CUSCLB Match Report by Gordon Gaddes
MK Dons 3 - 1 Carlisle United
11th October 2008
AN ‘INDIAN SUMMER’ AFTERNOON IN OUR LATEST NEW CITY
Just a bit of background – I’ve supported Carlisle since 23 April 1949, when I saw them beat Accrington Stanley 4-1, in the company of Dad, uncles and cousins, all standing at the Warwick Road End, part of a 6,613 crowd. Oddly, all other matches seen ever since had been away (eg Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Fulham, Chelsea, Spurs, Luton, Bedford, Orient), until last April when, at Brunton Park and with Pam, a partly willing wife, I watched the game against Forest (crowd 9,979). You’ll therefore appreciate that, a several decade long away fan, I was almost stunned to see the relatively excellent state of the ground and the spectator facilities at Brunton Park. Another warm memory from this Forest game was the good humour and courtesy of the crowd, and the virtual absence of the sort of swearing we get down at most of our London area matches!
Anyway, to the matter in hand – today’s match! The pickup of the tickets at the hospitable Red Lion worked very well, but getting there through the MK grid road system had been a nightmare. An helpful local said locals are still confused themselves by this road system! The Landlord, a Luton fan, commiserated with us as we reminisced about the 1973 and ’74 seasons - you will remember that both clubs were promoted and demoted together (and I had had the misfortune to see us lose 6-1 to Luton in 1973).
Well, on to the match – held in a well designed and very attractive modern stadium, with an excellent playing surface and with a capacity of 22,000 (record to date 16,500 last season against Peterborough). Today the crowd was 11,194, the stewards reckoning that we had around 500 Carlisle fans, pretty good for a midday match being televised. The atmosphere at our end at the start was great, set up by a thumping drum and matching claps and chants, the drum beats petering away later as MK took control of the game. The weather was unbelievably good, as we basked in continual sunshine at the Carlisle end. We had arrived in the car park with the temperature reading 19C and left with it reading 22C!
3 Minute Danny Graham Goal
Barely having sat down we were treated to a 3-minute Danny Graham goal, headed in from a Cleveland Taylor cross. A game of football is partly about your impressions and I felt that we had the better of the first 20 minutes and we were lining up for another early goal. However, there were two particular dangers – the marauding power of Peter Leven and the free running of MK down the right wing. Moreover, Leven was delivering some wicked corners, which were hard to deal with, as we were to find out in the 62nd minute. As the half passed MK began to push us back, playing neat football along the ground and using their wingers increasingly. This paid off in the 38th minute when a fast movement down the right ended with Leven, 20 yards out, driving low into the right hand corner of the net, giving Williams no chance. We really went on the back foot from then and good defensive work saved us a couple of times before half time.
The MK pressure continued early in the second half – we seemed to be constantly on the back foot. Behind me there was a mutter: ‘we’re playing for a draw already’ and within seconds MK scored again - Llera heading from a Leven corner. My impression was that our game was up, but there was extra Carlisle pressure at the front after the two substitutions in the 72nd minute. Now an equaliser seemed possible, but MK hung on and still were able to break forward dangerously. The end came when one such break led to the third goal, a powerfully struck Leven penalty.
MK Dons Dominated
Overall this was an enjoyable and hard-fought game, although a disappointing result. Looking at the relative dominance, MK had 58% of the play, and 9 corners to 6 by Carlisle, fouls Carlisle 6, MK 4 and shots on target MK 8, Carlisle 4. On the day, unfortunately, MK were the better team – oh well, here’s to next week. A Westwood fan, I had worried about goalkeeping, but I came away impressed with the work of Ben Williams, especially his kicking under pressure. In passing, we thought that the Officials did a good job today - just another personal impression.
Pam writes: ‘the weather was stunning – vital for me and the football excellent, but the wrong team won! It would be great if all football matches could be so enjoyable. Incidentally, a Sheffield girl myself, I’ve put up with Gordon’s fanatical devotion to Carlisle United for the last 51 years’.
Gordon Gaddes