Blues horror show as Lions show claws
Last updated 08:54, Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Millwall 3 Carlisle Utd 0: Had another London venue not already taken the name, Millwall’s ground could now be rebranded as an alternative Chamber of Horrors and pitched to touring Cumbrians with a taste for the macabre.
The promotional patter writes itself: “Step right up to see the place where Carlisle United were slashed to pieces under the April sun, by a team who ended the day with a standing ovation for jumping to 17th in League One.
“Squirm as you see the square of turf where Danny Livesey felled Neil Harris in the penalty box and was sent off. And shiver at the sight of those swinging seats which some Carlisle fans vacated as early as the 63rd minute, after Tony Craig had bludgeoned Millwall’s third goal.”
Yes, this was the arena where the software crashed, the system blew, where United’s fingers came away from the rockface in their exhausting climb towards the Championship. The lacerations they suffered at The Den are deep and could be lasting, and it requires an iron nerve to write these words without a shudder.
Consider the grim facts, if you can bring yourself to continue reading. Carlisle have now won once in their last seven games and are carrying precisely no form into their final fixture of the league season against Bournemouth (who have won six on the spin in their improbable survival tilt, now you mention it). The chance of claiming automatic promotion, in the Cumbrian grip for over a month, has now been donated to Doncaster. And if they don’t hold onto it, Nottingham Forest are flying up the rails in ominous pursuit.
Carlisle’s dip to fourth place looks even more depressing when you factor in the automatic one-match ban that must now be served by Livesey, their captain and perhaps most consistent player of a campaign which is now at risk of going up in so much blue smoke.
Hold the post-mortem for just a moment, because League One has thrown enough surprises in our paths this season that another day of unlikely results next Saturday cannot be discounted. It’s still possible to imagine a chain of events which sees United jumping back up to second place in five days’ time. But it’s a creative mind which can make that scenario seem realistic just now.
“Some of the boys are running on empty,” said John Ward in mitigation for this one-sided defeat. That’s indeed how it looked. Except the United manager had actually dismissed the concept of a tired team only a fortnight ago. And if the Blues’ bones are weary, how did Millwall manage to look so vibrant and sharp when they’ve had virtually a full team’s worth of talent in the treatment room during their stressful (and now successful) slog against relegation - and lost another man, striker Lewis Grabban, during the warm-up here?
The uneasy truth is that United have suffered a performance and confidence crash at just the wrong time and have too little in the way of solid back-up in the ranks. Gary Madine has deservedly soared into Ward’s squad these past few weeks but at no point did The Den look the stage for a 17-year-old on Saturday. Darren Campion, given an unexpected debut in defence after Livesey’s red card, is another promising young player who needs a more careful introduction to first-team matters than he might now receive.
Ward’s back four against Bournemouth next weekend, without Livesey, David Raven and the injured Paul Reid, is impossible to predict and you have to conclude that something must have gone seriously amiss for Zigor Aranalde’s experience still to be deemed unusable in Carlisle’s squad of 16.
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, a member of United’s outmanoeuvred midfield, clipped a free-kick millimetres wide of Millwall’s left-hand post in the fifth minute on Saturday. Then for 85 excruciating minutes, Carlisle’s status as automatic promotion favourites was persistently exposed.
Kenny Jackett’s troops, their pre-match stresses soothed by Gillingham’s failure to beat Swindon at the south end of the table, attacked with width and verve and almost sneaked a goal in the sixth minute, when Jem Karacan’s wobbling shot cannoned off Keiren Westwood’s body. But United’s goalkeeper bravely smothered the loose ball before Bas Savage could pocket the chance.
A flurry of Millwall corners rewarded their early surges, then the wily Harris and Paul Robinson squandered decent chances to claim an opening goal. Harris, tormenting Livesey and co with his smart movement and know-how, then drew a stunning save from Westwood, before Andy Frampton’s header was met with something similar from Carlisle’s besieged gloveman.
At every turn the home side appeared quicker and more enterprising than United, whose early bursts, founded on Scott Dobie’s pace in a 4-4-2 system, soon dried up. Millwall eventually took a deserved lead three minutes before the break, when Danny Senda knocked the ball forward to Harris, whose cushioned pass was met with a firm, clean finish from their speedy Arsenal loan winger, Jay Simpson.
On trotted Madine at the onset of the second half, but his rescue attempt was made futile as early as the 54th minute. Peter Murphy’s weak back-header was intercepted by Harris, who strode menacingly towards the box and was eventually clipped by the backpedalling Livesey. As United’s 1,174 supporters were assessing the ruinous implications of the suspension that came with the captain’s red card, Harris pummelled the penalty past Westwood.
More pain arrived nine minutes later, when Ahmet Brkovic’s deep corner was nodded back across goal by Harris, and Tony Craig applied the scoring header from close range. At this point, several Carlisle supporters rose and departed the scene of the slaughter. It may have surprised them to learn that the remaining half-hour passed without further Millwall goals.
Simpson nearly managed another, with a vicious strike from a narrow angle. And at the other end, Bridge-Wilkinson curled an apologetic effort wide. Shamefully, the afternoon ended with Rhys Evans, the home goalkeeper, having made no save worthy of reporting. No save at all, come to think of it.
The applause Carlisle’s remaining fans offered to Ward’s red-shirted players at close of play must have taken quite an effort to summon. In the press box, Cumbrian heads were thudding into laptops. But hold on a moment: next weekend’s glimmer of a chance, and the unpredictability of the play-offs, means now is not the right time for an inquest. Fans waving white flags should be turned away from Brunton Park come Saturday.
That doesn’t mean the stomach can take any more horror flicks like this, however. Unquestionably, this was the season’s deepest wound, and while the heart says it might also be the last, the head can no longer be so sure.
How thay rated
KEIREN WESTWOOD - But for United’s goalkeeper, Millwall would have doubled their tally. Some inspired saves to keep the score down. 7/10
PAUL ARNISON - Pitched into service because of Raven’s suspension, the right-back gave a wholehearted effort but couldn’t halt the home side’s dominance. 6/10
EVAN HORWOOD - Tormented at times by the lightning pace of Simpson, a day he will want to quickly forget. 5/10
DANNY LIVESEY - Uncharacteristically inferior against the towering Savage and the streetwise Harris. Red card capped a miserable afternoon. 5/10
PETER MURPHY - At fault in the build-up to Millwall’s second goal and, like Livesey, struggled to lay a glove on the home side’s dangerous strikers. 5/10
SIMON HACKNEY - Sporadically threatened to inspire something with his pace, but United also needed a better defensive shift from the winger. 6/10
MARC BRIDGE-WILKINSON - Almost scored early on but was one of a number of Blues players at some distance from his best. 5/10
CHRIS LUMSDON - Unable to exert any lasting influence in midfield. Never hid from the battle, but couldn’t help the Blues keep possession. 6/10
CLEVELAND TAYLOR - Showed plenty of willing down the right on his recall, but wasn't in the game enough and was sacrificed at the break. 6/10
SCOTT DOBIE - Some early surges but with Carlisle’s supply so paltry, neither he nor Graham could profit from the switch to 4-4-2. 6/10
DANNY GRAHAM - Barely touched the ball in Millwall’s danger area, so scarce was the service coming his way. 5/10
Subs: Gary Madine (for Taylor, 46) - Some decent early impact but saving United was beyond the teenager. 6/10
Darren Campion (for Dobie, 58) - Not the ideal debut but stuck to his task in difficult circumstances. 6/10
