which denied Joshua Kayode a debut, are bothering Beech to the point he wants a “meeting” about “cleanliness”.

A new era of hand gels and detergents may be at hand. At least nothing infectious had been passed on to Anderton and Alessandra; the former showing stature at left-back and a poaching finish, the latter named man-of-the-match not for anything elaborate in attack, but for old-fashioned hard work.

That was certainly needed in a first half that never felt safe even as United led. Walsall settled into their passing quicker, even if their adventures lacked precision. In the other direction, Loft won a couple of flicks, but a couple of passes later and the ball had swapped sides; this was the general pattern.

Things moved in Carlisle’s favour from an unexpected route. Set-pieces have been a let-down this campaign but here they worked. First, Alessandra led a determined break to draw a foul, and when Elliot Watt’s free-kick wasn’t cleared, Anderton pounced.

You wait years for a goal – Anderton’s last had come for Barrow in October 2016 – and end up getting one after 20 minutes for your new club. This was a pleasing bonus to Anderton’s committed, tackle-heavy defensive performance but it was almost wiped out in a Walsall flurry.

This spell saw United back in anxiety mode. When ref James Oldham wasn’t interrupting things with inconsistent decisions, Darrell Clarke’s side mounted recurring attacks around Elijah Adebayo’s line-leading, which gave Webster a few ordeals. Behind him, Josh Gordon saw a shot spin wide, then Adam Collin spilled a routine claim and was reprieved when Adebayo found the side-netting. Another Adebayo break was cut out by Hayden before Liam Kinsella had United’s keeper at full stretch.

Walsall were scooping up ball too often; United needed an outlet, and better poise. Gordon and Rory Holden had further chances and then, in the nick of time, Carlisle doubled their lead.

Loft had, moments earlier, sped clean through from an Alessandra glance but failed to beat Roberts, before he atoned from Watt’s corner: his header striking bar and keeper before crossing the line.

Two ahead in a league game for the first time since last April, United almost giddily got a third – Nathan Thomas testing Roberts with one of many long-range shots – before doing the more familiar thing of conceding avoidably. It was poor at various stages as, five minutes after the break, they coughed the ball up on their left, conceded a corner (via Gethin Jones) under no pressure, and then failed to prevent Mat Sadler heading in Holden’s delivery.

Here, now, was the critical spell and, praise be, they got through it. Anderton bailed out Watt after the midfielder turned into trouble, while Clarke’s players made scant use of the free-kicks Oldham kept awarding them, and it is to United’s credit that the notepad shows very few late scares.

They had their own moments, particularly one inventive dribble and cross from sub Jack Bridge on the right, while Alessandra ran honestly and hard. At the other end, Hayden was attentive at centre-half – where surely he now has to remain – and this struggling, toiling Carlisle at last had their narrow, ugly but blessedly beautiful win.

United: Collin, G Jones, Anderton, Webster, Hayden, M Jones, Watt, Scougall (Iredale 80), Thomas, Alessandra (Charters 90), Loft (Bridge 77). Not used: Gray, Olomola, Sagaf, Hunt.

Goals: Anderton 20, L Roberts 42og

Booked: M Jones, Webster, Scougall

Walsall: L Roberts, Pring, Sadler, Clarke (Norman 62), Scarr, Kinsella (Guthrie 57), Sheron, Holden (Nolan 71), McDonald, Gordon, Adebayo. Not used: Rose, Sinclair, Lavery, K Roberts.

Goal: Sadler 50

Ref: James Oldham

Crowd: 4,097 (286 Walsall fans)