Carlisle
Keen
Birch
Andrews
Winstanley
Murphy
Green
Soley
Whitehead
McGill
Stevens
Halliday

A disastrous first 30 minutes cost the Swans dear in this encounter, which was played out on a disgrace of a playing surface and in weather conditions more suited to the tundra than to a spring day in the Lakes! And despite a decent second half effort to turn the game round, during which we dominated much of the possession, there was always a sense of inevitability about this one, and home fans would claim that their team took the foot off the gas when the game was won.

There was a bold and adventurous look to Cusack's first line up, but it was one that sent a few shivers around the cluster of, already freezing cold, Jacks who congregated in the impressive main stand. Firstly, there was a reversion to 4-4-2 - encouraging for those who believe this is a more positive and fluid system, but worrying for the those of us who do not believe that Todd and Sharp are yet capable of jointly holding together the centre of a fragile defence (the outcome of the game perhaps tells us who was right!). Secondly, there was the enterprising look to our midfield - with Mumford (hitherto wasted in deference) pushed forward into the central role, and Watkin playing in the "Brodie" role behind the front two, Coates and O'Leary took the other midfield berths, whilst Williams started the game alongside Sidibe up-front, thus giving the team a very positive and attacking look. Cusack dropped himself to the bench and spent the game in the technical area looking every inch the concerned manager - he had obviously been practicing the "pacing around with hands behind back" routine...a pair of shorts, and it would have been reminiscent of.... ;-)

But the most remarkable of all was the appearance of Kris O'Leary with an arm-band. "Who's died?" was our first thought, but then we realised he had been appointed captain! Fair play to the lad, who never lacks heart or endeavour, but surely one of the elder statesmen should have taken up this mantle...Roger or Watkin perhaps.

But nonetheless, it was with some optimism that we cheered the team on at the first whistle - this was certainly a going for broke line-up, that would either bring the reward of a first win, or the ignominy of a sound thrashing. And despite a bright couple of minutes at the start, in which Sidibe and Watkin looked as though they might stretch the home defence, we were soon to get our answer. With their first attack of the game, Carlisle exposed our defensive frailties when a routine cross found its way right across the box to the feet of Stuart green, who contrived to slice his shot wide. But three minutes later there was to be no reprieve, as a long through ball bounced awkwardly in front of Sharp who completely missed his header - this allowed Ian Stevens to run through unchallenged and finish neatly with a low strike past Freestone; the lack of a third central defender had been hopelessly exposed within minutes.

But there was still a feeling we could come back from this. We had the edge in midfield, mainly through the efforts of Mumford, and Sidibe was looking lively, even though he was struggling with the surface. On 15 minutes we put together our first sound move of the game - Sidibe flicked the ball to Watkin who laid it back to Mama, only to see him lash his effort wide. But two minutes later the man from Mali had another chance as his pace took him clear of the last defender - but this time his decent low effort was well saved by the home keeper. And of course we were to pay for these two misses. At their next attack, we failed to repel the initial danger, and a routine cross to the far post found the head of defender Stuart Whitehead at the far post, and he headed firmly past Freestone for the second. By this stage our defence had lost its shape completely. The full backs were still rushing forward as though they had adequate cover behind, our two central defenders were looking lost, and our midfield was repeatedly failing to track back to cover the runners. Carlisle were operating a simple "knock it over the top" game plan and it was working a treat for them, not least on the half hour, when a simple dink through from midfield bisected Todd and Sharp allowing Johnny Allan to finish in a carbon copy of the first goal. Three goals from four attacks was an impressive strike rate for the home side, but is far more of a testimony to the inadequacy of our defensive play.

But even then, we still had a chance to recover the situation against a hesitant and cumbersome home defence. On 33 minutes our best moment of the game so far saw Mumford strike a pearler of a free kick towards the far corner of the goal, only to see the keeper brilliantly tip the ball around the post. On 40 minutes a Howard free kick from the left was flicked on by Williams to Sharp, whose header at the far post was smothered by keeper Keen, with the Swans player knowing he should have done better. And in the dying moments of the half another Beckham style effort from Mumford curled just wide of the post, hitting the goal stanchion with the keeper completely beaten.

At half time, the increasingly ineffective Sidibe was withdrawn and replaced by Brodie. The second half saw the pitch deteriorate even further as the variable weather conditions continued - sleet, hail and torrential rain made the playing conditions almost impossible, and an abandonment would have been likely if this weather had occurred in the first half. The Swans pushed forward from the outset and enjoyed an awful lot of the possession in the half, although chances fell on the break to the home side, and certainly on at least one occasion Green will have been cursing himself for not finishing the game off. But the Swans forged several good chances. On the hour an excellent teasing cross from Williams seemed bound for the head of Coates, who appeared to be blatantly pushed, but no penalty was forthcoming. On 75 minutes Coates produced a rasping flying volley (he did, honest!) which was again brilliantly saved by the irrepressible Keen, although ball ricocheted back of the keeper and almost went into his own net. A minute later, another low cross from Williams was almost flicked in by Watkin at the near post. For the final onslaught, Casey replaced the fading Williams and entered the fray in a central attacking role alongside Brodie and Watkin in what had now become a 4-3-3, and his effort was a decent one, as he put himself about and got plenty of good touches. But it was Watkin and Brodie who combined for our consolation on 80 minutes, with Brodie's close range header finishing off Watto's neat cross. We continued to press forward, but another one just wasn't going to come, as the home side eaked out the last few minutes. The Swans crowd responded well to the team at the end of this disappointing defeat, in what was after all a fairly meaningless game.

