Truly gutted writing this, the boys gave so much against a high flying side 3 leagues higher, leading by two with three minutes left only to be pegged back and lose on penalties, that’s the FA Cup for you but so very proud of each and every man in red today.

Not surprisingly it was the SkyBet League 2 side who took a large chunk of the early possession and in the tenth minute a corner kick from the right was headed back into the six yard box where Gavin Reilly fired over under challenge from Jordan Norville-Williams.

Chances continued to come and go for the Cumbrians. John Mellish and Omari Patrick exchanged passes moving forward from halfway with Mellish hitting a low weak shot that Jack Smith easily dealt with and then around the half hour mark two more openings were created, Mellish tried from distance but his effort was tipped over by Smith and within a minute Jack Armer chipped the ball to Josh Kayode at the far post but his header landed on top of the United goal.

Two minutes later United’s first creative spark going forwards was probably the best chance of the half as Karl Cunningham and Norville-Williams moved swiftly down the left with Cunningham picking out Francis Amartey in the middle only for the strikers volley to stick in Carlisle ‘keeper Marcus Dewhurst’s midriff.

Three minutes later the visitors also went close when Mellish played the ball across the edge of the United box to Joe Riley who saw his drive come back off the United crossbar before being cleared and the final ten minutes of the half played out with little incident.

Smith was in action five minutes into the second half when he was needed to push away a 20 yard Dean Furman shot with United breaking instantly to the other end where Amartey outpaced his marker but Dewhurst was out quickly to block the shot with visiting skipper Aaron Hayden clearing up.

The visitors pushed on again soon after, Patrick had a low shot saved by Smith before a break on the right wing from George Tanner, his pull-back found Patrick but this time he scooped the ball over without troubling Smith.

Just past the hour the League 2 side went close again as a corner from the left was headed goalwards by Mac Hunt, Liam McDevitt headed the effort off the line and when the ball dropped to Reilly, his shot was snuffed out by Sanmi Odelusi.

Another goal line clearance on 73 minutes saw Bay Downing deny Reilly and a quick forward pass again saw Amartey outpace the visitors defence but his rushed effort screwed wide of the target.

With eight minutes of regulation time remaining the visitors almost broke the deadlock when the ball ran nicely to Mellish, his shot beating Smith only to come back off the upright with the ball eventually being scrambled away to safety.

The final chance before extra time actually came for United in the final m8nute of added time, Jack Williams and Jake Sheppard exchanged passes on the left side with the former crossing to the near post where a diving defender just managed to get his head to the ball just ahead of Amartey.

With legs tiring it was not surprising that chances were limited in extra time, it did however throw up four goals. Carlisle had the first chance just two minutes after the re-start, Riley picking out Kayode at the far post, his shot being tipped over by Smith.

Then with just a minute to the extra time interval, United struck. Omar Rowe collected the ball and moved into the Carlisle box before feeding the ball right to Jake Sheppard who returned it to Rowe who confidently found the corner of the net giving Dewhurst no chance and United went in ahead at the mini-break.

Three minutes after play resumed United had a second. A corner kick from the right was played out by the visitors defence but only as far as Jack Williams, he played the ball inside to substitute Amos Nasha who proceeded to fire low and hard past Dewhurst into the bottom corner.

The United defence from here on continued to soak up the pressure without giving much away until two minutes from the end when Mellish received the ball on the edge of the box and he coolly struck a low drive past the unsighted Smith into the United net.

Stoppage time arrived and still United were ahead until a long Kayode throw-in, not for the first time from on the pitch, was cleared in the air by Norville-Williams and when the Cumbrians played the ball into the mix, Mellish managed to hook the ball through the defence into the United net and we went to penalties.

Sadly for United, only three of six kicks found the net while the visitors fired home four to snatch victory from United and progress to the next round while United will now have a Covid-19 enforced lay off from which we hope to return to playing in December.

Until then stand proud, stay loyal and most of all stay safe, see you all next month (hopefully).

Report by Kevin Watts.

Photos © John-Patrick Fletcher / www.jpf.photography

United Men of the Match: The whole lot of them.

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