BATTLING Town came within one goal of the against-the-odds win which would have taken the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern final to penalties.

Carlisle, 4-0 up from the first leg, will now meet Brentford in the Wembley showpiece in April, but only after coming through a nerve-shredding night at the Galpharm.

Attacking from all angles, Town made a first-half breakthrough when Anthony Pilkington shot home.

Then a second-half headed double by big Alan Lee had both sets of fans on the edge of their seats.

It was agonising in the extreme as the chance of a first Town trip to the new Wembley disappeared, but at least this victory restored a lot of pride.

Town made three changes from Saturday’s 4-1 win at Exeter, with keeper Nick Colgan coming in for Ian Bennett to make his debut.

Scott Arfield and Antony Kay returned as full-backs Jack Hunt, who was cup-tied, and Gary Naysmith, who was rested, sat it out.

Lee Peltier was back at right-back after a spell in midfield while Kevin Kilbane took the left-back berth, Arfield and Kay joining Joey Gudjonsson in a midfield three.

Carlisle, without skipper Paul Thirlwell because of a calf injury, gave a full debut to former Rangers striker Rory Loy and included on-loan Stoke midfielder Ben Marshall despite a fractured hand.

Town started with real urgency, winning three free-kicks in the Carlisle half in the first three minutes, but none of them came to anything.

Carlisle’s first opportunity came on the counter-attack in the seventh minute, but Francois Zoko’s cross after a run down the left was comfortably collected by Colgan.

Jamie McCombe’s back header from Lee Peltier’s long throw in the 17th minute was held by Adam Collin, then Peter Murphy came to Carlisle’s rescue, cutting out an Arfield pass which looked set to find Gary Roberts in space on the edge of the penalty area.