Carlisle United crashed to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Maidstone United on the final day of the season and any hopes they had of making the play-offs collapsed around them.

It was hard to believe that over Christmas United topped the table and had another spell on top in the new year. But a run of six successive losses knocked the stuffing out of them and a brief revival during the spring was not enough to halt the slide that ended with them finishing eighth in the table, finishing behind playoff-bound Chesterfield only on goal difference.

One chief reason for the collapse in the second half of the campaign was the unfortunate loss of two left-sided players to broken legs, John Halpin and Ian Dalziel. For the luckless Halpin, it was the third break of his career.

At the time of the injuries, the club were either at or near the top of the table, but having to fill in with replacements, their form started to dip. Carlisle-born Steve McCall arrived on loan and helped United to a crucial victory over promotion rivals Exeter in February, but from that point it was virtually downhill all the way.

Carlisle managed a four-game winning run themselves going into April, but their form subsided in the last few games and the Maidstone result was in truth not that surprising. To cap it all, there was some crowd trouble involving Carlisle fans at Maidstone's home ground in Dartford.

Crowds were well up as United put together a very promising ten-match unbeaten run at the start of the season, and by defeating Stockport just before Christmas, reached the top of the table.

Paul Proudlock, who had banged in ten goals by Boxing Day, failed to find the net thereafter, and so highlighted another big problem for Carlisle - that of goalscoring. Veteran striker Keith Walwyn, who had arrived during the summer, did manage twelve goals but clearly United would have given their right arm for a quality striker who could knock in goals. The lack of such a man was a big factor in the club missing out on promotion.