TOPIC: Player ratings for last night

Anyone there last night willing to give it a shot.

What a game! Having given away a silly early goal, it was Carlisle all first half and we were deservedly 1-1 at the break. Second-half, again poor marking gave them an undeserved lead, and a lucky reaction shot to a block off our wall gave them a third, but that galvanised the lads rather than caused heads to drop. Curle's attacking substitutions worked - on this occasion - and we stormed back. The score line flattered them. Leaving the ground I heard a Luton fan say: "They (Carlisle) were passionate and should have had a couple more goals in the first half. They deserved the win and were a good side". We were brilliant and the players' celebrations at the end said it all.

Gillespie 7 - Couldn't do much for their goals. Took control of crosses and made an excellent save right at the end. Happy 100th appearance.
Miller 7 - A good performance always looking to get the ball and drive forward down the right. Made some good tackles as well.
Grainger 7 - Definitely having a cracking season. Some of his cross field passes were superb (some went astray). Worked hard and never gives up.
Joyce 7.5 - Was impressed with his performance. Was doing what he did so well at Accrington - broke up there play, was always giving an option for the pass in the defence and taking the ball forward to the edge of their box.
Raynes 7 - His distribution is Livesey-esque and he may have been at fault for their second, but he drives the team forward in adversity and is as brave as brave for blocks and headers.
Atkinson 7 - Solid and works hard all game. Very few forwards get the better of him and we need to sign him for the rest of the season.
Ellis 6.5 – Strong and someone we need to have for a longer run in the side. Not at his most commanding but gives solid foundations for our defence.
Kennedy 7.5 – Another excellent game. Links defence and attack well and was a menace all night – Luton couldn’t handle his movement.
Hery 6 – Flitted in and out of the game. At times he was laying the ball off (1st half), but got a bit lost and was subbed 2nd half.
Wyke 7 – Scored and looks like he is getting match fit.
Asamoah 8 – My MoM he just keeps going and causes defences so many problems with his pace. He was excellent and helped balance the side with his move to the left wing when Jabo came on. Great goal.

Subs:
Ibehre 7 – Superb substitution. Great goal and was the other offside, really?
Gilliead 7 – Gave us that added impetus to take the Luton defence on. His pace is fantastic.
Sweeney 6.5 – Tightened things for the few minutes he was on.

Curle 8 – Excellent substitutions and the team selection, given the defensive slips at the start of each half, was right.

The old adage that the best means of defence is attack seems to have worked well last night.
Do wish they would bang the goals in without making then at the back to give us a decent goal difference.
Notice there's now a seven point gap from auto promotion, still achievable tho if we can sort out the defence.

I was looking at the gap last night Pacirv and wondering how to bridge it. My thoughts before the season started were that we have a top ten team with a chance of a push for the play offs if we went well. I really haven't changed that opinion, what has changed is my thoughts on how we go about it. I really expected us to have a solid defence with the chance of being decent going forward because of Ibehre. I never expected us to be anything like the attacking force we are, and it has been great to watch at times, although sometimes frustrating watching us make defensive errors.

I still think we have a way to go, but I really want Curle to carry on with the way he's playing, I love attacking football. Anybody who plays against us knows they have a chance of getting goals, so they tend to have a bit of a go, which leaves them exposed and creates holes for us. Generally we're exploiting it and it is very exciting to watch, if we tighten up at the expense of our great attacking I feel we'll be losing something, not the least of which would be the feeling about the way things are going. There's a certain expectancy now. I've talked to loads of fans and everyone seems to be in agreement that you have no idea what's going to happen when you turn up for a game, and it really is making it a very interesting season.

I think it is probably reasonable to expect Curle to go for it now, and try to get us as close as he can to an automatic spot, it genuinely is an outside possibility. There is pride, passion, spirit, belief, and a never say die attitude about our players we haven't had for years. It really is refreshing to see and a lot of credit has to go to the manager for that. Having started the season thinking the play offs were an outside possibility, I'll now be a bit disappointed if we don't finish in the top seven.

pacirv wrote: 18 (!!) point gap between us and the relegation zone as well, are we officially a promotion chasing team!?

Just awoken and am still buzzing. First off the Carlisle fans were superb. Secondly what an entertaining game, last year we'd have collapsed but the spirit the team showed was unbelievable! Full value for the win up the blues!

Have to say regarding the defence, I would be pretty sure to say that Curle knows its a problem and no doubt we work on it a lot, but the problem keeps coming down to individual errors.

Every team concedes goals and more in thi league than most, but how many times do we see goals like Graingers on Saturday being scored against us? Most of the time it comes down to mistakes and i know Curle sends them out with the intention of playing from the back no matter what but what can he do about a slip?

Apart from the Bristol Rovers game i feel we have improved recently, although maybe the stats dont show it, but we do have periods where we fall back into the Carlisle of old like on saturday. Basically i dont think you can just blame Curle for the defence, i think he has noticed it!

At the minute it seems we have Top League 2 attackers but lower mid-table defenders, so we are around upper mid table which from the teams we have played this seems to be about right.

But hell if we concede 3 goals a game and win will do me fine, and THAT will bring crowds back as much as any investment!