Carlisle City continued their impressive run of goal-scoring with a 5-1 home victory over Jarrow.
The visitors had beaten City 2-1 earlier in the season and had arrived with a vocal following of supporters.
City won a couple of early corners that were safely cleared before Jarrow pressed for the first time, and Hartley had to be alert to deal with Blackburn’s cross.
The same Jarrow player then left his mark on Bowman after a heavy tackle. Jarrow were looking lively as Bowman conceded a 7th-minute corner which was cleared by Hartley.
City keeper Murray did very well on 12 minutes to take an awkward cross right underneath his crossbar. He was then in action again, to deny North at the expense of a corner, which was headed away by Atkinson.
Away keeper Hubery was very mobile and often way out of position and he was lucky in the 15th minute when the referee gave a soft free-kick as he was caught outside his area.
Leech was close for Jarrow on 17 minutes as his 20-yarder clipped the bar before going over. City had won lots of corners in the early stages but were missing Kirkup’s aerial presence and most of them came to nothing.
Kelly was on target in the 22nd minute but his shot was easily saved by Hubery. The keeper then worked slightly harder to keep out Irving’s shot two minutes later.
City came the closest so far on 27 minutes when a great ball across from Palmer just needed a final touch. But four minutes later they did score when Palmer was in the right place to convert a cross from Kerr.
It stayed at 1-0 when the teams took the break and when they returned Jarrow won two corners. Murray was alert to drop on a loose ball from the second one.
City seemed to be unfortunate as Irving had a goal disallowed after Hubery appeared to lose the ball, with the referee deeming it a foul.
However, it did become 2-0 on 61 minutes as Palmer again capitalised on a defensive mix-up to slot into the bottom corner. Kelly should have added a third but fired wide from a good position.
Kerr’s 64-minute cross was too hard as City looked to finish the game off. Jarrow made a double substitution as they battled to stay in the game but Irving then saw another goal disallowed for offside after Hubery spilled Kerr’s shot.
On 73 minutes it was 2-1 as North’s cross from the left was headed past Murray by Leech.
Inevitably, this caused a few nervy moments for the home side, although Irving’s run relieved the pressure only to shoot weakly wide.
Irving then was instrumental in the third goal in the 85th minute as his cross was turned into his own net by the unlucky Little.
City turned the screw in the closing stages as Palmer notched his hat-trick on 86 minutes and Holt added the fifth from close range two minutes later. Simpson also saw a shot saved by Hubery.
The final score-line did flatter City on the day, although they do continue to find the net with refreshing frequency.
