Crewe suffered another narrow 1-0 defeat to one of the promotion hunting sides, as Joe Garner's 13th goal of the season minutes into the second half proved to be the difference between the two sides. Garner finished coolly to give John Ward's Carlisle all three points - but they suffered some nervous moments as Crewe tried to get themselves back into it in the second half.
On chances alone, Carlisle were comfortably the better side on the day and arguably deserved maximum points - but with a little bit of good fortune, Crewe could have again grabbed a precious away point. It was a similar scenario to our encounter with Leeds United on Monday evening, but after scoring four against Tranmere on New Year's Day, we are again struggling to score goals and worryingly don't appear tight enough to keep too many clean sheets.
Steven Schumacher returned to the Crewe Alexandra starting line-up for the first time since November. The midfielder has overcome ankle ligament damage to regain his place of Gary Roberts who was left out for disciplinary reasons. He was employed asa left midfielder.
After scoring for the reserves in mid-week, Simon Church regained his place up front. The on-loan Reading striker took the place of the injured Ryan Lowe to partner Nicky Maynard up front. With Ben Rix ruled out through illness, winger Byron Moore also returned for the Alex.
The game had an early stoppage with forward Simon Church needing treatment in the opening couple of minutes. Church was involved with a hefty collision after he poked possession towards Moore. Thankfully, the teenager shook off the knock to resume playing. His ankle injury though restricted his movement and it wasn't too long after that he was withdrawn.
It took the former Port Vale winger Jeff Smith just four minutes to register the first decent effort at goal. He cut in from the right hand side to drill a 25-yard shot towards Ben Williams' goal but in fairness the Alex keeper had it covered. Crewe then had to survive a slight scare after full-back Zigor Arnadale had popped up inside our penalty area. The towering defender saw his pretty well struck shot deflected behind for an early corner.
On 16 minutes, Ben Williams had to punch over an uncomfortable sliced clearance from his own central defender Julien Baudet. The Frenchman had initially retreated well to block a cross from Simon Hackney, but his clearance spun waywardly into the air to put Williams under pressure. He dealt with it accordingly, clearing from underneath his own cross bar.
Crewe Alexandra's first-team coach Steve Holland was forced into an early change with Church unable to continue. Shaun Miller came on to replace him in the 24th minute. Hopefully, that will not be a sad end to Church's loan deal at Gresty Road. He is set to return to his parent club Reading this week to discuss his immediate future.
It was Carlisle United still making the chances. The much travelled Danny Graham shot just wide of the target after the home side hit the front quickly. Almost immediately, Nicky Maynard created his own half chance after being allowed to carry the ball to the edge of the penalty area. The Alex youngster screwed his shot over the top of the bar.
The highly sought after Joe Garner then tried his luck with an ambitious dipping volley from 30 yards out. Ben Williams spotted the danger early and made a comfortable catch in the end. Graham then followed up his earlier effort with a similar drive from the edge of the Crewe penalty area, which again forced Williams into action.
Crewe were restricting the home side to efforts from long range with Garner shooting tamely at the well-placed Williams. Our former midfielder, who we once had on loan from Sunderland, Chris Lumsdon was closer with his effort on 32 minutes - but the ball drifted wide of the mark. Although, Carlisle were not creating real clear cut chances, the Alex were taking a bit of risk by allowing them to have pop shots from the edge of our penalty area.
Carlisle winger Hackney should really have given John Ward's side the lead on 37 minutes. He was slipped in superbly by Garner to deceive right-back George Abbey, but with just Williams to beat from close range he side footed wide of the post. It was a glorious chance, wasted by a player who had been fairly lively throughout the first half.
With the home side doing much of the pressing, Graham again tested the handling of Williams following a forceful run. The former Derby County striker shot straight at the Alex number one though after a promising burst into the box.
Crewe had worked extremely hard to contain Carlisle in the first-half, and apart from Hackney's really good chance, they really hadn't created too many clear-cut chances. As an attacking force, Crewe were struggling to create much with Maynard's wayward effort our only real pressure on Kerian Westwood's goal.
Crewe made a relatively bright start to the second half, keeping the ball wisely and trying to feed Moore and Maynard through. Moore saw a wickedly delivered low cross into the six-yard cleared by Aranalde.
On 50 minutes Carlisle went close again to breaking the deadlock. Graham went up with Chris McCready and was rather unfortunate to see his forceful header bounce off of Ben Williams' bar. The chance lifted the crowd.
Two minutes later, Carlisle United's prolific striker Joe Garner finally gave the home side the lead with another composed finish. The clever move stemmed from the influential Aranalde who's accurate pass was cleverly dummied by Graham. This in turn allowed his strike partner to race through and place his shot beyond the despairingly dive of Williams. It was Garner's 13th goal of an impressive season following his club record switch from Blackburn Rovers a year ago.
Garner so nearly doubled the home side's advantage when his shot from 25-yard nearly deceived Ben Williams. The Alex keeper was originally going the other way, before it spun in the other direction. He adjusted his feet superbly to palm it around the post for a corner.
On the hour mark, Crewe created a real chance to draw level. Shaun Miller turned provider for Byron Moore inside the Carlisle box, but the Alex winger could only lift his shot into the grateful arms of Westwood.
Garner and then Graham so nearly made it 2-0 but just couldn't quite reach a couple of excellent crosses arriving into our penalty area. Crewe were hanging in on there.
In response, we had a couple of free-kicks in dangerous positions. O'Connor over hit the first one. The second delivery was better but captain Neil Cox couldn't quite keep his header down.
The third opportunity right on the edge of the Carlisle penalty area saw O'Connor go for goal himself. The young Irishman wasn't too far away either. His effort just cleared the top of Westwood's bar. It was encouraging from the Railwaymen, who were a much better threat in the second period.
There was certainly some anxiety in the Carlisle crowd, as Miller nearly conjured up a chance for Moore and after he had forced a corner with a forceful run, Maynard was rather unlucky to get the ball stuck underneath his feet as it dropped to him.
At the other end, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson had an effort saved by Williams, after the Alex keeper had come through a crowd of players to punch clear.With just the one goal dividing the two sides, it was set-up for an intriguing climax to the match.
With five minutes remaining, Holland introduced another forward Tom Pope for Neil Cox. The Alex had nothing too lose and surrendered their midfield anchorman for the extra presence of Pope up there.
Crewe pressed looking for a saving grace, but it never materialised and with frustration begin to build towards the end of 90 minutes, Maynard was cautioned for a late lunge on Danny Livesey. He wasn't the only one to leave Brunton Park, hugely disappointed with the result.
