CARLISLE 1 HARRIERS 0

THE debate will rage as to whether the Harriers cup is half full or half empty after the last drop was drained from their involvement in knockout football.

Pessimists will point to them being battered into submission in a one-sided semi-final at Brunton Park after adopting a passive approach.

Aggborough optimisits, however, could argue that Kiddermnister contained the form team from a level above with a determined defensive display before being punished for a late lapse.

Either way, it's cliche time because Harriers can now concentrate on the Confe-rence between now and the end of the season.

After last gasp exits in the FA Trophy and the LDV Vans Trophy, Mark Yates has only the bread and butter of league fixtures to convince the Harriers faithful he is the man to take their club forward.

Early indications suggest that this may not be a bad thing. While the new boss has lost two cup ties to late concessions, he has a 100 per cent record in his two Conference clashes.

Those hardy souls who travelled to Cumbria on a cold January night, however, must be ruing their side's failure to grasp the opportunity to progress to the last four.

Harriers have reserved their best football for the lower league knockout competition with the league scalps of Darlington, Boston and Bradford in recent rounds.

But offensively they did not do themselves justice against the League Two high fliers.

While Carlisle clearly dominated from start to finish this was not, according to the locals, the Brunton Park men at their best.

And after frustrating their hosts for long periods, Harriers might have been better adopting a braver approach rather than trying to hold out for extra-time and penalties.

Carlisle might have had to contend with treacherous floods last year, but Harriers taught them how to weather a storm for 86 minutes on Tuesday night.

How Harriers made it to the closing stages on level terms is a mystery because Paul Simpson's men laid siege to their goal all night.

But for faulty finishing from the hosts and a couple of decent stops from John Danby the Brunton Park floodgates could have opened again in the manner many Harriers fans feared.

Carlisle had no fewer than 10 half chances with Karl Hawley a constant threat, although his shooting failed to match his approach play.

Defender Danny Livesey also headed a couple of decent efforts off target, while Derek Holmes, Chris Billy and Zigor Aranalde queued up to waste chances.

The Cumbrians had strong and not-so-strong appeals for penalties turned down when Johnny Mullins in the second half and Terry Fleming in the first appeared to have handled in the box.

Danby produced a fine tip over, then n important push-around to deny Simon Hackney and Hawley.

But there was nothing he could do about Glenn Murray's winner with the substitute striker despaching a clinical effort into the bottom right corner after a ball over the top from Billy.