Carlisle City returned to the bread and butter of Northern League action after their mid-week heroics in the County Cup against Carlisle and shared the spoils at Bedlington.
City missed a great chance to take the lead on eight minutes when Bradbury found Holt on the left edge of the box, but his shot flew narrowly wide.
City were wide again on 12 minutes through Irving and a fine run from Bradbury took him into a good position but his cross was too hard.
Palmer then saw his free kick blocked and when Bradbury’s shot was deflected for a corner Palmer’s delivery was headed wide by Kirkup.
Generally both sides were struggling with an extremely tricky surface as well as running offside too often.
In the 33rd minute, the home side were awarded a penalty after Olsen fouled Dinsley and the spot-kick was confidently finished by Jones.
Just before the break, Palmer twice fired wide from distance but then City equalised amidst some controversy in the 45th minute.
Irving was fouled by Shepherd as he broke through the middle and Atkinson took the free-kick very quickly, beating a startled and unprepared Harker.
The protests from Harker as he left the field apparently continued inside the dressing rooms and the referee showed him a red card during the interval, with the keeper’s jersey going to Shepherd.
A foul on Bradbury in the 53rd minute gave Atkinson a chance to test the deputy keeper but his shot dropped frustratingly wide.
City were really struggling to create chances and could have fallen behind when Zych’s fine effort hit the post.
Shepherd was finding his new role relatively comfortable although he saved well from Palmer’s deflected shot, and then saved Kirkup’s header from the resulting corner.
It was a feature of the second half that the 10 men created the clearer chances, and Townsley saved well from Rowlandson on 65 minutes.
There were strong City shouts for a penalty as Irving seemed to be clipped from behind but these were turned away.
City’s attempts were proving increasingly desperate and Kirkup moved up-front for the last quarter-hour.
This move soon gained a reward as Kirkup swivelled on a ball 15 yards out and his effort beat the unsighted Shepherd to put City ahead on 82 minutes.
City should have been able to see the game out from here but, within three minutes, a rush of blood saw Townsley dash to the edge of his area amidst no danger, and brought down Rowlandson.
For the second time, Jones converted the penalty.
City were then deflated and never really looked like scoring again, with one header from Kirkup saved by Shepherd.
It does now mean that City have dropped five points in the last two games, against sides placed in the bottom-six of the table.
