There was nothing to separate Stevenage and Carlisle United on Saturday, as the Cumbrians held Boro 0-0 at the Lamex.
The days opposition had also been knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship opposition in midweek, losing 2-0 in a replay with Sheffield Wednesday, with Stevenage knocked out by Reading in a 3-0 defeat.
Carlisle began the day 13th in League Two, three points ahead of 15th placed Boro.
After a guard of honour for Ronnie Henry to mark the club captain’s first game at the Lamex since breaking the club appearance record in Boro’s 1-1 draw in Morcambe, the game kicked off amid an upbeat atmosphere.
The sides looked as evenly matched inside the first 15 minutes as their league positions suggested, and both had their fair share of half-chances on the soaked Lamex pitch.
Ben Kennedy’s battle with Carlisle left-back Danny Grainger was an interesting dynamic to watch, as they spent the majority of the first half in each others ears before boss Darren Sarll switched Kennedy to the left. The Boro number 10 earned a yellow card for sticking an equally crunching challenge into Grainger as the visitors’ captain had done earlier in the game.
On-loan stopper Tom King, who, according to page 23 of the match programme, prefers Batman to Superman, pulled out an impressive stop from a Grainger free-kick in the last kick of the half.
The first-half ended goalless and both sides had successfully cancelled each other out. Carlisle went through a few times but never looked like finishing, while Stevenage hadn’t been able to create any clear cut scoring opportunities.
The second 45 continued in the same pattern, although after 65 minutes Carlisle started to impose themselves, penning Stevenage back and going close. They seemed to lack quality in and around the box though and nothing came of their period of dominance.
A 0-0 draw it would finish. Neither team could be described as the better side on the day, neither went particularly close to scoring but it was a more interesting battle than the scoreline suggested.
Sarcastic quips of ‘that was a classic wasn’t it’ echoed around a freezing Lamex after the final whistle.
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