Freestone - 6 Needs to be more active now in geeing up the team.
Howard - 7 Supported the attack well and was our most effective defender
Sharp - 5 Rather exposed without the cover of the extra defender
Todd - 6 As above, but perhaps a little more assured
Phillips - 6 Put himself about, but wasted at full back.
Watkin - 7 Our most effective attacker - plenty of endeavour today
Coates - 6 Not enough penetration from him
Mumford - 7 Some great free kicks and did well in the heart of midfield - did more tracking back in the second half
O'Leary - 5 His distribution, vision and tackling were all poor as was his ability to support the attack and cover in defence. Rather than recognising his limitations, the club has promoted him to Captain...a strange conclusion to a surreal season.
Williams - 6 The odd decent flick in the first half
Sidibe - 5 Crafted two good chances for himself, but failed to capitalise...turning into the Akinbiyi of the third division.

Brodie - 7 Did well when he came on.
Casey - 7 As above

Our immediate reaction to the game was one of great disappointment and almost complete negativity. But reflecting on the game, we certainly did not get thrashed as the scoreline might suggest. In fact, with a bit of good fortune and a less inspired home keeper we would probably have come away with a point. The real problem was in defence, where we found ourselves very exposed by the lack of cover from midfield and frailties of the centre half pairing. But being as optimistic as the situation allows, this was adventurous stuff from Cusack, and he should be commended for the spirit and ambition of his intentions even if the outcome was not good. The last few games of the season offer a chance for some experimentation, so let's hope he can start getting it right!

We scrambled across the A66 from Teeside just before it was closed to arrive in Carlisle on a clear, cold and threatening day. The away supporters were in the relatively new and well furnished East Stand in the corner overlooking a well cut up pitch that was never going to provide a feast of football.

The Swans started brightly and took the game straight to the home team. Cusack seemed determined to get his team to cover every blade of grass before half time.

However, it was from a Swans attack that the home team scored. A loose ball on the edge of the Carlisle area was fed quickly through the middle for Stevens to run through from halfway leaving Todd and Sharp in his wake. Freestone stood no chance on the one-on-one as the ball was slotted calmly into the corner.

The Swans again took the initiative and pushed forward and were rewarded with various corners, long range efforts and scrambles in the goalmouth. Carlisle again, though, broke from deep and Whitehead proved that he, too, can beat our flat back four in a straight run on goal beating Freestone as calmly in the 19th as Stevens did in the 5th.

Mumford had a couple of free kicks only to see the keeper pull off a magnificent save (worthy of Roger) for one and hitting the outside of the post for the other. Carlisle followed this up with their first concerted bit of pressure on the half hour and a cross to the back post allowed Allan to head home whilst the back four held an inquiry into who was to blame. 30 minutes gone and the game was over; 3 attacks, 3 goals.

Half time had us wondering if the disappointing Sidibe would come out for the second half or if the heavy sleet shower in the first half would put him off. It was the latter as Brodie started the 2nd half. We also wondered if we would get turned over by Carlisle in the 2nd half or if the Swans would be able to claw something back. As it happened, the Swans back four looked much tighter in the 2nd half and with Brodie on it allowed the Swans to defend from the front and not allow the home team to distribute as freely as they would have wanted. Williams was enjoying a few runs down the right but all the Swans efforts were ending in frustration.

Another spell of Swans pressure resulted in a cross to the edge of the 6 yard box and Brodie was able to nip inbetween the 2 centre backs and slot the header home. This prompted a few minutes of optimism for a late comeback but Carlisle were clever enough to close the game out.

I don't see enough games to be truly critical so I will pick out the positives as I saw them.

Freestone could do nothing about the goals and during the game really had nothing to do. Cusack and Mumford ran their hearts out and this is not to detract from the efforts of the others but my MoM was Howard who, I thought, had a solid game at left back and would have capped a good personal performance if his 20 yard effort hadn't flashed narrowly wide in the dying minutes.

Carlisle capitalised on Swansea's trauma after the departure of manager Colin Addison and assistant Peter Nicholas by inflicting a 3-1 defeat at Brunton Park.

The Cumbrians went ahead after five minutes when Ian Stevens drilled the ball home from 15 yards after good work by Steve Soley.

They doubled their lead after 19 minutes when Brendan McGill and Peter Murphy combined to set up Stuart Whitehead who headed the ball home from eight yards.