In a physical game where neither side created any gilt edged opportunities Roddy Collins can look back positively on the performance of his defence and the influential debut of Stuart Elliott in midfield.

His worry at the moment is the lack of goals, but with the news of three new signings in time for Tuesday nights league cup tie at Stockport, his promise of better things may be just around the corner.

Collins was understandably upbeat after the performance and said: ”It may have only been a draw but it was a moral victory for the lads. We were up against it in the first ten minutes but once the lads got into it their confidence grew. We got the ball down and played and could have nicked one maybe but overall it was a very heartening performance. A lot of players gave their all and they’ve got to do that every week. There will be three new faces for Tuesday night so competition for places will really rev up now.”

The Cumbrians were under the cosh early on with Orient forcing five corners in quick succession. Steve Watts got on the end of one of Matthew Lockwood’s inswinging corners, only to see his header cleared off the line by Lee Maddison.

Matthew Joseph then rattled a 20 yard shot just wide before Scott Houghton’s near post cross was headed wide by Jeff Minton.

Little was seen of Carlisle going forward until the 24th minute when Ashley Bayes misjudged a Lee Andrews cross with Stuart Elliott driving the loose ball wide.

Carlisle’s former Orient keeper, Luke Weaver, then saved Houghton’s shot with an outstretched foot before making a full length save from a Lockwood free kick on 43 minutes.

On 58 minutes another Houghton shot was turned for a corner by Weaver, before substitute Chris Tate broke through only to pull his shot wide.

In the last half hour Carlisle came more into the game with Ian Stevens heading wide from a near post cross from the increasingly influential Stuart Elliott with Steve Halliday then breaking free only to be stopped by a last ditch Jeff Minton tackle.

In stoppage time, Cumbrian hearts missed a beat as a Matthew Joseph cross found Chris Tate only for the big striker to head straight at Weaver.

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