This was a fairly poor game and visitors Bristol Rovers had been ravaged by injury but it was one that had to be won and there was a lot of relief amongst the paltry crowd of 1,849 who turned out in preference to watching England live on TV. The gate was the lowest for a league game in 10 years.

Halliday's goal arrived as the result of a cross in from the left by Mark Winstanley. The nippy striker arrived first and steered the ball in by the near post. United did most of the attacking and Rovers struggled to string passes together.

They suffered an early blow when striker Martin Cameron appeared to pull a hamstring chasing a through ball and was replaced by Elvis Hammond. Young Elvis made little impression as it turned out and the Cumbrians' defence was not 'all shook up' as a result of his appearance on the field of play.

Halliday was a constant outlet for the home team and his jinking movements had the visitors' defence in trouble on several occasions. Rovers also seemed to have packed the wrong footwear as their players seemed to spend as much time on the floor as off it. Peter Murphy drove in a left-footed free-kick from the edge of the area but Scott Howie made a good low save.

United could have made the game safe eight minutes into the second half. Pacy Brendan McGill raced through the defence only to see Howie in the visitors goal make a save. McGill should have scored.

On 61 minutes a Birch cross was heading Richie Foran's way but Howie made a good scrambling save. Steve Skinner came on for Carlisle for his first appearance in a blue shirt for nearly two years. Early on he made a great run into the box but was thwarted by the last defender. Rovers only came to life towards the end after bringing on veteran former England winger Mark Walters.

The 36-year-old player produced a spinning shot that pinged just wide of Peter Keen's far post and a few minutes later tried an ambitious lob that was well over the bar. Foran then missed a great opportunity to finish things off when he got away down the right channel but blasted over when he sould have put the chance away.

In the closing moments there was a scramble inside the Carlisle box as Rovers belatedly showed enough muscle up front to worry the home defence. It was too little, too late and United clung on to the three points.

Al's Verdict : Not our best form of the season but a win is a win. The visitors were crap, let's face it. Without six or seven regulars they looked like they were fielding their reserve side and they played like it. We could and should have beaten them comfortably if we were a good side, which we clearly aren't, but hopefully that will change - eventually. Halliday for me was man of the match - well taken goal and constant movement. McGill has pace aplenty but is a long way from the finished article. We are a bits and pieces team at the moment and this result merely papers over the cracks. But it is still very welcome, for all that.