The team and supporters made the long journey to Carlisle on a Tuesday evening; Carlisle located in the Northwest of England and 10 miles south of the Scottish border. Glenn and Jona picked me up at 16.00 and off we went, with 80s music on the radio and the roads clear it was happy days. The three of us made good time, arriving at the ground around 18.00 to get setup. The ground itself is called Gilford Park and was opened in 1988 hosting Rugby, Carlisle City moved into this home in 2015.
Jacko and the coaching team made two changes from the previous game with Josh Marshall and Charlie Fixter back in the starting 11. The game started quietly with the first real chance coming in the 10th min when an effort from Carlisle was fired over the bar. Y&E took the lead in the 22 min through Mikey Roberts, ball played forward, assist from Tom Atkinson and Mikey took a touch before firing home past the keeper to give us the lead. In the 28 min Carlisle City got a throw in on the halfway line and their number 11 launched it right into the box, think Rory Delap. This proved to be a test all evening.
The Y&E almost doubled their lead in the 32 min when Ste Roberts got past the defender, but the keeper got down well and blocked his effort. The Y&E went close again before half time when a Titch effort was floated into the box and headed against the bar by Mikey Roberts.
Half time – Shout out to the Carlisle City cafe Queens who served up some great food. I personally had the cheeseburger, and it got a 8/10 from me. Jona must have liked them because he had three!
The second half the Y&E started the better team and almost made it 2-0, a superb cross field pass by Ste Roberts to find Harry Titch who hit a low effort to back post and inches wide.
The game from this point was very much a defensive master class from the Y&E. The lads went close a couple of times through Dan Jones in the second half with one cleared off the line but the lads defended superbly against a barrage of corners, long throw-ins from Rory and free kicks into the box from Carlisle City.
The headers cleared, bodies thrown in front of the ball, saves and catches from Callum, i honestly lost count but the effort second half was unreal. It’s great to wins games 3-4 nil and late winners but this was different, this showed the fitness levels, the determination and pure heart from these lads who left everything out on that pitch. The effort put in from the whole team was superb and this will go down as one of my favourite games watching the Y&E. This defensive performance was without Cam, Proc, Doug’s, Leo, Ethan, Jack and Sam to name a few defensive players which just shows again the strength in depth in this squad.
The full-time whistle came and we all celebrated behind the goal; a number of Y&E supporters had made the long journey and were being heard. Jacko and the coaching team should be so proud of this evening and the start to the season.
MOTM – This was awarded to the whole team with a special shout out to Mikey Roberts for his lovely strike.
The journey home was a happy one, we left with the three points and headed back to Teesside with smiles on our faces.
Next up for the lads is three home games in a week. North Shields, Redcar Town and Newcastle Blue Star, three big clubs and more great tests. If you are free and can make the games then get yourself to Bedford Terrace, one thing i can guarantee is entertainment and value for money.
~UTYAE – Minty 
