Bottom place has been familiar territory for the Cumbrians in recent seasons but Roddy Collins is slowly building a squad that will deliver better times in the coming months.

A point borne out by Macclesfield manager David Moss who said: “It wasn’t a case of two points lost today but more of a point won. Carlisle are a good side. They looked dangerous going forward and caused us problems all afternoon. I am naturally disappointed that we couldn’t hold on to our lead but I never felt comfortable and always thought they would get back into the game.”

Collins is expected to bolster his squad further this week with the signing of Wimbledon defender Des Byrne along with an experienced striker.

Collins said after the game: “A good point, but is wasn’t as important as the performance which I thought was really good. We made a change at half time, leaving one up front and I thought we took the game over. I was disappointed with their second goal, which was a bit sloppy, because I felt that at that stage if we had nicked the goal we would have gone on to win it.”

In the last two games Carlisle have conceded early goals and Collins had insisted that his players kept things tight early on but a wry smile came to his face as his side reversed the trend with only 97 seconds gone.

Ryan Baldacchino cut in from the left to find John Sutton whose shot came back off the post, with Leon Osman showing great predatory instinct to hammer the loose ball home.

It was a perfect start for the diminutive midfielder, on loan from Everton, who went on to turn in a man of the match performance.

Eight minutes later Darren Kelly almost extended their lead but was unfortunate to see his header from a Magennis corner hit the bar.

New signing Matty Glennon then had to be at his best to palm away a Darren Tinson header but could do nothing about the Silkmens equaliser on 30 minutes.

Matthew Tipton evaded a Peter Murphy tackle down the right, before swinging a cross to the far post, where an unmarked David Eaton volleyed past a helpless Glennon.

Carlisle were almost caught again a minute later with a carbon copy move but John Askey’s lack of composure resulted in a hurried shot pulled wide.

With five minutes of the half remaining a superb interchange of passes between Mark Magennis and Osman on the edge of the box put Magennis clear but Steve Wilson did well to parry the shot away.

The game kept up the momentum in the second half and Brian Shelley saved a certain Macclesfield goal with a last ditch tackle on Tipton after Priest had put him clear.

Carlisle were looking the more likely to score with Wilson turning a John Sutton shot round the post and tipping a Will McDonagh header over the bar.

But the Cumbrians played the penalty for pushing forward when Macclesfield took the lead on 59 minutes.

Carlisle found themselves stretched at the back as Tipton held the ball up well to play in Chris Priest who gave Glennon no chance with a well struck cross shot into the bottom corner.

Carlisle continued to pour forward in numbers, Sutton heading straight at Wilson and Osman blasting a shot into the side netting.

The deserved equaliser came with 10 minutes remaining when Osman’s tenacity won the ball on the by-line and Brendan McGill was on hand to sweep the cross home at the far post.

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