Harriers' longest ever run in the LDV Vans Trophy came to an end after a goal three minutes from time ended a valiant rearguard action at Brunton Park.

Mark Yates named an unchanged team from the one that beat Scarborough at the weekend, choosing again to leave Francino Francis on the bench but for the first time Assistant-Manager Neil Howarth was included in the squad.

Carlisle dominated the game from the start and were soon making chances for themselves.  John Danby held a header from Danny Livesey who got away from his marker to reach Chris Lumsdon's corner after quarter of an hour and soon afterwards a free kick from Paul Arnison deep on the right found Derek Holmes who headed wide of the near post.  Later in the half Chris Billy tried his luck from distance but Danby held on to his low shot.  Harriers eventually began to get into the game themselves and five minutes before the interval Michael Blackwood knocked the ball down to Simon Russell, his 20 yard shot was saved by Kieran Westwood low to his left.  Blackwood then did well to get to the byline on the left, pulling the ball back to Iyseden Christie who fired wide of the near post.  Harriers ended the half as they had spent most of it, however defending when Terry fleming cleared off the line from Zigor Aranalde.

Harriers best chance of the game came early in the second half, Christie found space on the right and passed inside to Gareth Sheldon who blasted his shot over the bar from 20 yards.  The game became bogged down in midfield for a spell, the terrible pitch preventing either side from playing good football.  Harriers had to soak up a lot more Carlisle pressure but for the first twenty minutes of the half they looked far less likely to make the breakthrough than they had in the first half.

Simon Russell had another chance twenty minutes from the end but his weak 20-yard shot was straight at Westwood.  The introduction of Simon Hackney after 70 minutes improved Carlisle's performance and they began to build up a period of pressure in which a goal seemed inevitable.  Ten minutes from the end Glenn Murray held off Mark Jackson to create an opening for Hackney who saw his powerful shot pushed away for a corner by Danby.  From the corner Karl Hawley had the ball in the net but his joy was short-lived as the linesman's flag indicated an offside in the Harriers penalty area.

Carlisle continued to press and four minutes from the end a Hackney cross found Glenn Murray whose diving header went wide of the near post.  A minute later Carlisle finally made the breakthrough; Billy won the ball from Russ Penn in midfield and slipped it through the inside left channel to Murray who beat Danby with an angled shot that went in off the far post.  Broken so late there was no way back for Harriers who would probably have been able to play all night without scoring.