There was too much riding on this match for it to be anything other than a nervy tight match with little between the two sides. Rumour has it that Barry Israel was cooking the visitors breakfast, they were here that early in preparation for the game. The mathematicians were out in force calculating every scenario, but really the maths was simple. Win and we secured league status and left Manchester and Altrincham to fight out the last relegation spot. Lose and it would probably go to the last game of the season. Didn’t really hear the draw option being mentioned, but more of that later.

Carlisle kicked off and within 3mins had the chance to take the lead. After the pack stole one against the head with the first scrum, it gave fly half Max Connon a penalty opportunity, but unfortunately the kick went wide. Carlisle kept up the pressure and the visitors had to put in a lot of tackles to keep the Cumbrians at bay. Just as Carlisle were surging forward, a bout of handbags inside AKs 22 left both sides short of a player, and from the resulting scrum, another penalty gave Connon an easier opportunity to put the first points on the board for Carlisle, on the half hour mark. AK lost another player to the bin for a high tackle, yet Carlisle were unable to capitalise on the extra man. In fact it was AK who finished the half the stronger and Carlisle coughed up an easy penalty opportunity for the visitors in front of the posts for the game to finish 3-3 at half time.

AK carried that momentum into the second half and within 6 mins of the restart had gone into the lead from a second penalty, as Carlisle infringed at the breakdown. The scores were levelled 4 mins later though as Connon converted another easy 3 pointer as Carlisle surged forward. Both sides had opportunities and possession, but neither side were able to make much of that given the defences of each team worked hard to cancel each other out.

It was Carlisle though who would break that deadlock after the hour mark as a break and kick chase down the right wing by Robbie James, forced the AK defender to knock on under extreme pressure from the Carlisle attack. Carlisle then had the opportunity to exert the scrum dominance that they’d had for most of the game. Scrumming two penalty opportunities in the right corner, Angus Fulton was unlucky not to score on the second attempt, as the ball bobbled off the back of a foot just as he was about to dot down, causing him to knock on. However Carlisle shoved AK off their scrum and won another opportunity to scrum the ball. Carlisle again shoved AK backwards at speed, and the referee binned the visitors loosehead.
The home side can feel more than a little aggrieved that they got nothing out of this period, since that forced the game into uncontested scrums, nullifying an important part of Carlisle’s game. The Carlisle side eventually used the extra man to swing possession across the park, and despite some desperate defending on the line by the visitors, Lee Brumpton squeezed over to put Carlisle into the lead with 6 mins to go.

Credit to the visitors then then just threw everything at Carlisle, looking for a way back into the game. Then with no time on the clock, but with a penalty in front of the posts in the bag, the AK flyhalf floated a crossfield kick to the right winger, who managed to squeeze past the Carlisle defender to score in the right hand corner, levelling the match to the delight of the travelling support. Although we had a nervous few minutes to wait for the conversion attempt, it was a difficult kick to make, and the game ended at 11-11.

On balance probably a fair result, since neither side really stamped their authority on the game. Both sides defended well for most of the match, with neither side really finding that cutting edge to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Head Coach David Stout commented later that this was “ a predictably close game, going down to the wire. We weren’t helped by the weather but based on possession and opportunities created, we should have won.
We go again next week knowing that a couple more points will be enough.
We will respect the midweek cup game but hope that lessons can be learnt by those in charge when planning such fixtures in future when league fixtures are still at such a vital stage”

Captain Tom Graham reflected that this was “ A game that wasn’t lost but it felt that way: It was always going to be a scrappy affair as both teams battled it out to secure league status. We need to be more clinical going into the last 2 games. We need 2 points from the last 2 games and we are going to do it starting with a W"

Draws never leave anyone satisfied, neither players,coaches or spectators, particularly when there is much at stake as there was in this game. It extends the nervous wait about survival in this league at least another week, yet its all in Carlisle’s hands to secure. Since Manchester also secured 2 points in their loss against Firwood Waterloo, it just meant everyone stayed in their same relative positions in the league but now with a game less to play. All three sides have games against quality opposition in the last weeks of the season, so no-one has an easy run in, and everything is to play for.

In the middle of all this is the County Cup fixture on Tuesday night against Aspatria, which now provides an unwelcome distraction from our league campaign, through no fault of our own, instead of being something to look forward to. The “Beast from the East” may have contributed to the disruption to fixtures, but the withdrawals from Cup games have somewhat devalued this years competition, something that Cumbria Rugby Union will have to look at for next year.

Your support on Tuesday night, kick off 7.30pm, will be welcome.