Just one change from first impressions to last weekend's side that lost 1-0 at home to Millwall, with club captain Terry Skiverton having recovered from a virus to return to the heart of the defence. However, there were more subtle changes afoot with some shifting around of personnel. Last week, Peter Sweeney had occupied the left-wing slot but this time he was moved into the head of a diamond midfield, with Jean-Paul Kalala occupying his usual position at the base, whilst Chris Cohen and Arron Davies occupied the central slots.

If that was the gameplan, then it didn't have a particularly auspicious start with Yeovil put under pressure by the home side right from the start. Five minutes into the match, Terry Skiverton had to head the ball off his own line, with Chris Cohen and Jean-Paul Kalala also both blocking close to their own goal as Karl Hawley and Zigor Aranalde rained in shots on the Yeovil goal as the Glovers failed to clear their lines from an early corner. The Zigor Aranalde effort blocked by Skivo was close enough for the local Press Association representative to start claiming that Carlisle had taken the lead - perhaps he should have been alert to realise that play restarted with a corner! This was one of many conceded by Yeovil throughout the match - there were six corners inside the first 10 minutes alone, and from the 4th, Steve Mildenhall had to get down well to palm away an Aranalde header for another yet corner kick.

This was a world away from the start that was required. With no wide men in midfield, Carlisle left-back Zigor Aranalde was getting a full 90 yards worth of space before he came up against Andy Lindegaard in the back line, and the home side were exploiting that side of the park to such an extreme that you began to wonder if Aranalde actually was a defender or a winger. With just 15 minutes played, Russell Slade changed formation back to a conventional 4-4-2 with the opening gambit clearly not working. Peter Sweeney switched back to left wing with Arron Davies moving wide to the right flank, to try and cut out the runs of Aranalde.

That change restored some balance with Yeovil finally managing to get some pressure back on their hosts with a Terry Skiverton flick-on from a throw-in being met by Marcus Stewart at the back post and his header looped over the crossbar. Then Chris Cohen had a shot from distance that struck a Carlisle defender inside the box. There were some perhaps optimistic appeals for a penalty that were waved away by referee Eddie Ilderton.

Kevin Gall got space wide out but couldn't keep his shot down against his former club as he looped the ball over the bar. Meanwhile Nathan Jones became the first booking for a late tackle on Gall - the man he said pre-match he was looking forward to battling with. On this occasion, the Yeovil left-back lost out but on the whole that flank was holding up a little better than the opposite side was.

With the home side having pressurised so much during the early stages with the succession of corners won, it is worth noting that Leon Best won Yeovil's first corner on 33 minutes, with the home side having already won eight by this stage such was the relative dominance. Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood had yet to make a save during the game, and hadn't exactly had too much in the way of crosses to deal with either.

Despite the formation change slightly halting the one-way flow, Carlisle were still the better side, and left-back Zigor Aranalde once again managed an impressive run down the flank, and the home side went close through Paul Murray after the left-back's cross was headed just over the bar by an incoming Murray.

When you are playing this poorly, what you don't need is for fate to conspire against you, but that was what happened in the lead-up to half time when Yeovil suffered a double injury blow, losing both Andy Lindegaard and Marcus Stewart. They managed to get Lindy off the field, and replaced by Anthony Tonkin, but before they could sort out a second substitution, Carlisle finally broke the deadlock as Yeovil attempted to reorganise at the back.

After gaining possession inside the box, a Kevin Gall cross was met by Joe GARNER who cleverly volleyed the ball home from 15 yards to give Carlisle a deserved lead. The on-loan Blackburn striker finished superbly giving Steve Mildenhall little chance of stopping the ball from hitting the back of the net. Even if it had been scored with the Glovers in disarray and possibly upset by their two injuries, 1-0 was pretty much what Yeovil deserved. In fact by the time the 43rd minute strike had been converted it should have been much much worse.

Immediately following the goal, Marcus Stewart limped off clutching his calf and Yeovil reorganised putting Nathan Jones into the right-back position whilst Tonkin occupied the left-back slot. Wayne Gray went straight into a striking position to partner Leon Best. But manager Russell Slade was going to need one heck of a team-talk to sort out some of what had gone on before that, with the home side utterly dominant throughout.

There was one surprise at the start of the second period. Scott Guyett came out for the second half replacing Terrell Forbes as a tactical decision, Russell Slade perhaps gambling a touch by using up his final substitution with 45 minutes still to go.

