Alport (0) 3 Carlisle City (1) 1
It was National Non League Day on Saturday and Whitchurch had to dig in deep to land the points against a decent Carlisle City outfit. At a rain sodden Yockings Park the Reds needed to come from behind against the Cumbrians before running out 3-1 winners. Ryan Errington lashed City into a 27th minute lead and Alport struggled particularly in the first half where they created very little. But once Elliot Ledwards had headed the home side level early in the second half, it kick started a strangely subdued Reds side, and further goals from Matty Ashbrook and Dean Twigg sent the locals home happy.
Chief threat Errington put Carlisle in front just before the half hour when he profited from a bout of bagatelle in the penalty area. Alport had more than one chance to clear the danger and their failure to do so left Errington with enough space to pick out the corner with a hefty swing of his left boot.
Si Everall had uncharacteristically dragged a 12th minute shot wide for the home side on one of the very few occasions that Alport managed to breach a well marshalled Carlisle defence. Ashbrook fired straight at Martin Purdie - forcing the Carlisle stopper into a rare first half save - and there was definitely work to do at the break for Alport’s management team to spark a reaction from their players.
And they got the response they wanted when a beautifully flighted Ashbrook corner was headed home from 10 yards by the towering figure of Edwards to level the scores after 53 minutes. And he went close to a second five minutes later with a reactionary header in the second phase only to see it land a few feet past the post. Mike Blundell put a 25 yard free kick a yard over as the hosts started to turn the screw and with 20 minutes left, Alport went in front. Purdie spilled a Blundell effort and Ashbrook was on hand to turn home the loose ball from 6 yards and leave Carlisle deflated. They could have got back on terms quickly though with Jamie Heath’s goalbound strike brilliantly cleared from virtually underneath his own crossbar by Ant Tinsley. Alport continued to press and with a third goal needed to finally kill off the plucky challenge put up from the league newcomers, Twigg lashed a shot high past Purdie with just a minute or so remaining to wrap up the points. Alport hadn’t been at their best by any means but they had ground out a result and stayed in amongst the First Division front runners.