Carlisle United 1-1 Crawley Town verdict: last-action Lewis Alessandra late on the draw

After a good deal of frustrating, barren toil, Alessandra trotted onto the pitch for his first game since autumn. Pleasingly there was no need for rust to be scraped off his limbs. He was straight into it.

Minute 90 – United’s best chance of the game so far. A cute run from the experienced sub, but a finish Glenn Morris met with a resilient save.

Minute 93 – different matter. Another canny piece of movement, but this time capped with something not often seen from Carlisle’s frontmen in 2021/22: the most emphatic header, and as a result some welcome stress relief just as a tidy little unbeaten run was about to meet a plodding end.

Alessandra heads home in the 93rd minute

Welcome back, then, Lewis. The 32-year-old has been out injured since November and as such has had next to no opportunity to join in the gradual revival led by Keith Millen. His previous appearance came on November 13, when United and Barrow were playing out a sterile 0-0.

This, then, was perhaps a reminder of what the forward can add to broadly better times. Carlisle did not play well against Crawley by any measurement. Their passing was off, their shape ill-suited to containing their useful visitors.

Alessandra celebrates with Jon Mellish, right, and Brennan Dickenson, centre

Had Ashley Nadesan not got his measurements wrong from the penalty spot, there would have been no late hope at all. What the Blues did have, though, was decent persistence and unity. They fought, chased and threw whatever ideas they could summon at Crawley’s defence.

Often those ideas were mundane. Now and again they were okay. But it required a little intellect to dilute the heavy force. In his best spells at United Alessandra has provided this. His late impact on Saturday was, then, a throwback to his cunning contributions of late 2020 – and something overdue in a hindered personal campaign.

Keith Millen looks on in a frustrating first half

“Lewi is excited to be playing in the way we’re playing,” Millen said. “He thinks it suits his game.” There is time for that feeling to be tested either way but it is, for now, useful to know United have another attacking option back in good nick, even if this game overall showed that the Blues are still in the early stages of rebuilding all the things they need.

In the first half, a Crawley side without their boss (absent for personal reasons) certainly backed up John Yems’ insistence that they weren’t coming up to Cumbria simply to “take pictures of Hadrian’s wall”. Their attacking movement and dominance of midfield threatened to knock a few bricks out of United’s recent solidity.

Ashley Nadesan's shot beats Mark Howard for the Crawley opener

Carlisle seldom looked like figuring things out in a bind of a first half. In a three-man defence, the experienced Joel Lynch was excellent and offered a raw front line of Tyrese Omotoye and Jon Mellish nothing from a diet of little.

United’s passing was off, their hold on proceedings loose. Crawley worked space, angles and the width of Brunton Park much better. The post denied James Tilley an attractive opener, Carlisle lacked composure in the final third, and then lost their assurance when defending their own goal, Nadesan ambushing Morgan Feeney and clipping home against his old club.

Nadesan, second right, is congratulated after scoring against his former club

It was the Blues’ first goal against in six hours and 19 minutes, and Nadesan was a waspish presence in search of more. The post denied him a second, Crawley kept outnumbering Carlisle out wide, and United’s first half was summed up at the end when Omotoye burned past his man, but turned into traffic and ended up with a booking for a foul on Lynch.

Millen gave it ten minutes before making the first necessary changes in the second half. By then Brennan Dickenson, switched to the right, had skimmed the bar from distance but the arrival of Omari Patrick, and the accompanying welcome from fans, lifted United better – as did the contentious refereeing of Darren Bond.

Omari Patrick's arrival lifted the crowd

These twin effects respectively enlivened and agitated the crowd and made the contest a little more spiky. Crawley were a threat on the counter, Sam Matthews twice going close, while Carlisle then argued unsuccessfully for a penalty when a Crawley man appeared to leap into a melee and arm the ball away.

Sub Alessandra is denied by Glenn Morris three minutes before scoring

Bond was more convinced when Tilley brushed past Jack Armer and went down – a soft penalty, to say the least, which Nadesan wasted with his airborne finish.

United gathered their thoughts, sent Patrick back and forth into Crawley territory, and finally got what they were looking for when the persistent Dickenson earned a corner, then curved it into the space where only Alessandra was.

Scorer Alessandra shows his joy

United, mid-decline, might have lost such a game. They almost did this one when Reece Grego-Cox swept forward in the 95th, but found Mark Howard a willing barrier.

Rod McDonald, right, joins the celebrations

But a point when below their best was a fair bargain in this patchy Carlisle encounter. “We weren’t at the races,” accepted Millen afterwards. At least, thanks to last-action Lewis, they didn’t pull up entirely short.