A wet Saturday morning at the Racecourse would normally be enough to put anyone off leaving the house, but on Saturday 8th December the Shoemakers took on the Carlisle fans for the second time in successive seasons. This particular set of Cumbrians have travelled north from London in the morning instead of a long trek down from the borders - apparently there is a large group of Carlisle followers in the capital.

Last season the sides battled out an entertaining five goal thriller in which the home side won 3-2 which also matched the score at Sixfields later in the afternoon. Today would see the same outcome, but not scorline, in both fixtures too.

The morning game kicked off in torrential rain at the Racecourse and it was the home side who took the early initiative and created the chances. Sean Bellham pounced on a defensive error and forced the keeper into a save, but the ball ran clear before being scrambled away. Then Ant Collett headed just wide from a Richard Fletcher long throw.

The deadlock was broken in the 20th minute, Sean Bellham picked out Richard Fletcher with a through ball and the striker, who had played in goal in the previous two games, hit the net from just inside the area.

The rain continued and so did the Shoemakers' dominance but they couldn't add to their tally and it remained 1-0 at half time.

The second half was the same story, both in terms of the home side's dominance and the rain. A huge goal mouth scramble which saw four separate Shoemakers players have shots on goal, somehow ended up going out for a corner. It looked to be one of those days when another scramble happened only moments later, before Sean Bellham's long range drive was superbly pushed away by the keeper.

Carlisle weren't without their chances and in a break they were gifted a golden opportunity to equalise. Ben Trasler was harshly adjudged to have fouled a Carlisle forward and the referee awarded a penalty. The Cobblers keeper in fact didn't make any contact, but that didn't matter to the visitors who made it 1-1 from the spot.

The home side continued to press, Tom Robinson's effort from the edge of the area was blocked and Ant Collett came close from the rebound. Then Richard Fletcher's shot was parried by the keeper but Mark Kennedy was inches away from any contact with the follow up. Luis Pereira's long run was halted by a last ditch challenge as he prepared to shoot and Rob Ellam's effort was blocked en-route to goal.

Time finally ran out for any winner from the Shoemakers who had done everything but score, but both sides had contributed to an entertaining game yet again.

Here is the feedback from Chris Tembey of Carlisle Fans - Yet again full credit to the Shoemakers team for further building bridges between rival fans.

"Mark, as last year, many thanks indeed for everything surrounding our supporters match on Saturday. The booking of the pitch, directions etc.It was a really great game to be involved in and played with great spirit in such wonderful conditions! Credit to all for that. The Ref was absolutely spot on, so our thanks to whoever managed to persuade him at such a late hour! He got absolutely every decision correct....I can vouch for that!! You certainly deserved your point in the afternoon, no doubt about that. There would have been a certain degree of daylight robbery had we left with all three points. Good luck for the rest of the season anyways and thanks again to you and all the Cobblers team.Maybe see you next season?!?!?!?"

Team - Ben Trasler, Bob Payne , James Averill, Steve Marley, Luis Pereira, Ant Collett, Mark Kennedy, Simon Sidwell, Tom Robinson, Rob Ellam, Sean Bellham, Richard Fletcher, Michael Harison