Carlisle United 1 Crewe Alexandra 0: For a scoreline which is often dream stuff for managers, there seemed a lot of angst accompanying this 1-0 Carlisle United win. For Sam Cosgrove, though, it was a day of nothing but joy.

After a first half which had some supporters checking their memories for a less invigorating Brunton Park afternoon, the narrative was grabbed by a young striker who was, until the 76th minute, searching for his first professional goal.

What happened reminded us that, even on the gloomiest of days generally, good stories can still emerge. Cosgrove, whose future at United was in the balance during 2017's final weeks, made himself the hero here, peeling away to the far post to head home Tom Parkes' deep, deflected cross.

It was a goal the 21-year-old had threatened to score in his three starts since the turn of the year. Cosgrove had hit the post and seen two efforts disallowed in a United shirt before persistence finally paid off.

The result was a Carlisle victory that will not feature on an extended highlights DVD, but was a win nonetheless. In this highly inconsistent season, it would seem churlish to turn that down on style grounds, however tempting that might be.

Cosgrove, who went home with the man-of-the-match award for the second successive weekend, will now surely lead the line at Sheffield Wednesday in tomorrow night's FA Cup replay. From fringe player to certain pick: it has been a rapid start to the new year for the former Wigan man, whose emergence has brightened uncertain times at Brunton Park.

A big reason Cosgrove hoovers up all these column inches is that there was, to repeat, not a great deal else to sing about on Saturday. From 3pm to 3.45pm, patrons would have been entitled to turn their backs on the pitch and feel they might be better entertained.

From the start of the second half, Carlisle did at least gain some urgency for the arrival of two substitutes, Luke Joyce and John O'Sullivan. Yet the Blues were still far from potent, Cosgrove aside, and so the debate must be how much one can celebrate a victory this ugly.

Only if it is followed by more, is the reasonable answer. At least the gap to the play-offs - still an ambitious target, on United's general performance level - was trimmed rather than increased. At least it keeps Carlisle in the conversation where the top seven is concerned.

In the credit column, you could also acknowledge a second clean sheet in eight days. Crewe, although decorative with their passing and movement, were toothless, while United's defence was manned solidly by Clint Hill, and Jack Bonham made a couple of attentive saves.

Joyce's return was also blatantly welcome from the way he added some industry to a bland collective. O'Sullivan, too, introduced a bit of purpose. They were, though, doing so from a standing start, so poor was that first half.

With United's lack of pace and quality, and the visitors' shortage of final-third danger, it was a mid-table squabble of limited intrigue. The movement of David Artell's players bore the Crewe stamp but the reasons for their position at the lesser end of League Two were also plain as they failed to find a finish.

Their best chance came when they passed their way around United in the fifth minute and sent Jordan Bowery through. He steered a very makeable chance against the post and Bonham fell on the rebound.

From there, Paul Green sat deep in their midfield, directing operations, and Carlisle were ragged and unadventurous. Their passing was often dull and their speed of thought cold. A few Cosgrove aerial wins didn't lead to much, while half-chances for Danny Grainger and Hallam Hope failed to trouble the scorers.

It took half an hour, truly, for United to find any impetus at all. James Brown was denied a penalty after bustling into the box and coming up against Green, while Cosgrove kept goalkeeper Ben Garratt honest with a sharp-angled shot. Brown then went close from the right, but these were rarities, since Carlisle were otherwise short of imagination against a defence that included their old stalwart, Michael Raynes.

Keith Curle, who Cosgrove would spare a less forgiving supporter reaction, later said he was so incensed with what certain members of his chosen XI were producing that he had to be talked out of making a substitution in the 35th minute. In the event he settled for half-time, hooking Brown and Reggie Lambe.

The switch to 4-4-2 showed intent but did not, initially, come with fluency, and after 18 more gruelling minutes, disaster nearly befell the Blues, when Grainger and Parkes collided in their box but George Cooper failed to take advantage with his attempted lob.

That, in a sense, summed Crewe up, and they declined from there. Their tepid work around United's area gave Carlisle hope, and had they been as animated as Artell was on the touchline, it could have been a more lively afternoon.

As it happened, Carlisle eventually did the attacking work that counted. With Richie Bennett also on, for Hope, United went longer, and wider. O'Sullivan almost served Bennett with a powerful cross, while the offside flag denied Cosgrove as he smartly turned home Jamie Devitt's delivery.

The striker then fired over as Bennett rode a Raynes foul and linked with Devitt. You did not sense the goal was coming, exactly, but the direction of travel was positive enough, and eventually it was rewarded, as a free-kick came back Parkes' way, he ventured down the left and sent it deep, and Cosgrove put it away like a much more experienced number nine.

There was no flag this time to spoil this great moment in a young career, which was marked in different ways in the stands. To the right of the press seating, young fans from both clubs traded views. In the case of one, from the Crewe end, a plastic bottle came flying into the United zone.

Gestures were further exchanged, postures struck. Down on the grass, meanwhile, Carlisle did enough to consolidate. Hill, impeccable on career appearance 651, went close from a corner, while Joyce, hitting a 450-game landmark, galloped here and there.

Garratt blocked when a Hill header dropped for Bennett, and for all Crewe's supposed need to find a way back, it took until the very final seconds for them to create anything that looked like a chance - and, when a cross was laid back to Cooper, Bonham was in the right place to save.

These individual acts were the positives United could take from an afternoon that won't have inspired much poetry. Bonham's progress recently has been encouraging, while Cosgrove's breakthrough looks like a welcome answer in a season of questions.

Carlisle, in all truth, would be best served by holding onto those small achievements and bundling the rest of Saturday's spectacle into a darkened corner where it does not need to be touched again.

TEAMS

United: Bonham, Liddle, Hill, Parkes, Grainger, Brown (Joyce 46), Jones, Devitt, Lambe (O'Sullivan 46), Hope (Bennett 63), Cosgrove. Not used: Bacon, Nabi, Ellis, S Miller.

Goal: Cosgrove 76

Booked: Bennett

Crewe Alexandra: Garratt, Bakayogo, Walker, Raynes, Lowery (Finney 83), Green, Ainley (Kirk 78), Nolan, Cooper, Dagnall, Bowery (Reilly 83). Not used: Richards, Wintle, Pickering, Lundstram.

Booked: Raynes, Walker

Ref: Chris Sarginson

Crowd: 4,467 (301 Crewe fans)