Snow disrupted the football fixtures on Saturday seeing only a hand full of games being played in NPower League One, and that included Carlisle United’s match against Chesterfield.
Chesterfield are having a good run of their own after beating Oldham Athletic in the Northern area final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in midweek to reach Wembley in March. The supporters who battled the winter conditions to make it to Brunton Park were in for a treat on 16 minutes when they took the lead. Drew Talbot got the ball as he turned to shoot towards goal seeing goalkeeper Adam Collin get a touch as it went under his hands and into the back of the net.
Changes were made to Carlisle just after the interval as manager Greg Abbott brought on Patrick Madden and later on Andy Welsh made a huge difference. A corner from Jon-Paul McGovern on 74 minutes saw on loan Ben Parker rise high in the air to smash in a header past Tommy Lee to equalise.
Both teams were battling it out for the crucial three points, but it was a howler from the visitors that allowed Carlisle to extend their lead, after Francois Zoko rounded Lee who came out of his net leaving it wide open. From a slight angle, Zoko put in a simple goal that kept the Cumbrians in 7th place with the same number of points as Stevenage.
Pace and Power
Speaking to BBC Radio Cumbria after the match, Abbott said: "We have gone to war with them at half time in terms of playing with no fear, playing with a passion, playing with a determination and playing with some pace and power. We did change it round, we thought it helped and we got a response and that is all you can ask. I have said time and time again what a really good group of players they are and they have gone out there and they have won the crowd back, because at half time the crowd were frustrated, and we were frustrated because we know we are better than that.”
Teams
Carlisle United
Collin, Simek, Murphy, Parker, Michalik, McGovern, Thirlwell, Taiwo, Cook, (Welsh 71), Noble, (Madden 46), Zoko
Subs - Gillespie, Livesey, Chantler
Chesterfield
Lee, Trotman, Robertson, Thompson, Ridehalgh, (Lowry 87), Hurst, Allott, Davis, Lester, (Bowery 85), Boden, (Ajose 59), Talbot
Subs - Fleming, Whitaker
Referee-Mr Eltringham
Attendance - 4,313
Claire Burgess - Hello, my name is Claire Burgess and I have recently graduated from ULCAN (University of Central Lancashire) in Preston studying Sports ...
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