The half certainly got off to a far more positive start, with Chris Cohen dispossessing a Carlisle midfielder, breaking forward and releasing the ball through to Leon Best. Best ran on then shot from distance when perhaps holding the ball up for Arron Davies who was running into space would have been a better idea. But when Best was put away on a second occasion, this time he was less selfish, muscling himself away from his marker, threading the ball to his right, finding Wayne GRAY who fired the ball home first time into the far corner on the angle for an unexpected equaliser.

Minutes later, with their tails now up for the first time in the game, another move by Arron Davies saw a shot-cum-cross beaten out by Carlisle keeper Keiren Westwood and almost into the path of Leon Best but the ball just about evaded him as he rushed in with the ball flying out past him. Chris Cohen picked up his seventh yellow of the season when perhaps losing his composure after referee Eddie Ilderton refused to blow up for what Glovers players felt were fouls on Cohen and then Peter Sweeney - Cohen eventually taking matters into his own hands and picking up a deserved booking for a rash challenge on Paul Murray.

There was a nervous let-off for Yeovil when Steve Mildenhall misjudged the bobbling pitch as he sliced a clearance with some miscommunication between him and Scott Guyett as to who should be picking up a ball that game their way but the latter thankfully bailed him out by booting the loose ball away for a corner. Anthony Tonkin became the third booking of the afternoon when he dithered in his own half with Kevin Gall forcing yet another foul wide on the right as he dispossessed the full-back with Tonks bringing him down. Russell Slade vented his feelings on the subject, quite clearly making it clear to his defence that he did not want them playing around with the ball in their own half.

Despite the second period being a significant improvement upon the first half display, the Glovers were still in the main under the cosh with Slade continuing a repetitive bark of instructions from the side line, screaming at his players to keep tackling away and keep their discipline. Carlisle continued their pressure, although perhaps without being as threatening on goal, forcing corner No. 15 by the hour mark but the Yeovil back line stayed resolute and did not panic.

Somewhat against the run of play though, and with just 18 minutes left, Yeovil grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, showing Carlisle exactly how to convert chances. Paul Murray fouled Wayne Gray, giving Yeovil a free kick on the angle of the box. Peter Sweeney has come to the club with a good reputation for being a free kick specialist and it was his ball into the box that curled into no-man's land with Carlisle's defence watching and waiting, presumably expecting their goalkeeper to deal with it. Keiren Westwood only belatedly decided to come for the ball, Leon BEST challenged the keeper and got in ahead of the custodian, heading home to make the scoreline a rather improbable 2-1 to Yeovil, and Westwood perhaps looking a little red-faced at his lack of dominance in the box.

Carlisle's response was to make a double substitution, including Kevin Gall being replaced by Johann Smith, with the former Glovers striker not finishing the game as the home side were forced to gamble with fresh faces. Smith made an early impact with Jean-Paul Kalala becoming Yeovil's fourth booking of the match, bringing down the substitute after he had only just made his first touch of the game. Then Steve Mildenhall was brough into action when Joe Garner produced a superb drive into the corner of the goal but the Yeovil keeper was equal to it, palming the ball out for yet another Carlisle corner. From that subsequent corner Nathan Jones cleared the ball off his line, doing well to stand his ground on the post and guard Steve Mildenhall's post. Despite being 2-1 up, the Glovers were certainly not finding life easy at all.

After enduring a difficult time at Brunton Park the whole afternoon, what happened in the final minute of the match and the injury time that followed was a little difficult to take in. Chris Cohen won possession in midfield, driving forward in a typical run. He slipped the ball through to Leon BEST, who drove the ball home from the edge of the box, seeing his strike ping off the inside of the left-hand post, roll across the face of the goal and eventually nestle into the bottom right hand corner. Game over and after having been so dominant during the whole match, Carlisle were going to land with nothing.

The Glovers still managed to rub salt into Carlisle's wounds in injury time. Despite the Cumbrians getting 24 corners during the match and managing 15 shots on goal, it Yeovil with their six shots and three corners that extended their already flattering scoreline by grabbing a fourth. Best and Cohen swapped roles of provider and scorer, and when Best dragged the ball to the side of the penalty box and laid the ball back, Chris COHEN struck the ball cleanly with his right boot from the edge of the box and into the top corner, provoking an amusing celebration with his team-mates pointing at his right foot as if to say "we've never seen you use that one before!" - for shellshocked Carlisle there was no way back. Crazy game, crazy result and that League One table is looking pretty crazy now as well, with Russell Slade's side having produced an emphatic win on a day where they will probably never thrash a side so much by playing so poorly on the day.

Back to Top of Page