Bower Park is a tough place to go to, and in my limited time at the club there have been few wins here to boast about. Our County Cup Final win was an exception, and even that wasn't against the home club. Aspatria have made their home turf a fortress and getting anything out of games there is a scrap.
So it proved today with a classic game of two halves, Aspatria overcoming an onslaught in the first half, to emerge winners despite a late fight back by Carlisle.

Carlisle started much the brighter of the two teams, and the home side were forced on to the back foot right from the off. A line out deep in Aspatria's 22, gave Carlisle a chance to put their rolling maul to good effect and hooker Tom Graham was there at the back to dive over in the corner for Carlisle's first try after 7 minutes, 5-0.

Eight minutes later Graham was there again as a 5m line out gave him the chance to dive down the blindside and over in the same corner to extend the lead to 10-0. Unfortunately he wasn't giving any favours to kicker Jason Israel who was having no luck with conversions from the touchline in the swirling wind.

Carlisle were dominating the home side in territory and possession, and even when Aspatria managed to put some phases together, they were eventually getting on the wrong side of the visiting referee. Two minutes later from a penalty inside the Aspatria half, a 22m line out gave Carlisle another chance to put the Aspatria defence under pressure. From the lineout, second row Alfie Batty spotted a yawning chasm in the home defence and gambled through for Carlisle's third try, this time giving Israel a decent chance of a conversion to make it 17-0.
I don't know who was more shellshocked, the Aspatria side being three tries down after 20minutes, or the travelling supporters who were struggling to believe the scoreline, but loving it all the same.

Aspatria eventually managed to get a foothold in the game, but a combination of good defence and unforced errors by the home side, meant their forays deep into Carlisle territory were few and far between. Carlisle still looked good with ball in hand and only some scramble defence by Aspatria managed to keep Carlisle away from their bonus point try. With half time beckoning, one last push by Aspatria down the right wing gave them the opportunity to set up ruck ball. Dragging the Carlisle defence into defending tight, they swung ball right across the park to go over in the left corner, the conversion into the wind bouncing off and over the crossbar for 7 points, to make it 17-7 at half time.

The second half saw both sides trying to exert some control and influence on the game, but with no side really dominating proceedings for the first 10 minutes. Indeed Aspatria elected to take the points from a long range penalty just inside Carlisle's half to reduce the deficit to 17-10.
Eventually however they found space down the left wing and on 55mins were over for a converted try to even the scores at 17-17. It just looked like Carlisle had gone off the boil from their performance in the first half, a dangerous thing to do against Aspatria at home. Carlisle pushed the home side back up the park, and there followed a period of pick and gos near the try line from Carlisle which Aspatria defended well, though eventually infringed again. Unfortunately Israel's penalty attempt just drifted past the upright, and Aspatria seemed to draw energy from this.

Within the next 5 minutes, they had racked up two tries, the second cruelly from a Carlisle point of view coming from an interception deep in the Aspatria 22 as Carlisle were pressing hard for their bonus point try. Now it was time for Carlisle to look a little shellshocked as they were facing a 17-29 deficit with barely ten minutes left on the clock. Credit to the players they just rolled up their sleeves and dug deep to get back into Aspatria's red zone, with Israel eventually crashing over for the fourth try, narrowing the deficit to a one score game at 22-29, with only a few minutes left. Though they would finish the game in Aspatria's half, they were unable to find another flaw in Aspatria's defence, and had to settle for a losing bonus point and try bonus point.

Aspatria were inevitably elated at a 5 point derby win over Carlisle, especially after the first half, and the visitors more than a little deflated at letting this opportunity slip from their grasps. This was three points lost rather than 2 points salvaged, from a game at one point they looked like winning at a canter. Hopefully they will reflect on their excellent first half performance, and correct the errors from the second to fine tune things for their next game. There were shades of their performance in the first half against Northern a few weeks ago, in this game, and there is a lot to like about watching this side at the moment. Consistency though is something they have to work on.

We now have a week off before we entertain Keswick at home on the 9th November.