As Carlisle United look to maintain a promotion push, backed by increasingly vocal support, the mind goes back to successful challenges of the past – and times when crowds were well and truly surging behind the Blues.
Occasionally, there were more fans than United could handle. One such time was December 1994, in the middle of the magnificent Division Three championship season led by Mick Wadsworth.
Carlisle, come December, were established at the top of the pile, a side featuring the diverse talents of Derek Mountfield, David Reeves, Rod Thomas and David Currie having swept to the summit.
Boxing Day saw United in particularly formidable shape, beating Hartlepool United 5-1 at Victoria Park. It was the last season when Carlisle would play festive games on consecutive days, and so December 27 meant the visit of promotion rivals Bury to Brunton Park.
Carlisle anticipated a 10,000 crowd, but many more turned up. Whilst 12,242 were allowed into the ground, some 2,000 were locked out and denied the chance to watch the much-anticipated game.
Supt George McCrone, of Carlisle police, said the decision to close the gates, five minutes after kick-off, was taken by the Blues’ safety officer when capacity was reached.
Chairman Michael Knighton, meanwhile, said: “My heart bleeds for those people who came to see their team and missed the game. I will personally look into the matter.
“I just hope the fans who couldn’t get in will retain their interest and understand that it’s not the club’s fault.”
Whilst many pressed their noses against the glass, those inside Brunton Park – including 900 from Bury – were treated to a performance which simply highlighted Carlisle’s fourth-tier dominance.
Wadsworth was able to name his best XI, with teenager Paul Murray among the substitutes, and it led to a powerful statement of superiority. Carlisle went on the attack early, Thomas almost setting up Currie in the fourth minute, before fit-again captain Simon Davey set up Reeves for a shot that keeper Gary Kelly had to tip over the bar.
Darren Edmondson then nearly supplied Reeves on the break…before United’s irresistible pressure finally told.
It forced a sloppy error at the back from Bury, whose defender Nick Daws mis-hit a volleyed backpass, onto which Currie cruised. The experienced forward carried it from the right to the middle, deftly rounded Kelly and caressed the ball into the empty net.
A great eruption went up in the packed ground, and already it felt Carlisle were on course for the kind of afternoon they had yearned for. As the first half went on, Reeves and Davey went close, as did Thomas, before a rare Bury chance saw Michael Jackson’s header hit his team-mate, Mark Carter, on the Blues goalline.
If that summed up the Shakers’ fortunes, it could not be said that Carlisle were ahead on luck. After the break, they powered on - and on 51 minutes doubled their lead.
This time a high, dipping ball was clipped by Reeves from the left, and Paul Conway, having drifted into space to the right, collected it smartly before sliding it across Kelly for goal number two.
Any lingering doubt about the outcome was now in smithereens. It was now a confident procession from Wadsworth’s side, who almost scored again through Dean Walling, before Thomas hit the post.
Then, with 13 minutes remaining, they did score an attractive third. Conway was the creator this time, sending a sweet pass forward into the galloping path of substitute Jeff Thorpe.
He teed up the arriving Reeves, Carlisle’s record signing and top scorer stroked the ball home, and the celebrations were very much under way.
The noise around Brunton Park barely subsided as United closed out their 3-0 win, Bury seeing a late Jackson goal disallowed and ref David Allison’s final whistle confirming the very festive outcome: Carlisle were now 11 points clear of second-placed Bury at the top of the table, and 14 above the play-off places after 21 games.
“You dream you might be top at Christmas – now we want to be top in May,” said Wadsworth after the emphatic result.
“The major source of success comes from within, and it’s up to the players to keep going, and keep their feet on the ground.”
They did – but still soared. It remained one of the great Brunton Park campaigns, as United, backed by the ‘deckchair army', married their league dominance with a first-ever run to Wembley in the Auto-Windscreens Shield.
That led to a stirring day at the national stadium, where United lost valiantly to third-tier Birmingham City, before wrapping up the title at far-off Colchester United with a couple of games to spare.
The last act of the season came against Lincoln City, when a marginally higher crowd than the Bury game were inside Brunton Park (12,412) to watch Wadsworth’s heroes crowned.
It was one of just three championships lifted by the Blues in their Football League history and remains, in many ways, the benchmark for what the revitalised club, and their fans, can look and feel like.
United: Caig, Edmondson, Gallimore, Walling, Mountfield, Prokas, Conway, Davey, Thomas (Thorpe), Currie, Reeves. Not used: Murray, Elliott.
Bury: Kelly, Jackson, Stanislaus, Mauge, Lucketti, Daws (Cross), Hughes, Carter, Matthews, Johnrose, Pugh. Not used: Rigby, Bracey.
Crowd: 12,242.
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