Perhaps it is because it came in a period of low-grade struggle that the small piece of Carlisle United history claimed by Scott Dobie some 22 years ago is largely forgotten.
The Cumbrian striker, though, will always be the scorer of the first Blues goal of the 2000s. Dobie was quickest off the mark in United’s first match of the millennium, midway through a season of worrying toil mixed with typically elaborate United drama.
The visit of Chester City came at a time both clubs had made their home in the bottom reaches of the fourth tier, then known as Division Three. Carlisle had learned precisely nothing from their extraordinary Jimmy Glass-inspired survival the previous term, while Chester were going through their own bad times.
In Carlisle’s case, the Michael Knighton era had very much hit its downward slope with no sign of the direction being arrested. The owner was growing increasingly unpopular with the team a shadow of the one that had inspired the city in the mid-1990s.
Dobie, a young Cumbrian aiming to follow other home-grown stars on a ride to the top, was one remaining reason for hope, while servants such as Richard Prokas, Steve Soley and Stuart Whitehead offered reliability.
Martin Wilkinson, the manager, had also drafted in the former Liverpool veteran John Durnin in the winter, while the veteran striker Paul Baker, who rejoined the Cumbrians from Hartlepool in August, had since been upgraded to a player-coach role.
Chester headed to Cumbria for the new-year encounter in a state themselves: bottom of the league, three points adrift of Wilkinson’s third-bottom United, and with American owner Terry Smith taking charge of team affairs himself for a bizarre four-game run.
The last of these was the trip to Carlisle, and though Chester included the likes of Luke Beckett, a former United target, and Cumbrian ex-Blues forward Steve Finney, they were no match even for a limited Carlisle side.
In front of 4,565 fans on January 3, the Cumbrians took fully 80 seconds to register their first goal of the year 2000. Goalkeeper Luke Weaver sent a long punt forward: a delivery which should have been dealt with by the visiting defence.
Instead, defender Nicky Spooner and keeper Wayne Brown contrived to get in each other’s way, and the lurking Dobie was in the right place to profit, rolling the ball into the empty net.
It appeared to confirm Chester as the side with most to worry about in the unsightly fight to stay in the Football League, but Carlisle were unaccustomed to taking control of games and things remained uncertain as the game unfolded.
A rather turgid first half continued on a bumpy Brunton Park surface, and Chester blew good chances to equalise. Angus Eve, a player said to be attracting transfer interest, fired high and wide with just Weaver to beat from ten yards.
Matt Doughty also finished wildly from a good position after a long throw caused havoc, while for United, Durnin’s probing couldn’t quite unlock the door, the veteran chipping onto the roof of the net and later rifling wide as Carlisle reached the interval with their narrow lead.
Wilkinson and Baker decided to change things at the break, sending on Australian striker Paul Harries for Richard Tracey, and renewed Blues pressure paid off six minutes after the restart.
Dobie, again, was the man to make it happen, first forcing a corner, and then finding space to flick Paul Dalton’s delivery past Brown to make it 2-0.
Smith, the unlikely figure in the away dugout, chose this moment to send on Finney, and the ex-United man was quick to test Weaver with a low shot, but Carlisle were now dominant and increased their advantage with 20 minutes to go.
This time it was Harries in the right place. A short corner was eventually aimed into the box by Dalton, his delivery rebounded off Dobie, and Harries powered a snap-shot past the Chester defence and keeper.
Relief was now spreading around Brunton Park but, this being Carlisle United, there could be no tame and uneventful finale.
First, Chester pulled one back out of nothing – Eve turning and shooting past Weaver as the United defence froze.
Then there was a serious flashpoint in the 90th minute. Neil Moss reacted angrily to a Prokas tackle but it was Durnin who ended up with a red card, apparently for retaliation after Chester players including Darren Moss and Goran Milosavijevic had reacted to the Prokas challenge.
A dismissal when 3-1 to the good did not seem the brightest work, and Carlisle were thankful, in the end, for a late fourth to make things safe. It came from the unlikely source of a Prokas diving header, the Cumbrian meeting Harries’ cross with an excellent finish for his only goal of the campaign.
United would certainly have settled for a 4-1 victory as they woke up in the year 2000. Baker referred to the half-time rearrangement as crucial to the points, while the beleaguered Smith said of his players: “Some of them have lost heart.”
Chester soon appointed arch-battler Ian Atkins to try and keep them up, and when the two sides met again in April, much was at stake. That day at the Deva Stadium is remembered for an iconic United’s nine-man victory, when Dobie was again the hero.
Carlisle limped to the line, surviving on goal difference and remaining in an era of struggle for some time. That year it was Chester who sank into non-league, cursing a certain Cumbrian striker as they did so.
United: Weaver, Bowman, Clark, Whitehead, Barr, Pitts (Hopper), Prokas, Dalton (Thorpe), Durnin, Tracey (Harries), Dobie. Not used: Heritage, Anthony.
Chester: Brown, Richardson, Milosavijevic, Beckett, Fisher, Moss, Wright (Finney), Doughty, Spooner (Woods), Nash (Reid), Eve. Not used: Lancaster, Conkie.
Crowd: 4,565.
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