Carlisle 0 Argyle 2: Match report

ARGYLE’S first Football League game on neutral territory for nearly 55 years saw another Ryan Brunt-inspired victory keep them clear at the top of Sky Bet League 2.

Brunt’s Christmas contribution to the Pilgrims’ progress was again vital as the 22-year-old forward scored for the third game in succession.

His free-kick strike midway through the first half at Ewood Park was his fourth goal in five and a half matches and put Argyle on their way to ending the Christmas period with four wins out of four.

He doubled his tally, and made it five since his last-minute strike at Dagenham at the beginning of last month, with a heavily deflected shot in injury-time.

The match – a home game for Carlisle – had been moved to Greater Manchester, some 80 miles from the Cumbrian’s regular stadium, after the recent floods swamped their base. We should have gone to Brunton Park; instead we got Brunt on target.

The last man to score from Argyle at a neutral venue was Wilf Carter, when the Pilgrims lost a Second Division encounter to Ipswich Town, going down 2-1 at Torquay United’s Plainmoor after Home Park was shut because of violence towards a referee. Not bad company for Brunt to keep.

On the first footballing day of the new year, the Pilgrims went back to the future by lining up with a three-man central defence for the first time this season. Like a familiar favourite song, the formation had a comforting warmth about it – captain Curtis Nelson on the right, Peter Hartley on the left and, stuck in the middle, Carl McHugh.

Other than that, Argyle manager Derek Adams had decided on just one change of personnel from the side that began the 2-1 victory against Newport County on Bank Holiday Monday, with Josh Simpson, a half-time substitute at Rodney Parade, retaining his midfield place at the expense of Craig Tanner.

It was the first time for four matches that Adams had made a change to his starting line-up, after three consecutive victories during the festive period had taken them back to the top of the division.

Carlisle, who had not previously played since their 3-0 home-away win at Preston North End’s Deepdale the weekend before Christmas, were without 14-goal leading scorer Jabo Ibehre – Derek Asamoah took his place – and made two other changes, benching Gary Dicker and Macauley Gillesphey in favour of Alex Gillead and Luke Joyce.

After some initial sparring, the Pilgrims landed the first blow when leading scorer Jake Jervis won a free-kick just over 20 yards from goal and took the set-piece himself, bringing out a good save from Carlisle custodian Mark Gillespie.

Despite the close thing, Jervis handed over dead-ball duties to his strike partner after winning another free-kick when Jason Kennedy went through him on the edge of the D. Brunt, who can do little wrong at the moment, it seems, took a couple of strides and planted the ball past Gillespie.

The celebrations which followed suggested that the ball might have hit Jervis on its way to the back of the net – and the ball certainly appeared to take a deflection – but, by the time the Lilacs lined up for the restart, the general consensus was that it was Brunt’s goal.

The two free-kicks represented precisely 50% of the number of first-half shots on target managed by both sides combined; the remainder of the opening period saw Argyle conduct a masterclass in defending against one of the most potent sides in the division.

Their rearguard resilience manifested itself in the opening moments of the second half, when McHugh, who, it seems, rarely puts concerns for his own safety before the team, headed bravely away from amid the boots in the penalty area.