United showed only one change from Saturday with newcomer Mo Harkin from Wycombe coming into the right side of midfield in place of Lee Andrews. New signings Austin Berkley (pictured) and Alex Haddow started on the bench. A small gate on a damp night included about 100 travelling fans from Cumbria.

It was the visitors who made the more assured start and the Cumbrians were playing some decent passing football with Lee Maddison and Mark Birch helping to bring width into their game. Harkin made an impressive 20-yard dribble that ended when he ran into heavy Stockport traffic.

On nine minutes Birch collected his second booking of the week when he slid in late and was adjudged worthy of a caution from the referee. A David Morley foul on Aaron Wilbraham brought a free kick outside the box. Finn Shefki Kuqi brought a good save out of Luke Weaver although the shot was straight at the keeper. Kuqi was in the action a few minutes later with a good turn and shot that went wide of the target.

Defender Colin Woodthorpe tried his luck from range in the 19th minute and Weaver was forced to push the ball away for a corner. From the resulting kick taken by Robert Clare, an unmarked Kuqi came in to head home the first goal for the home side.

Carlisle regained their composure having gone a goal behind and continued to play some constructive football. Stevens was being caught offside too often but both Halliday and Birch were linking up well and Peter Murphy went on an enterprising run in the 31st minute that brought a cross that was eventually cleared. Scott Taylor fired in a strong shot in 38 minutes that failed to test Weaver.

On 41 minutes a superb crossfield Hopper pass picked out the raiding Birch and United forced a rare corner. Morley headed back to Whitehead but County scrambled the ball away after a few heart flutters. There were even more flutters for United as first Stuart Elliott hacked off the line after another testing corner from Clare and then defender Leo Roget missed an open goal after Weaver misjudged another Clare corner kick.

The final action of the half saw Hopper fire in a shot well over the cross-bar as United tried to regroup. The first half verdict was that of a decent Carlisle display let down by a few moments of poor defending.

Jarko Wiss replaced the impressive Clare at the start of the second period. United had an early moment when Stuart Elliott tried a cross cum shot that Stevens just failed to reach as he stretched. Within moments County could easily have gone two up but Ali Gibb headed wide an accurate cross. A more direct Stockport were causing a few problems.

Roddy Collins reacted by replacing Maddison and Harkin with Berkley and Haddow for their debuts. Unfortunately within a minute the home team moved two goals in front. Scott Taylor collected just outside the box, cut inside and fired past Weaver, who was wrong-footed.

Within a few seconds it might have been three as Kuqi was through but Whitehead challenged and snuffed out the danger although Kuqi was adamant it should have been a penalty. United still refused to resort to long balls. The new boys Haddow and Berkley immediately caused the home team more problems. Stevens set up Haddow with a good pass but the youngster was tackled when a good chance beckoned. At the other end Birch cleared a Gibb corner off the goal-line. The impressive Berkley won another corner and Whitehead managed to miss when he had a glorious chance from a close-range header.

Stevens claimed a penalty on 65 minutes as he fell on the edge of the box but nothing was given. Tony Hopper entered the book for a foul on 69 minutes. Neil Hardy replaced Aaron Wilbraham for the Hatters. Stevens and Roget got involved in a scuffle that dragged in more players but no names were taken as Stockport were awarded a free kick.

Another good run by Berkley set up Stevens for a shot that whistled wide in what was the Cumbrians' best opening of the match. Seconds after Stevens was replaced by Jonny Allan, the home team took a rather flattering three-goal lead. Once again a set-piece was not well defended as a quickly taken free kick was slipped wide for a cross to come in and an unmarked Taylor rose to head his second goal past Weaver. The game was all over now but Berkley had time to impress again with a good direct run at goal and a shot that was wide of the post as Allan attempted to divert it in.

Weaver came charging off his line and clattered into Kuqi inside the last three minutes. Both players received treatment but both were Ok. Halliday came in from the right, beat three players and shot narrowly wide from an angle and nearly 20 yards out. It was the last meaningful piece of action as County went through to the Second Round.

Al's Verdict : A match decided by quality set-pieces that we didn't cope with at all well. Footballing wise, we might even have shaded it. The three newcomers, in particular Berkley impressed and give some hope for the future. We need to be more aggressive up front and clearly lack a physical presence in the opposition penalty box, although both Halliday and Stevens had fairly impressive games. The lessons have to be absorbed and learnt from. We looked a little vulnerable defensively and that was one of our big plusses in the second half of last season. Collins' passing game needs to show a bit more bite. Nothing to get too concerned about as the result wasn't a fair reflection, but the lack of goals is a continuing worry.