Barrow AFC 0 Carlisle United 1: Can we now say this is…promotion form? Dare we? Thirteen games, six wins, five draws, two defeats – and yes, it’s had its stodgy moments, but also yes: Carlisle are well and truly there, still punching.
Keep it going and it might prove more than enough. Falter, and it might prove nowhere near. Do either, and it might be either. This ludicrously tight League Two race, with two games to go, could yet place the Blues anywhere between second and eighth.
At least the simple beauty of a 1-0 win, always that tad sweeter against local rivals, strips away some of the complications. Win next Saturday against Salford City, and that’s United finishing in the top seven, case closed. Even a draw would make it probable.
Win that, and also defeat Sutton United the following weekend, and it’s 81 points for the season. At the very least that ought to keep Carlisle in the ball-park for the top three, or at worst, ensure some juicy momentum for the play-offs.
It would also represent a terrific effort by Paul Simpson’s side, which 75 after 44 already does. And wins like this one, let’s be honest, are what success is built on – not pretty, not particularly accomplished from a footballing point of view…but earned?
You bet your life it was earned. It had to be. Carlisle, after taking the lead through Ben Barclay’s scramble, had to fall back on other qualities to see this home.
Against a Barrow side who would quite clearly have loved to upend them on their quest, they were taken into uncomfortable places, made to fight, work, ride tricky moments, do what Zigor Aranalde liked to call “the dark work” to get it in the can.
That they did, depending on some last-ditch defending at times – Jack Armer’s challenge on Ben Whitfield was magnificent in this respect – and consummate stuff at others (Paul Huntington, pretty much all game). There was also a shade of fortune, Josh Kay skimming the post with nearly the last kick, but the sweet arithmetic of Barrow 0 Carlisle 1 was merited.
Pete Wild’s post-match reckoning that “only one team should have won that” was over-egged. His Barrow did spend a good deal of the second half, and indeed some of the first, pushing at Carlisle. It was hardly, though, a one-sided contest. From the 15th minute, the onus was on the hosts to work out United and their early lead. Ultimately, they did not.
The Bluebirds’ wait for a league win over United continues, then, unchecked since 1960. This always looked a potential tripwire for Carlisle, given Barrow’s recent home form, their creditable ninth-placed status and the dash of spice it’s pointless anyone pretending doesn’t exist in games like this.
It was a day of rain and then sun, shafts of light amid a slate-grey footballing spectacle. From the opening spate of head tennis came some defining chances: first to Barrow, Harrison Neal unable to beat Tomas Holy when picked out by Ben Whitfield, then Carlisle scoring, when Owen Moxon’s corner was glanced on by Kristian Dennis and Barclay, in instalments, pocketing the chance amid a spate of blue and white bodies.
United’s 640 fans celebrated…then got down to the long remainder of a hard spectacle. Simpson’s team, rejigged into 4-3-3, had the extra physicality of Jon Mellish in midfield and Ryan Edmondson on the attacking right, and the need to compete with such muscle was apparent as the game went on.
Barrow, when they found space amid the struggle, caused nuisance through the clever line-leading of Josh Gordon, and punched out chances for George Ray and Whitfield. United responded by feeding the ball forward for JK Gordon to put home defenders on their heels.
In neither direction, though, was there devil. What was crucial, then, was that Carlisle clamped down on any live threat. That they did when Niall Canavan carved Whitfield into excessive space left by the stricken Corey Whelan, and Armer responded like a guard dog, killing Barrow’s best first-half chance.
Barrow could not get their own Gordon, their top scorer, into such positions and this remained true even as they grew more persistent in the second half. Patrick Brough’s long stride opened up a chance on the break yet neither he nor Tom White could find much daylight between Huntington and his colleagues.
Carlisle, for a fair spell of the second half, couldn’t retain the ball for long enough, and so a better chance came White’s way on the hour, but Holy stood solidly. United had their moments on the break – Dennis finishing weakly when fed by the relentless Callum Guy, Moxon denied when wriggling past opponents – then a cluster of changes for both sides gave the closing stages another spin.
Carlisle nearly benefited the most when Omari Patrick, keen to carry the fight back to Barrow, evaded two lunges on a thrilling break only to be denied at the last. Wild, an emotional touchline presence, was booked for protesting one of James Bell's decisions, while another Patrick dart met an 11th-hour Barrow challenge.
As things ticked on, the home side could not draw blood for all their bluster. A 95th-minute corner, bringing keeper Paul Farman up, was returned into the box and Kay battered the outside of the upright. The ball spun away, and United darted back up the road with three points that mean…ah, heck, who knows what they mean.
Exciting, though, isn’t it? 180 minutes left, of this magnitude? It’s what winning gets you, what determination gets you. May the Blues retain plenty of it, as that finish line looms.
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