There was seldom such a thing as a long unbeaten run for Carlisle United in the 1979/80 season but the Blues were, at least, in reasonable nick by the time they welcomed Grimsby to Brunton Park in that campaign’s festive period.

An inconsistent Third Division season was unfolding, United’s third at that level since falling from the top two tiers, but by the winter there had been a few positive signs.

One came in the shape of record signing Gordon Staniforth, who Bob Moncur had recruited from York City for £120,000 in the autumn. Another was a teenage Peter Beardsley, who had been drafted in from the north east a little earlier.

Paul Bannon’s form in attack was another positive and those three men were on target in a spell of two wins and a draw before Grimsby came to Cumbria on December 21.

Carlisle were also making progress on other fronts, having ousted Sheffield Wednesday from the FA Cup to set up a third round meeting with Bradford, and perhaps that campaign was on their minds when they produced a display against the Mariners which could be filed under “anti-climax”.

Grimsby, to give them their due, were one of Division Three’s leading forces that season and en route to the title. Carlisle’s mid-table hopefuls were no match for them where it counted and were left to lick their wounds after a 2-0 defeat.

United were not miles adrift from Tom Johnston’s visitors in terms of attacking and pressure. Grimsby, though, had the edge when it came to the poise of their play and the nerve of their finishing.

Moncur was deprived of Phil Bonnyman’s services for the game, the midfielder recovering from injury, and this gave the 19-year-old Beardsley another chance to impress. He had scored his second senior goal earlier in the month against Colchester and Moncur was happy to test the teenager against the sixth-placed Mariners.

There was better news with the fitness of George McVitie after a collarbone injury and he was in the thick of the early action which might easily have brought a United goal.

Alas, when Beardsley served him after a mazy run, winger McVitie missed the target and he was joined in this later by Steve Ludlam, the latter then going close when he met Andy Collins’ cross only for keeper Nigel Batch to make a smart point-blank save.

Grimsby came back at Carlisle, and their best early chance came when Beardsley’s back-header inadvertently set up Kevin Drinkell, but the future Norwich and Rangers man volleyed over the bar.

It was finely balanced, Beardsley testing Grimsby further with his dribbling and Ludlam again coming within a few inches of a goal, but immediately after the latter chance the visitors broke downfield and took the lead.

Joe Waters set the stage when he battled his way clear of challenges, and when he set up Kevin Kilmore, the £60,00 signing from Scunthorpe curled the chance expertly past United’s No1 Trevor Swinburne.

This left Carlisle adrift two minutes before half-time and, as the second period unfolded, there was a growing sense that, try as they might, it was not going to be the Blues’ evening.

Their offerings in search of an equaliser included a shot from Jimmy Hamilton which took a deflection and forced Batch into another agile save. Moments later, the Grimsby keeper excelled again with a full-length stop from a Bannon drive.

McVitie then tried again, robbing a defender but shooting wide, and soon enough the tide turned and Grimsby were back on the attack, Swinburne saving from Kilmore before Johnston’s men finally broke for their second, Kevin Moore getting beyond the defence to slot home.

It was a clinical finish from a side on the up, and a sign of United’s shortcomings. “There was no way we deserved to be a goal down at half-time,” Moncur lamented. “But Grimsby frustrated us in the second half.

“The longer it went on, the more frustrated we became.”

It was the stamp of their season, which saw more FA Cup progress before Wrexham knocked United out at the fourth round stage. Moncur also departed, joining Hearts in February, assistant Martin Harvey stepping up to the top job with impressive results as he guided United to a sixth-placed finish.

That equalled their outcome from the previous season, and when Bob Stokoe returned as boss the following campaign he put United back on course for an eventual return to the second tier.

United: Swinburne, Hoolickin, MacDonald, Parker, Collins, Ludlam, Beardsley, Hamilton, McVitie, Bannon, Staniforth. Sub: McAuley.

Grimsby: Batch, Stone, Wigginton, Crombie, Moore, Brolly, Waters, Mitchell, Kilmore, Drinkell, Cumming. Sub: Liddell.

Crowd: 4,633.