As Carlisle United face an exciting finale to a season they hope will end in promotion, it was all rather different – but no less dramatic – 20 years ago today.
While occasions like St Jimmy’s Day are traditionally toasted by Blues fans, there will always be a special place in the memory for April 29, 2003.
That can be known as Brian Wake Day: the night when the striker scored an extremely timely hat-trick to save Carlisle from relegation to non-league, and consigned opponents Shrewsbury Town to that fate instead.
It was a tense night at Gay Meadow, a midweek occasion when it felt like a great deal rested on the outcome: not just United’s Football League status but their standing of a club of that size.
The Cumbrians were in a new era, Michael Knighton’s ten-year reign having ended in 2002 and John Courtenay having swept in, restoring his fellow Irishman Roddy Collins to the manager’s job.
Chaos, though, remained a friend of United, and a tempestuous season, which brought the unlikely happening of a cup final appearance (in the LDV Vans Trophy) pitched them into what was the latest of many fights for fourth-tier survival.
It was the season which had started with a big, new-era home crowd against Hartlepool, when a young debutant striker, signed from non-league Tow Law Town, had scored United’s consolation goal in a 3-1 defeat.
Brian Wake would announce himself later in the autumn with a hat-trick at home to Boston United, but was often a substitute as the campaign unfolded. They were formative Football League days for the forward, who had been studying a pipe-fitting apprenticeship at ICI Billingham in Stockton-on-Tees before Carlisle came in.
“When I first came, there was a transfer embargo at the club, so I couldn’t play for six months,” Wake said. “When I look back now, it was the biggest blessing in disguise I had. I wasn’t ready. I remember my first training session when we had an internal game on Brunton Park. I was up against Stuart Whitehead and he kept pushing me off the ball. It was a shock to the system.
“But I played a lot of reserve games, trained with the first team and the following pre-season I felt more comfortable, as if I’d come to terms with it. I was physically stronger, too.”
Wake made intermittent appearances behind first-choice forwards such as Richie Foran, Craig Farrell and, later in the campaign, Craig Russell, but received fresh faith from Collins during the anxious run-in. He scored in a 6-1 hiding at Wrexham but chipped in with another at Torquay in a significant 3-2 win.
When they went to Shrewsbury, the bottom side, they knew that victory would at last secure safety – but defeat would make things mightily precarious with one game to go.
There was additional media interest in the knife-edge game, reflected in BBC Radio Five Live’s decision to offer live coverage, while the charismatic, rough-edged Courtenay joined Derek Lacey for BBC Radio Cumbria and streaked his summariser’s performance with agitated swear words.
“It was quiet on the bus to the game,” Wake said. “Normally our bus would have been vocal, people having a laugh. But there was a sense of people really understanding what was at stake.
“Roddy, I have to say, was great at getting players up for it and he got us really motivated before we went out. It was a big thing for me to be selected for a game of such importance.”
Carlisle took to Shrewsbury’s pitch in their white away shirts, backed by vocal travelling supporters in a 7,000+ crowd. An early blow came when the hosts were awarded a 31st-minute penalty for Paul Raven's challenge on Luke Rodgers, which Nigel Jemson – the veteran striker whose portly appearance made him a convenient target for away-end stick – converted.
Yet 20-year-old Wake then snatched the script. Five minutes later, “my first one came from a set-piece – it dropped to the back post and I managed to tap it in. For the second one I made a bit of a slide-tackle to start it off, my good friend Ryan Baldacchino slipped me in and I managed to keep my composure, go round the ’keeper and put it in.”
The goals came in the space of two minutes and the sense of foreboding now gripping Shrewsbury was in contrast to the new brightness surrounding Carlisle and Wake. Five minutes into the second half came his third: “The last one was a bit fortunate. Richie Foran did well in the air, flicked it on, I took a touch, got a ricochet, it dropped in my path and I managed to go round the goalkeeper again.”
Rodgers dipped in a consolation goal, after the hosts' sub Ryan Lowe had been sent off for violent conduct a few minutes after coming on, but Carlisle’s 3-2 win left Shrewsbury relegated and persuaded their manager Kevin Ratcliffe to resign days later. United could exhale – and Wake could consider his heroic part in their redemption.
“It just felt unbelievable – not just for me, but for my teammates,” he said. “I take a lot of accolades from that match, but I always say that Richie Foran was an unsung hero, flicking balls on, winning things. The biggest thing I remember, though, was the support we had behind the goal. Those Carlisle fans were special – our 12th man, helping us to pull through.
“Sitting on the bus afterwards, I felt grateful to have had the opportunity, grateful it had gone well and, to get a hat-trick…amazing.”
The treble at such a vital time was instantly acknowledged by the people to whom it had meant the most. After Carlisle had lost their final match of the season at home to Bournemouth, Wake met his parents: “They had come to watch the game and, before driving back to Teesside, I said: ‘Come on, let’s go and get some food.’ So we went to the Beehive pub over the road from Brunton Park.
“It was full of Carlisle fans, and they all stood and applauded as we walked in. My mam got all emotional. It’s a really special moment, to be with your parents when something like that happens.
“My mam still often talks about it. All the way through I thought the Carlisle fans were great.”
The hat-trick proved a highlight, but not a launchpad for Wake at Carlisle. Collins’ demise the following season brought Paul Simpson into the manager’s chair and he saw little place for Wake as he set about changing United. The striker left with no harsh feelings and pursued his career at Gretna, followed by Scarborough, Greenock Morton and Gateshead before an opportunity arose in Sweden with Östersunds.
Years later he joined their coaching staff and has remained in Scandinavia. Now 40, he is currently a youth team manager at Danish club Viborg…and still, 20 years on, in the affections of Blues supporters who know how much worse things could have been without those three goals which pulled them back from the brink and instead left their rivals staring into their pints at a Wake of United's making.
Brian Wake interview adapted from Bolts From The Blues by Jon Colman (Vertical Editions, £14.99). All author's proceeds go to the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust's Covid-19 appeal. The book is available in many local bookshops and on Amazon, and has just been re-stocked by Carlisle United's Blues Store.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here