Walsall 2 Carlisle United 1: A sad sight, truly, seeing a big man so reduced. A few yards to the side of where it had all been kicking off, Tomas Holy stood before Carlisle’s supporters with his large, blue-clad arms raised.
It was a gesture of apology, one he repeated in the dressing room. The rest of the evening, all the miles of that long and aching trip home, was probably about what devils were at work in Holy’s mind. What happens from here will be about how quickly he can chase them.
There are different interpretations of this defeat, different theories why United lost it, but one unarguable fact is that had their goalkeeper made efficient work of a long ball in the 87th minute, Carlisle would have taken a long-held lead into added time.
After that, who knows? Perhaps a highly defensive second half performance might still have cracked under heavy pressure. Maybe Holy’s error, because it was such a whopper, stole the show from other deficiencies in the second 45.
All the same. We can only guess what might have happened, but we assuredly know what did. The irony, given the way United had fallen back and tried to soak up Walsall’s efforts, is that the crucial moment did not come this way.
It emanated from the home team’s half, after a Carlisle attack had broken down, and through a long ball which was hardly the result of great design. Manny Monthe sent it up the pitch in hope, little else.
As Holy progressed out of his area, there was a moment, watching on, when confidence dissolved into trauma. The keeper totally misjudged the flight and the bounce. As the ball spun past him, he was a forlorn figure, on the deck, even before Andy Williams had transferred it simply into Carlisle’s net.
If it was the result of pressure, it was psychological as much as anything. United had long slipped into a low position and invited Walsall to punch themselves out. It nearly worked. But perhaps the longer things went on in this way, the more precarious were situations such as the one that led to Holy’s calamity.
Even after that, they should have coped better. There was added time to negotiate, an FA Cup tie still to be determined. In the 92nd minute, they allowed Isaac Hutchinson to drop into space, and Douglas James-Taylor to run beyond.
Where was the obstruction, the objection, to that? Where was the wit or the skill to take the drama out of the situation? Where was the reluctance to freeze?
Game management, it’s often called, and it was wanting from Carlisle then. What happened afterwards, meanwhile, was another example of modern players strangely unable to enjoy goals and victories on their own terms without winding up the enemy, and the other side incapable of letting that lie.
It will be a miracle if the bust-up that followed the final whistle does not attract sanctions. Paul Simpson said Jamie Devitt was punched. Those in the away seats were adamant Walsall players such as Jack Earing and Hayden White were provocateurs.
No doubt there will be certain opposing views from the home end of things. All in all – it was a deflating and then highly ugly way for hopes of a cup run to fizzle away for the Blues.
It had started well, with Simpson at first getting on top of Michael Flynn tactically and Carlisle earning a half-time lead. Early in the piece United’s boss moved Jon Mellish from defence to midfield, and this helped shut down Walsall’s initial space and allowed United’s attack-minded players time on the ball.
From about the 20-minute mark, the Blues were superior. Mellish occupied opponents with his endless running, and Owen Moxon and Jordan Gibson were able to spin at the hosts.
Their goal was a result of this decisive work, and capped a rumble of pressure. Mellish chased the ball down the left, Jack Armer crossed with precision and Ryan Edmondson showed great skill to read the bounce and dispatch it past Owen Evans.
The scorer celebrated with a knee-slide in front of the home fans, who no doubt felt the finale was karma for that. The immediate aftermath saw a few warnings from Walsall, not least when Hutchinson found space to head a free-kick wide and Jack Ellis cleared a scramble off the line, but Carlisle had a shout for a penalty when Edmondson went down, and all in all it was Flynn with the issues to resolve during the interval.
United had ended the half with Mellish back at base, and this is how they continued in the second period. Flynn made two changes at the break, more as things went on, and from a long way out you could see how Carlisle wanted to see things through now: absorb, and counter.
They were better at the former than the latter. United’s second-half forays lacked quality, and this kept the hosts highly interested. Holy, at this point, seemed totally assured, saving from Hutchinson and claiming umpteen crosses, while United took time over substitutions and other moments, looking to slow the occasion right down from an early point.
Walsall, with Monthe often joining the attack from the back, flashed crosses through the Carlisle box without reward. There was obvious risk that one such moment might turn out differently, given the direction of travel. Yet, after more changes for both sides, it came through that direct route, and that howling Holy error.
United looked aghast at what had befallen them, White paused amid Walsall’s celebrations to mock a devastated Holy...and the Poundland Bescot Stadium was in uproar when James-Taylor then knifed through to win it.
Fault one was Carlisle’s inability, their unwillingness, to win the game before then. Fault two hardly needs further repeating. Fault for the argy-bargy will no doubt be debated for days. The magic of the cup, eh?
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