Scunthorpe United 0 Carlisle United 1: None of these things will attract headlines – not when you have a defender who’s just scored his first goal since the Jurassic Age – but victories like this are made up of many smaller and, at first glance, obscure details.
Early on at the Sands Venue Stadium, Carlisle sent the ball forward. Sam Fishburn’s presence drew a Scunthorpe defender, the ball cleared them both, and Jon Mellish chased and sniffed out a corner.
Later, in the second half, a cross hung in United’s box. Claret and amber shirts jostled with those in black. Goalkeeper Mark Howard cut through the chaos and claimed it cleanly.
You could pick out plenty more of these tiny cameos from the Blues’ 1-0 win: each of them adding up to the result most obviously earned by Rod McDonald’s header which followed an excellent, full-stretch block by Morgan Feeney at the other end.
Little things make the big picture. United did not play slick football here, and their team remains in obvious need of the “reinforcements” Millen hopes will arrive this week.
But let us place credit at the doors of those who battled to make this latest crucial result possible. Since Millen decided Carlisle’s attack was best led by a raw teenager (Fishburn) and a defender-turned-midfielder (Mellish), the Blues have six points from six.
It might not be the most polished strikeforce, but it certainly has effort and sweat. The tall figure of Fishburn is at least attracting defenders in a way that others this season have not. The relentless work of Mellish, freed from the positional moorings of central midfield, is at least burrowing into places that keep opponents honest.
It has given United an industrious platform against home sides living on their nerves. At the other end, meanwhile, Howard gave a blissfully anonymous performance in goal. He did not make a single save of serious note, but took the stress out of potentially awkward moments.
The ability to make situations in the red zone frightfully dull is the mark of a good keeper. Howard’s experience, his unfussy calm, keeps the waters settled on afternoons like this. Signing him up for longer is essential.
Helped by these influences, Carlisle are chiselling their way into a better position. It will still take signings to give us all maximum confidence of escaping danger, but three wins from four – a protracted, Covid-delayed run that started in late November – is just the sort of form they have needed after all their bereft work earlier in the campaign.
Nuggety, 1-0 mid-season wins against close rivals are managerial nirvana. Keith Millen may have enjoyed this one even more since it came after three weeks on the shelf. The manager admitted he had been “worried” about how Carlisle would show up after their virus postponements, but his team hit the necessary levels of energy and concentration to get the job done.
Renewing those adrenaline levels for a glut of new-year games will be another challenge. But United should be buoyed by these better results (and clean sheets). At Scunthorpe they did not pass or retain the ball especially well, and superior sides would perhaps have taken them to town.
But hypotheticals are sweetly pointless on days like this. The fact is the Blues took on a Scunthorpe side with their own limitations (chiefly, a lack of potency) and did what was necessary.
The sense of eagerness to get this six-pointer on was plain when, as players took the knee before kick-off, a couple of Iron players forgot about the ritual and dashed a couple of yards towards the ball.
Back they swiftly scampered. When things did get under way Keith Hill’s team enjoyed the better of possession against a sometimes lumpen United, but did little with it.
Myles Hippolyte and Devarn Green offered threat in the channels, Scunthorpe spread play with positive intent and Ryan Loft hustled Carlisle’s centre-halves, but there was never a sense the home side had the smarts to turn hope into serious heat.
By and large, the Blues were competent defensively, but rather haphazard and undercooked on the ball. What they did have, though, was a tuned-up set-piece threat. In the 33rd minute Rod McDonald peeled onto a Brennan Dickenson free-kick and grazed the bar.
A while later, after Feeney had superbly denied Loft, Callum Guy sent a corner to the back post and McDonald finally ended a six-year wait for a goal with a determined, deflected header.
As at Stevenage, Carlisle had deflated the opposition shortly before half-time and dialled up the stress in the home ranks accordingly. They could have increased their lead after the break with some more polished last-third work, Dickenson rifling into the away end more than once and Jordan Gibson coming into things with some brave running, but at the back they were secure.
Scunthorpe tried their hand with a couple of penalty appeals – ref Ben Toner disregarded both – and such was United’s attentive defending that the only real scares came late, via a Hayden Hackney free-kick which dipped over, and a shot from Jordan Hallam that fizzed past the post.
Carlisle would settle for that amount of scares per game. Results are the key currency at this time of year and, piece by piece, the Blues are building back better as they step into 2022 and peer hopefully into the transfer window.
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