United's Easter programme continued with the trip to Walsall on Monday afternoon.
Manager Paul Simpson went with an unchanged 18 following the impressive Good Friday home win and it was a performance full of energy and commitment that just fell short of producing all three points against a gritty Walsall outfit.
It was a terrible day for travel, with three separate M6 crashes hampering the Blue Army journey, but 1,086 of them made it to the Bescot to cheer on their team, with the away end once again looking packed and sounding splendid.
The game had very few clear-cut chances but Wilkinson flashed one wide within the first minute after he took touches before letting fly from just inside the area.
Carlisle started to look lively and a McCalmont delivery had Dennis interested. He threw himself at it, but it whipped past his outstretched toe.
Armer twice overlapped, with Mellish in support, but his centred balls were headed clear as the game remained tight.
Guy then fed Armer into an attacking area but his shot was scuffed and Evans dropped to scoop it up. A Moxon effort from an Armer throw suffered the same outcome when a slight deflection took the sting out of it.
There was more bad news on the injury front in the cursed right wing back position when Jack Ellis stayed down with just 20 minutes on the clock. A hamstring injury to the opposite leg to that which had ruled him out recently was diagnosed and Jordan Gibson was sent into the fray.
Walsall had their own run of half chances, with Holy on the dive to parry a Knowles free kick, but there was controversy at the other end when loud shouts for a penalty went unheeded.
Armer had angled his run to meet a Dennis cross that had been curled behind the back line and Knowles appeared to tug at an arm as the marauding wing back tumbled. There was exasperation for the blue contingent when it was later explained by the official that he felt there’d been no contact.
Striker Jamille Matt headed high as the second half ticked along, with neither side giving an inch, and Gibson sent a 25-yard free kick into the wall after he’d been chopped to the ground.
The Saddlers were reduced to 10-men on the hour when former Carlisle man Hayden White went in strongly on Armer, and Carlisle started to push men forward as they looked for their goal.
A quick throw was followed by a volley from Moxon that was blocked, and Armer’s cross after Gibson had expertly threaded him through suffered the same fate.
The corner count started to mount and Dennis flicked on at the front stick for Mellish to meet. Another lunge meant that the power was lacking from a downward header that Evans gathered.
Deliveries from left and right followed, with half-hearted shouts for handball included, but the red wall did its job to keep things at bay.
Into time added on and Gibson rifled one high as the pressure increased. Devitt had a flick deflected, Moxon popped a header into the keeper’s hands, and the midfielder also had a snapshot that whizzed the wrong side of the post.
The frustration was perhaps summed up with the final touch of time added on – the tenth, no less – when Ben Barclay bullied his way onto an Armer cross. Monthe got the slightest of touches and that was enough to cause the rasping header to go wide of the mark.
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Bookings
Walsall - Wilkinson
Sent off - White
Carlisle United - Armer, Patrick.
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Teams
Walsall - Evans, White (c), Gordon, Monthe, McEntee, Kinsella, Comley, Knowles, Hutchinson (Labadie 64), Wilkinson (Williams 64), Matt (Riley 64). Subs - Maddox, Stevens, Low, Maher.
Carlisle United - Holy, Barclay, Huntington (c), Mellish, Ellis (Gibson 22), Armer, Guy (Edmondson 72), Moxon, McCalmont, Patrick (Devitt 72), Dennis. Subs - Kelly, Whelan, Robinson, Garner.
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Match officials
Referee - Declan Bourne
Assistant Referee 1 - Matthew Parry
Assistant Referee 2 - Anthony Da Costa
Fourth Official - Darren Wilding
Observer - Christopher Sarginson
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Attendance - 6,117 (1,086)
