Ironically, had the Cumbrians found a goal scoring touch they would have been looking at the rest of the Division from top spot. But with fourteen new faces introduced to the squad over the last two weeks it is little real surprise that the team is taking time to gel.

There were plenty of positive things to come out of the game, not least the defence that has kept three clean sheets in a row since conceding three goals to Hartlepool on the opening day of the season.

But the Cumbrians will rue a lack of composure in front of goal for not taking all three points, particularly in a frantic final quarter of an hour when the had enough chances to have settled the game comfortably.

This point was not lost on manager Roddy Collins who said after the game: “I’m not disappointed. I thought the lads coped really well and on another day we could have scored two or three. We passed the ball around well at times. We broke well but it was just that final killer punch in front of goal that wasn’t with us today.

“It was a hard fought game and Bristol Rovers will be very pleased with their point, I’ve no doubt about that. I am very disappointed in not winning but not with the performance. There was a lot of good positive play. We have other players to come into the club and we now have a good squad and I’m happy with the progress so far.

“We are a fit, strong side and when we upped the pace in the second half we put them under pressure but we needed to nick a goal. I think if we had got the goal we wouldn’t have seen Bristol come back”

With five minutes gone Carlisle’s first chance came when Richie Foran released Brendan McGill with Peter Murphy blasting over the resulting cross.

Three minutes later a Murphy cross was blocked with Foran reacting quickly to the loose ball to loop a header over the bar.

On 18 minutes Paul Tait gave the Cumbrians a timely reminder that the game would not be one way traffic, as he turned to curl a right foot shot just wide of Peter Keen’s left hand post.

As Carlisle continued to enjoy the marginally better possession in an increasingly scrappy game, a Murphy cross was headed out by Anwar Uddin straight to John Burns whose shot was saved by Scott Howie in the Rovers goal.

Tait then headed wide from a Wayne Carlisle corner before the best chance so far fell to Trevor Molloy who volleyed over from a good position after good work from Burns.

With four minutes of the half remaining the referee awarded the Pirates a dubious penalty when he penalised Stuart Whitehead for tugging Tait’s shirt. Tait failed to capitalise on his good fortune as he sent Keen the wrong way only to roll the ball the wrong side of the post.

Keen then made an important save to keep out a Tait header from a Vitalijs Astafjevs’ cross with Lee Andrew’s on hand to clear the loose ball.

Within two minutes of the restart Carlisle should have taken the lead when a clever ball from Molloy but McGill clear but hesitation allowed Uddin time to get across to block the shot for a corner.

Six minutes later Molloy again provided McGill with another clear cut chance but Boxall managed to block the shot for another corner.

Neat build up play between Mark Summerbell and Molloy then opened things up for Foran but a hasty volley flew over the bar.

Rovers were still showing some ambition as Giuliano Grazioli turned well in the to flash a shot just wide of the post and Adam Barratt headed over a Boxall free kick.

On 67 minutes McGill again found himself in space when Foran put him clear but again the ex Sunderland man failed to capitalise pulling his shot wide.

With time running out neat skills from Molloy on the left of the box opened up the Rovers defence only for Brian Wake to fail to make contact with the resulting cross.

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