‘United prove they’re tops’, ran the headline in the following day’s News & Star – and, at that point, there was little cause for debate. It was February 1990 and Carlisle had just put away their closest challengers in a tense and tight fourth-tier promotion race.

The Blues’ 1-0 win over Exeter was a high point in a promising season under Clive Middlemass, Carlisle edging victory in front of a crowd whose size – 8,461 – was rather out of keeping with an often more barren period.

The result, thanks to a second-half Tony Shepherd goal, seemed to represent the confident stating of Cumbrian intentions. Sadly, United walked straight out of a rainswept Brunton Park that night and fell down an open manhole.

Exeter at home, more than 30 years ago, can now be remembered as the final occasion of triumph under Middlemass before things went steeply south. After several bleak seasons, the prospect of third-tier football was finally back in sight, and the anti-climax that followed did not seem in store when United welcomed their opponents from Devon.

It may not have been a shoot-out, given the congested nature of the Fourth Division’s top places, but it was undoubtedly billed as an examination of both sides’ promotion nerve. Win, and United would cement top spot, knock Exeter five points adrift and show they were in the race for the duration. Wouldn’t it?

That’s what all those who filed into Brunton Park liked to believe, and the arrival of one of the club’s biggest league crowds for some years caused kick-off to be delayed by a few minutes. When things got under way, a high-stakes contest unfolded which was big on commitment but short on open, flowing chances.

Exeter had the first, a real opportunity for Steve Neville which the Grecians man somehow headed against the bar after Blues keeper Dave McKellar had palmed a Brian McDermott cross his way. As United tried to respond, Derek Walsh was close to getting on the end of a Paul Fitzpatrick ball and a further chance arrived the way of Steve McCall, the Carlisle-born former Ipswich star who had arrived on loan from Sheffield Wednesday to help his home-city club after the left-back loss to injury of Ian Dalziel.

McCall, though, could not steer Dave Miller’s cross past keeper Kevin Miller, and a goalless first spell continued, Keith Walwyn leading a determined line for Carlisle and midfielder Shepherd curling a chance narrowly wide, but neither side emerging from the graft with the true moment of craft required.

It remained finely balanced until, four minutes into the second half, Carlisle broke through. McCall was at the outset of the move, sending a measured ball down the left, allowing winger Craig Goldsmith to make strides and cross. Paul Proudlock’s drive was parried by Miller, but only into the path of the arriving Shepherd, the former Celtic man sending the ball high into the net at the sodden Warwick Road End.

United were in front, but it remained far from a comfortable advantage. Carlisle’s Miller could have doubled the lead, but shot wide after Alex Jones had headed a Fitzpatrick free-kick through the box, while Walwyn and Fitzpatrick had further chances before a late double substitution from visiting boss Terry Cooper caused Cumbrian nerves to fray.

It saw centre-half Shaun Taylor pushed up front and he was involved in the Grecians’ best chance of earning a point. When McDermott’s cross found him, though, he couldn’t make good contact on his header and Darren Rowbotham failed to follow in.

Finally United could exhale and enjoy their 1-0 win, which put them four points clear at the top, Exeter sliding to fourth. The Blues’ world seemed full of promotion promise. “They were terrific,” Middlemass said of his heroes. “If we can keep it going til the end of the season it will take some side to stop us.”

Hardly the words of a manager whose team was about to lose their next six games – but that’s what happened as Carlisle’s injuries and thin squad finally caught up with them. An exhausting sequence of southern-based games yielded nothing and, after a slump down the table, it took a late retrieval of form just to keep their chances alive.

What happened at the end was even more deflating, since United had the realistic expectation of at least a play-off place going into the final weekend, but lost it thanks to a 5-2 defeat at Maidstone and results elsewhere: an infamous collapse which contrasted with Exeter, who stormed back after their Brunton Park loss and went on to win the title by a margin of 10 points.

United: McKellar, Walsh, McCall, Graham, Jones, Fitzpatrick, Shepherd, Miller, Walwyn, Proudlock, Goldsmith. Subs: Norris, Sendall.

Exeter: Miller, Hiley, Benjamin, McNichol, Taylor, Whitehead, Rowbotham, Bailey, McDermott, Neville, Stafford. Subs: Batty, Rogers.

Crowd: 8,461.