Carlisle City v Bishop Auckland

Recap

Bishops made a couple of changes to the make-up of the starting XI on a sunny day in Carlisle as a large following of away supporters were hoping that the league title could be secured.  Hackett moved into midfield with Risbrough back in his customary attacking left-back position, with Howard back in the starting lineup and Bartliff in a more advanced forward position.

The two blues started the game in a confident manner and created a couple of dangerous moments for the home side, particularly from set pieces.  Andrew May rose high to head a Burlace cross just over the bar on 13 minutes.

On 35 minutes a searching ball evaded Henderson but dropped kindly for Bartliff to stroll onto and guide an angled low finish into the corner to send the Bishops’ contingent of supporters spiralling over the wooden fence.  This caused a delay to the re-start as home officials secured the area and moved a large proportion of away fans to the side of the incident.

The home side was not showing any attacking threat as the first half drew to a conclusion so it was with the run of play that Bartliff got his and Bishops’ second goal when he diverted a low cross into the net from close range.

With any tension massively reduced Bishops were able to continue to control the game and added a third goal from that man Bartliff again, the attacking midfielder hammering the ball into the roof of the net from a Giles cutback.

It took 78 minutes for the first real meaningful effort on the Bishops’ goal and it was a scuffed effort from Mahone that crept past Catterick.  This appeared to knock Bishops off course for a few moments as the home side then hit the post before the ball was cleared by Catterick.  Once again though any growing tension was quickly reduced as Hackett put gloss on the scoreline with a lovely driven finish after good work from Thexton.

On what was a comprehensive and professional performance, the result elsewhere meant Bishops still needed a point to secure the league title.

Match report by Gavin Hadden