Murphy sinks Stevenage again
Saturday 24 September 2011 19:01, UK
Peter Murphy came back to haunt Stevenage as his first-half header clinched Carlisle a hard-fought 1-0 win at Brunton Park.
The last time the two sides met was in the 2005 Conference play-off final when Murphy again scored the only goal of the game to put Carlisle back in the Football League. After losing three of their first four home games it was a determined Carlisle side who should have made victory much safer in the second half but for misses by Francois Zoko and substitute Jon-Paul McGovern. The stalemate was broken in the 27th minute when Murphy stole forward to get on the end of a floated cross from Danny Livesey and from an unmarked position on the left-half edge of the six-yard box he directed a low header across goalkeeper Chris Day and into the far corner. Stevenage had a better spell after the break and substitute Guy Majo tricked his way in to the six-yard box only to fail to find his man with the pull-back. Zoko missed a great chance to make it safe for Carlisle in the 73rd minute when he latched on to Day's poor clearance. The striker raced 40 yards only to drive his shot into the side netting with just the goalkeeper to beat.
