Carlisle City produced another outstanding performance to shock the Northern League Division One leaders Bishop Auckland.
Bishops had not conceded a goal until last night when City beat them with a third minute winner.
It proved the only goal of the game at the impressive Heritage Park and came after Dan Kirkup had been dragged down in the box as he tried to get on the end of a free-kick.
Sam Atkinson stepped forward to take the kick, but keeper Liversedge stretched his substantial frame to make a fine save. However, Jordan Holt was quickest to react and slid the ball in from a narrow angle.
Bishops, however, showed why they had started the season so well and City keeper Stephen Townsley had a busy evening, making a series of fine saves.
City also had to contend with a host of home corners and they coped superbly.
It also helped that a feature of the game was that most home crosses were too high and too long.
City were starved of possession but, on a few occasions, they did break with pace and they were able to test Liversedge.
It was to be expected that Bishops would press hard after the break and so it proved, with City hardly venturing into the home half.
Townsley was kept busy virtually from the re-start and the home corner count in this second half was to be colossal.
However, the City defence, marshalled expertly by Kirkup, continued to stay strong.
The procession of home corners continued as did the home supporters’ groans as many deliveries were very poor.
The game was like an attack v defence training game with the City rearguard continuing to come out on top.
It was rare to see City in the Bishops half but Atkinson did break on 72 minutes and only just failed to find Holt with his pass,
A clear opening for Bishops was missed when Weirs fired wildly over the bar from eight yards but the shots were raining in and Townsley saved Gott’s deflected effort on 84 minutes.
Five extra minutes were added but for the majority of the time City managed to keep the ball in home territory with Kerr winning a free-kick by the corner flag.
The extra minutes were seen through for City to claim a magnificent win.
