Carlisle earned a much needed win in North One West when they beat Vale of Lune 16-15 at Warwick Road.
A one-point win was closer than it needed to be, with Carlisle probably having 65 per cent of the possession, but unable to turn that into more points.
The pleasing feature, apart from the result, was that when Vale took the lead, Carlisle didn’t panic, and simply went through the phases until they got something out of it.
Carlisle had the better of the early exchanges without capitalising on the territorial gains, and it was Vale of Lune with their first foray into the home half, who had a chance of points on the board from a 35 metre penalty.
Fortunately for Carlisle the kick was dragged left of the posts, and they were able to return to pushing the visitors back into their half.
After 26 minutes the pressure finally yielded Carlisle’s first points as Jason Israel slotted a penalty from 30 metres.
Vale countered quickly with an attack down the right, which was then spread left with Carlisle drifting across to counter. The desperate defence on the line was too desperate for the referee, and a penalty gave the visitors a chance of a five metre line-out, from which they drove over for their first try.
It would be another penalty committed by the visitors that handed back the lead to Carlisle, with Israel easily splitting the uprights for a 6-5 lead at half-time.
A restart for Carlisle gave them front foot ball, and they were continuing to look for gaps in the visitors defence.
But after just three minutes a floated ball across the backs was intercepted by Vale, and the scrambling defence wasn’t enough to stop their backs running in their second try.
Credit to Carlisle that they didn’t drop their heads, and a swift counter saw James Telford make a break down the left into the Vale 22.
Matty Little was following in close support and as Telford was dragged down, Little took on the challenge, stepping one defender and then crashing through two more to go over under the posts. Israel converted.
With the score at 13-10, it was still too close to call, and though Carlisle were still going through the phases, and playing some good rugby, Vale were defending well, and also looking dangerous on the counter.
With just eight left, Vale were awarded a penalty to give themselves a line-out deep in the Carlisle 22. Securing the ball, they went through a number of phases before quickly switching the ball right across the back line, to find a gap in the Carlisle defence for their third try.
All of a sudden there was sense of deja vu from last week’s game on the Isle of Man, with the clock ticking away and the pressure on Carlisle to score again to regain the lead.
The game even ended the same way, though this time with a different outcome. Carlisle were awarded a penalty just outside the 22, and Israel stepped forward to convert, but the ball just shaded past the right upright.
Then from the restart Carlisle ran the ball back at Vale, and a tipped kick through gave Carlisle a line-out on the 22.
With Vale stealing the ball, it looked gloomy for the home side, but as Vale tried to drive it up, they committed another penalty. This time Israel made no mistake with a minute on the clock.
Despite some desperate attacking play from the visitors, Carlisle managed to keep their heads, and the ball, until the clock ran out, securing the win.
