A final minute goal from Jamie Devitt gave Carlisle United the victory in the 1st Round of the FA Cup against Crewe Alexandra at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday afternoon.
Manager David Artell made 5 changes from last Saturday’s defeat at Northampton Town as defenders Nicky Hunt, Eddie Nolan and Kevin O’Connor all came in (a move that saw Perry Ng and Harry Pickering move into midfield) with Chris Porter and Alex Nicholls coming in up front. Shaun Miller, Jordan Bowery, Callum Ainley and Corey Whelan all dropped down to the bench with Ryan Wintle missing out on the matchday squad altogether.
Crewe started on the front-foot as Pickering twice got O’Connor in down the Alex left but he couldn’t quite find the forwards with his crosses whilst Devitt had an effort from 25 yards that went over the bar. Midway through the half, Carlisle were awarded a penalty as Garratt was adjudged to have brought down striker Richie Bennett, Ben making the save away to his right to deny full-back Danny Grainger from the spot.
Into the second half, where Garratt denied Hallam Hope following a cut-back from Bennett before Grainger had another effort from distance saved by the Alex keeper. The goal came in the final minute of the game as Garratt cleared O’Connor’s backpass straight into Devitt with the ball trickling over the goal line.
The Alex have 2 more home games this week as we host Shrewsbury Town in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, needing a win in 90 minutes to advance through the group stage, with Tranmere Rovers in the league next Saturday.
What have we learnt from this game?
It’s an annoying way of being knocked out of a cup competition that we deserved a replay from (neither team deserved to win yesterday’s game) but I was surprised that both Ng and Pickering played in central midfield as I thought that we’d keep at least one at the back.