Northern League Division Two side Carlisle City produced a fine display to beat holders Carlisle United in the County Cup semi-final.
They will now play Wetheriggs in the final at Penrith on Tuesday, April 26.
Having beaten Workington Reds in the previous round, the matches seemed to be getting progressively harder for City, especially when the United teamsheet included just three youth team regulars.
The rest included professionals, including loanees from Norwich, Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion. Which was a bit of a kick in the teeth for the youngsters who had got them that far.
United created the first chance after eight minutes as Townsley saved Dixon’s low shot, and Kirkup was alert on a couple of occasions to clear crosses.
City then responded with a fine attempt from Kerr from the edge of the box that just curled wide of Norman’s goal.
It was perhaps surprising to the healthy crowd in attendance that play continued very much end-to-end with Kerr seeing his shot saved by Norman, whilst Toure’s clever run caused problems for the City defence.
After 34 minutes United took the lead when Norwich loanee Ormotoye turned well on the edge of the box and shot low past Townsley.
The scorer could not double his tally as his next effort sailed well wide before City’s Kirkup, a former Carlisle United player, was cautioned after a heavy challenge on Toure.
There was controversy just before the break as Palmer was running clear towards Norman when the referee decided to blow his whistle for half-time, prompting an angry response from the home management team.
City were hanging on in the 51st minute as Townsley saved from Omotoye, with Dixon firing the rebound wide. Four minutes later, City came the closest so far as leading scorer Palmer shot into the side netting with his angled drive.
On the hour, City levelled when Holt, another former United player, ran well into the box and shot powerfully across Norman and into the bottom corner.
Holt then shot just wide a few minutes later but the drama intensified on 72 minutes when substitute Watt lunged into a tackle on Palmer in the Carlisle box with a penalty being awarded and a second yellow card shown to the United player.
There was an unseemly squabble from the United players before the penalty was taken and Irving did extremely well to keep his composure and shoot low past Norman to put City ahead.
United were then close to equalising on 82 minutes as Omotoye’s shot was saved by Townsley with City then scrambling the rebound away.
At the other end, Kirkup was on the end of a corner but his header was saved by Norman.
As the clock ticked down, City’s game-management was excellent as they retained possession in the corners as the game came to its conclusion. In the end, a fine result for them and well-deserved on the night.
TEAMS
CITY – Townsley, Olsen, Kelly, Bowman, Kirkup, Holt, Kerr, Simpson, Irving, Seggie, Palmer SUBS- Grandison, Hartley, Johnstone, Roberts, Studholme
UNITED – Norman, Bell, Roberts, Dixon, Ellis, Kilsby, Toure, Windsor, Fishburn, Alessandra, Omotoye SUBS- Breeze, Bollado, Carr, Potts, Watt
