Darlington battle to a hard earned point in front of over eleven-thousand fans at Brunton Park on Boxing Day. Pictures by Les Hodge.
Darlington battled to earn a point at a packed Brunton Park on Boxing Day. In front of over ten thousand supporters and a large travelling contingent from the Quakers' corner of the North East Darlington produced a result bourn out of frustrating refereeing decisions, a dubious penalty kick and a nasty injury to a key player early in the first half.
In a bid to gain some much needed consistency manager David Hodgson attempted to minimise the changes made to his squad but was thwarted when Stamp picked up a virus in the build up to the game meaning his highly effective partnership with Clark Keltie in the centre of midfield would not continue. Quakers had to also accommodate for the suspension of Ryan Valentine thanks to five previous bookings and so in came Matty Appleby and Brian Close.
Carlisle United have enjoyed an excellent season so far since their re-arrival back into the football league and early on the Cumbria based side pressed for an advantage with Michael Bridges, a target of Darlington's earlier in the season, in particular looking very menacing. Just as Quakers were looking to settle they were rocked by an injury to defender Joey Hutchinson who showed little signs of movement after just ten minutes. The Brunton Park pitch appeared to get the better of the former Birmingham City player and he was carried off with a suspected cruciate damage to his knee.
Quakers made a like for like change by brining on Shelton Martis and his luck wasn't much better as the Dutchman conceded a penalty kick close to the half hour mark. The referee seemed to indicate a tug of the shirt involving Carlisle's Danny Livesey. In truth it could have been anything as much of Brunton Park, especially the press box, was left bemused by the decision. Having scored eleven spot kicks at Tranmere in an LDV shootout in their last match the League two high flyers were not in any real danger of missing and Lumsdon stepped up and slotted home neatly.
Despite the dubious nature of the penalty kick Carlisle did have an excellent chance to register the first goal of the afternoon before they got lucky. Bert Bossu, who had produced an outstanding save at Stockport in the last outing, pulled off an excellent stop to keep out Brendan McGill's goal bound header from a left wing cross by Zigor Aranalde.
Quakers dug deep and got their reward with a well executed free kick eight minutes before the half time whistle sounded. Simon Johnson was fouled down the right flank and Carlos Logan sent a pin point cross to the back post where the former Leeds United man, completely unmarked, headed down and found the net in a slightly scruffy fashion. The finish was not enough to distract from how well Johnson had done to elude any kind of marking at the back stick to find the angle and get his head to the ball.
Carlisle may well have felt aggrieved to be pegged back so late in the first half as Quakers at times had rode their luck but in the second half things were much more evenly matched and the game could have swung either way. As soon as the second half had started Quakers forced a flag kick in front of their travelling fans and the cross, delivered by Logan, was punched away in a rather unconvincing manner by Kieren Westwood. The ball fell nicely for Jonjo Dickman in the area who saw his shot caught by the Carlisle keeper.
A few minutes Logan stung the hands of the former Oldham and Manchester City shot stopper as he cut inside and struck a well hit shot towards the bottom corner for another flag kick. Bossu was himself was called into action at the other end just a few minutes later on fifty-six minutes as Bridges provided a good cross for Karl Hawley who turned well and saw a fierce shot blocked by the Frenchman. Both sides made substitutions shortly after the hour as Quakers bought off Appleby for Akpo Sodje however the most welcome substation, Bridges for Holmes, was still around fifteen minutes in the making.
In the meantime the former Sunderland hit-man continued to look a danger to the visitors and Matthew Clarke had to produce an excellently timed challenge to stop him profiting from a good one two which took him to the Darlington box.
The hosts were unlucky not to regain the advantage on seventy minutes as Simon Hackney threw himself to connect with midfielder Chris Billy's cross only to see Brian Close in the right spot on the line to ensure the ball stayed out. Carlisle finally removed Michael Bridges to the relief all connected with Quakers including manager David Hodgson and chances for the home side became far more limited without Bridges on the field. Late on Dickman should have put Darlington in front for the first time but he dragged his shot wide from just twelve yards out after Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu had set him up with acres of space to pick his spot.
Many would have settled for a point prior to kick off against an in form Carlisle United and it was a point which was richly deserved and well fought for by a Darlington side who are perhaps starting to show signs that they may have turned the corner at the right time. With so many games in such a short space of time it was imperative that Quakers start well and despite the early set back and conceding a goal they dug in and did well. The first half was far from a classic, a fact not helped by a poor referee, but the second half provided clear cut chances for both sides to take the points from this game making it an engaging and enjoyable spectacle for the eleven thousand at Brunton Park.
Carlisle United: Westwood, Arnison, Livesey, Gray, Murphy, McGill, Billy, Lumsdon, Aranalde (Hackney 61), Hawley, Bridges (Holmes 74). Subs: Williams, Adam Murray, Grand, Hackney, Holmes.
Darlington: Bossu, Appleby (Sodje 62), Clarke, Hutchinson (Martis 11), Kendrick, Johnson (Kandol 78), Logan, Dickman, Close, Keltie, Ndumbu-Nsungu. Subs: Wainwright, Peacock, Kandol, Martis, Sodje.
Carlisle bookings: Gray, Lumsdon.
Darlington bookings: Kendrick.
Goals: Lumsdon 29th min (pen)(0-1), Johnson 38th min (1-1).
