HAD WORSE DAYS OUT
Neil Nixon gives us his take on the 2-2 draw down at Swindon last weekend.
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One option was the early start, the meeting in London and the train journey interrupted by the 'special' bus service on the way to Swindon.
Honestly, there was a time when 'special' meant good. You know, like: 'Stan Bowles, he's special.' Anyway, I drove, stacked up some decent CDs in the car, actually managed to sit out in the sun reading the paper at the M4 services and still got to Swindon in time to bag a parking space right in front of the ground. When I asked one of their stewards where I'd find the Tap and Barrel he said, 'crikey, that's a rough 'un.' He was smiling when he said it, still smiling when I made my way towards the pub.
It wasn't that rough, probably because there wouldn't have been room for a home fan given the wall to wall presence of the Blue Army. Most of the characters known and loved in these reports were in evidence somewhere and the talk moved swiftly from the likelihood of any current Gretna star joining us to our chances on the day. Injuries, a shortage of strike options and Swindon's inconsistencies were all discussed over rapidly downed pints before we walked the two streets back and took our seats.
In a game played generally in a positive spirit and full of incident United came back to earn a point, much of which we owed to Kieren Westwood. He kept us in the hunt, despite the home side monopolising the attacks and chances. With United defending in front of the Blue Army in the first half it was a nervy time.
Mike Timlin set up a series of attacks for Swindon the most threatening of which saw Westwood pull of an incredible triple save in the 31st minute after blocking Simon Cox who had a one to one Westwood responded to make two more phenomenal stops. Blair Sturrock's blast of the first rebound appeared to be on its way in.
With a slew of other top drawer saves Westwood was congratulated by his team-mates at half time. In response Carlisle had managed moves but little real threat, Danny Graham's looping header when he spotted Petr Brezovan off his line being the best effort.
The game continued in the same pattern until the hard-working Simon Hackney found space on the left and surged forward, playing the ball back for Grant Smith to whip in a deadly accurate cross for the fast-arriving Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, who nodded home the first goal against the run of play. The home side swarmed up to the other end, generating a series of attacks which were blocked by the United defence and Westwood. A 61st minute corner was pushed into the United goalmouth and Simon Cox bundled it over from very close range.
Neither side was willing to settle for a point and end to end football followed until Blair Sturrock got space to run at the Carlisle defence, jinking either side of Peter Murphy and appearing to slightly mishit his shot. With Westwood unsighted the ball entered an empty corner of the net and United's heads briefly dropped. The Blues kept chasing a result and despite weathering more attacks and struggling to hold the ball in the danger area still bundled forward. The travelling support got behind them and their equalising goal on 86 minutes showed their commitment. Simon Hackney's corner rose high and came out into the area where Peter Murphy powered upwards to head home. Despite four minutes of added time there was no other begging chance for either side.
As a rule there is a massed rank of the Blue Army heading for the gents after the Swindon game, there are miles to go for most before another gents is likely to offer itself. The last time I'd headed in this direction I'd overheard discussions of concentrating on the league after Swindon dumped us out of the cup last year. This time there were discussions of a point saved and the growing whisper that Swansea and Doncaster had both lost.
I've had worse days out.
