Carlisle United slipped to their first League defeat of the season when they went down 2-1 at Stevenage.
It had looked like a long afternoon as Stevenage flew out of the traps and the ‘tin hats’ metaphorically speaking as Paul Simpson had predicted, would certainly have been the first choice as headware.
The home side bombarded the Carlisle goal and the Blues defence had to withstand wave after wave of Stevenage attacks, battling manfully to stay in the contest.
The inevitable breakthrough came on 16 minutes when Kane Smith, signed from Boreham Wood lashed in a shot which took a deflection to wrong-foot Tomas Holy and find the net.
They deservedly doubled their lead on 42 minutes when Smith was the provider, finding another summer recruit Max Clark who rifled home.
But Carlisle grabbed a lifeline just before the break from their go-to man Kristian Dennis who headed his fifth goal in as many matches.
That equals the club’s best sequence from Alan Ashman in the 1950s.
The second half was certainly different with Carlisle more in the contest and although there were no further goals, United gave a good account of themselves.
They were close to a goal on two occasions. First when a well-struck free kick-from Jordan Gibson needed a finger-tip save by Ashby-Hammond to deny him.
Then Jack Armer moved inside a challenge to test the home keeper with a fierce low drive which Ashby-Hammond held onto.
