After ten days of persistent downpours in Cumbria most were relieved to see a decent looking playing surface as they arrived at New Brighton, new and unknown opposition for Carlisle having been promoted into North One West for this season.
The Cumbrian side’s away form in the early part of the season has been disappointing and an inevitable reshuffle to the squad proved to be another barrier to getting the first win from Warwick Road. Both flankers (captain Bobby Sherlock and James Brocket) remained on the sidelines with sore shoulders allowing Henry Wainwright to continue to give coach, Gary Hewer, a selection headache for when the pair eventually return. Tight-head prop Josh Homes slid back to the other flank and Edward Faulder stepped in to the front row. In the backs, recently married Barry Earl returned but scrum-half Matty Roper, despite huge effort, wasn’t allowed to miss a family wedding so James Rocke showed his versatility yet again by starting in a fourth position in as many games; Jason Israel returned to the starting line-up in his number ten jersey.

Hewer, another on the list of rugby league players/coaches who decided to switch codes, had one clear message for his team before the game which was to start strong. Carlisle took these words onto the field and did the exact opposite. A minute’s silence was held in memory of several members of New Brighton and it seemed as though the Cumbrians were still taking part in this while the home side registered their first five points of the afternoon. After kicking off, Carlisle missed a couple of tackles and found themselves defending inside their own 22. Several phases later Will McCaig found a gap on the right hand side and offloaded out of a tackle to supporting team-mate Phil Buckley who touched down for an unconverted try.

Carlisle temporarily sparked into life and enjoyed some time in possession; lifting the intensity they pulled the Brighton pack around the field and after a second line break the defence were judged to be offside which allowed Jason Isreal to reduce the deficit to two points with a penalty from forty metres out. Problems at the restart continued for the city side as they failed to cover all areas of the field. This was cleverly spotted by the Brighton stand-off who executed his kick perfectly to bounce out on the five metre line. Carlisle then compounded errors with a mix up at the resulting line out and were made to pay when McCaig got his second try of the game to make the score 10-3. The first half was frustrating for the Cumbrians. They had a lot of possession in their opponents half and line breaks were a regular occurrence by both back and forwards; notably the very vocal Alex Neil and adopted Kiwi Damian Armstrong were causing problems for Brighton’s defensive lines. However, simple handling errors and a line out which wasn’t quite functioning for the second week in a row (made worse when ‘go to man’ Ryan Feeney went off injured) were needlessly gifting the home side the ball back. The Hartsfield crowd were then treated with their sides finest try of the afternoon; a break down the right was halted by a covering tackle by Josh Holmes however New Brighton reorganised much quicker and moved the ball across the other side of the park where Vinnie Dutton was on hand to fall on a loose ball in the in goal area. The try was converted.

Gary Hewer decided to make a change in the back line by moving Damian Armstrong to fly-half and Dan Homes came on at 13. After the inspired change, Carlisle exerted more pressure on their hosts and were soon rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts which Armstrong stepped up to make amends for his short range attempts seven days earlier. Just before the break, a flowing backs move released Yousef Sahib down the left wing and Dan Homes, seeing an opportunity to score his first try since returning from breaking both arms, was in support to ground an unconverted try to make the half-time score 17-11.

As in the first half, Carlisle began the second sluggishly and hopes off a quick comeback were diminished as they received two yellow cards in two plays. The first for Paul Halliday, singled out for appearing to stamp on an opposing player as a driving maul accelerated over him. Henry Wainwright joined Halliday in the bin when the referee decided his tackle was high. For the next ten minutes the Cumbrians resorted to damage limitation as the game heated up, especially around the breakdown New Brighton were only able to post three points to the scoreboard before the Carlisle outfit was fully restored, but soon after, a Joe Silcock try stretched the deficit to seventeen points, giving the home side a try scoring bonus point, much to the delight of the crowd who now thought this try also sealed the five points.

With less than ten minutes left to play the Cumbrians had a sense of urgency in their game which had previously been non-existent, throwing the ball to their outside backs at every opportunity which paid dividends as the New Brighton pack, perhaps not yet up to pace with the intensity of level 6 rugby, began to tire. Seventeen year old Sahib ventured onto the right wing, rounded his would-be tackler when the ball was fed out, followed by the covering fullback and scored a converted try to the right of the posts. Carlisle now looked a completely different team to how they played in the first hour Straight from the restart the ball was kept alive and Jason Israel took his team deep into the opposition half. With a huge overlap on the left hand side the ball was thrown out to fly-half Armstrong however Richard Sowerby intercepted and broke through a couple of defenders to touch down in the end zone. Damian Armstrong converted to make the score 28-25. The Cumbrians, now sensing a chance to take a win back up the M6, threw everything they had at New Brighton but a knock on with a minute left to play gave the home side a scrum on their own 22 metre line. The clearance kick was well fielded by full-back Matthew Minnett, he outpaced two defenders on the left wing but was brought down ten metres from the New Brighton line. From this breakdown the ball was given to Yousef Sahib in midfield who stepped inside a defender and ran the ball in under the posts to give Carlisle the victory.

Carlisle’s line outs and simple errors in the first half will be the focal point of training this week as they weren’t up to Hewer’s, and the teams, high standards. However, to fight through adversity and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat gave everyone involved huge satisfaction and spirits will be high going into the two crucial derby games over the next couple of weeks.

The ‘old farts Man of The Match’ was awarded to Yousef Sahib.