Carlisle United - Caig, Kane, Kavanagh, Murphy, Swinglehurst, Bridge-Wilkinson (Todd 65), Hurst, McKenna, Robson, Bowman, Roberts (Osmond 74). Subs - Gillespie, McGlen, Towler, Jones.

The Cumbrians shaded it in the first half half with some controlled football but they had stopper Tony Caig to thank for their clean sheet as he saved athletically from Airey and Henderson mid-way through the half.

Assistant-manager Graham Kavanagh said: "We played well but they did have a short spell where we needed to defend.

"We coped with just about everything that they threw at us though and I think we grew in confidence as the half went on."

Ryan Bowman pounced to nod home a bouncing ball as Ben McKenna thrashed a powerful shot off the crossbar following some excellent build up play involving Kane and Bridge-Wilkinson. And it was looking good as Carlisle took their lead into the break.

"It was a good goal with Bowman gambling on the follow up," Kavanagh explained. "That paid off for him and we felt confident that we could build on it in the second half."

But Phil Airey turned the game on its head when he scored twice in the space of 8 minutes and that was that as the Magpies closed ranks and played the remainder of the game out in midfield.

"That was an excellent run out for us," Kavanagh concluded. "It's exactly the kind of competitive game that we want, to give our squad pitch time, and we thank Peter Beardsley and his staff for hosting us this afternoon."

Former-Aston Villa midfielder Tomos Roberts joined the United squad for the game and played 75 minutes.

Roberts, 19, started his career with Manchester United as a schoolboy but spent his YTS years at Aston Villa.

He was capped for Wales at U16 and U19 level.

Manager Greg Abbott said: "Games like this present us with an opportunity to look at trial players and to try different things.

"He'll have found that to be a very competitive tempo, so we'll sit down as a group and discuss what we've seen, and then we can take it from there."