Salford City 1 Carlisle United 4: Thank goodness the dismal goings-on in Qatar haven’t got in the way of this. Praise be that the brakes were only applied to the top two tiers. This, folks, is where the real action is this winter: in this characterful Carlisle United team and their increasingly merry fans.
As Gianni Infantino waffled his way to abysmal new depths a few thousand miles away, something purer was going on at this domestic English scene: an exhibition of the very best of fourth-tier football, on and off Salford City’s pitch.
Honestly: give us this side of it every day. Give us Carlisle playing with this much poise, and devilment, in front of 1,315 travelling supporters. Give us these four goals, those players, that manager. Let this remind us where the joy truly lies.
That principle would have been highlighted no matter the result on Saturday. In the wake of what actually happened, it’s up in neon. Paul Simpson’s description of it as “probably the most complete performance” of his second reign doesn’t get much argument.
It was nothing less than a total reinforcement of what this Carlisle side are in 2022/23: a group with spirit in spades, promising ability that comes through more often than it doesn’t, and a rocking bandwagon of followers in Simmo’s rousing wake.
United managed the testing aspects of this game as well as they have all season. They suffered two first-half injuries and then an equaliser at a crux point.
It was, in both cases, a stark examination. Their answers were sensational. In Morgan Feeney and Fin Back’s stead, Corey Whelan and Jack Ellis deputised outstandingly. In terms of regrouping and reapplying themselves to the end goal after Salford's leveller, United were magnificent.
They were so good that Matt Smith’s volley, which wiped Kristian Dennis’s third-minute opener, became the faintest detail, not the turning point it might have been. From that moment, Carlisle owned this small red stadium. Callum Guy sent them back in front with a tracer bullet, Whelan headed them further in front and Dennis dived in for a clincher.
The foundation for that decisive spell was the way Carlisle worked, defended, pressed and, especially in the case of the fourth goal, played. That one was fashioned by one Cumbrian who was a delivery driver last season (Owen Moxon), another only just getting a run of first-team starts (Taylor Charters) and a defender materialising on the right wing (Jon Mellish, who else?).
The class those men showed, in front of a surging away terrace, was the game’s crowning moment. It said Simpson’s side had the punch and the panache against a Salford team who were all budget and no value, all theory and limited practice. Neil Wood’s side have not won at home since August, but in all that time they haven’t been buried like this.
United’s start, once the early afternoon sun had faded and the floodlights were switched on, was dazzling. Salford spent the first three minutes passing from the back, thinking, pondering. Carlisle then got the ball in their half and scored: Moxon’s pass, Back’s driving fun and shot, Tom King’s save, Dennis’s Pac-man finish.
From there, Salford dominated possession, and gave Carlisle a degree of discomfort as a result, but without maximising their best players (Ibou Touray and Odin Bailey on the left) or feeding big Smith with crosses.
This enabled United to fall in, dig in and plot their own breaks. Back should have scored instead of hitting the post when put through by Charters, and soon afterwards the wing-back joined Feeney in taking his leave.
Salford’s best opportunities fell to Lorent Tolaj – Tomas Holy recovered to save well at the far post – and were otherwise aimed from distance with a low percentage chance of success. Elliot Watt, the supposed orchestrator, had to clear a Paul Huntington header off his own line to keep the hosts in it before the break, and Carlisle had grounds to think they could regroup and progress after it.
That aim was interrupted by a spell of Salford gusto at the start of the second half, which involved Bailey and Touray knifing down the left, a series of corners and eventually a fine Touray cross which found Smith between defenders to score.
Their first goal in six games could have scattered their stresses. Instead, Carlisle piled fresh ones onto them. With a new urgency applied and Mellish barrelling around midfield in a tactical change, Simpson’s side grew again. Mellish shot just over and Moxon and Charters emerged, first in Salford’s half, and then by the corner flag, with a number of creative set-piece routines.
One of them saw a Moxon cross, a Ryan Edmondson header semi-cleared and Guy speeding in to bullet it into the bottom corner. That started the carnival. Minutes later, Whelan found more space to convert a Charters delivery, and a while later there was that deft combination between the Cumbrians, Mellish’s steaming run and Dennis’s diving header.
As ball riffled net in the 80th minute, scores of Salford fans marched out of the ground. Carlisle, through Edmondson, Mellish and Guy, could have had more goals from their total dominance.
The remaining joy – and it was a deep, long-lasting version of it – was found in the scenes between players and fans, as Edmondson disappeared into an anthill of gyrating Blues, a Czech flag was unfurled for Holy, and “We’ve got super Paul Simpson” went up with boisterous noise inside the ground, and also echoed outside long after it had cleared.
All signs of a fine day indeed, and of finer ones ahead. You can keep your World Cup, Mr Infantino, and we’ll keep this.
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