The back page headline in the next day’s News & Star was ambitious to say the least. NEVER AGAIN!, it boomed - but when it came to Carlisle United relegation battles, that declaration was certainly a case of hope over expectation.

The struggle of 2002/3, which eventually concluded with a Brian Wake hat-trick at Shrewsbury, was the fifth consecutive basement season which had seen the Blues toiling for their Football League safety.

Other than the relative security of a 17th-placed finish in 2002, things tended to go right to the end – or near enough – whether that was Jimmy Glass in 1999, Brighton in 2000 or Lincoln in 2001.

United were without question in an era of difficulty coupled with crazy melodrama, and onto this scene in 2003 walked a young striker who, a year or so earlier, had been serving a pipe-fitting apprenticeship in his native Teesside.

Wake joined Carlisle from Tow Law Town in December 2001 and scored on his debut the following August, but had to be patient for regular action as the Blues, under the management of Roddy Collins and the refreshing, post-Knighton ownership of John Courtenay, proceeded with other senior frontmen.

Richie Foran, Craig Farrell and Craig Russell were among them yet Wake got a late-season chance in 2002/3’s struggle, scoring in a defeat to Wrexham and a vital win at Torquay which teed up a high-stakes contest by the River Severn.

Shrewsbury, bottom of Division Three, trailed the third-bottom Blues by five points with two to play, yet defeat at Gay Meadow would have made things incredibly precarious for Collins’ LDV Trophy finalists with one game to go.

Given what was riding on it, the game brought extra levels of interest. BBC Radio 5 Live offered full commentary and national newspapers sent correspondents, while BBC Radio Cumbria had the additional challenge of keeping Courtenay calm in his summarising position alongside the legendary Derek Lacey.

It would be wrong to say United’s Irish owner kept his emotions and his vocabulary entirely in check. Then again, who in the travelling Blues contingent did?

It proved a typically eventful but ultimately relief-drenched Tuesday night. Nearly 2,000 United supporters were there for a tense affair which came to the boil around the half-hour mark.

The nightmare scenario for Collins and his white-shirted players appeared to be materialising when Luke Rodgers went to ground under a challenge from Paul Raven and veteran striker Nigel Jemson hammered the penalty past keeper Matty Glennon.

Yet Shrewsbury’s fantasy of an escape lasted all of six minutes. United’s leveller came as Shrewsbury’s defence and keeper made slapdash attempts to deal with a Russell free-kick, Wake gobbling up a deflection at the far post.

A minute later, Ryan Baldacchino set up Wake, who nimbly rounded goalkeeper Mark Cartwright to score again.

Courtenay, in the commentary position, let fly. “Yes! Woohoo! Ahahaha. Come on Carlisle!”

United’s sudden superiority was in tandem with the deflation setting in amongst Shrewsbury's supporters, and it was rammed home by the inspired Wake five minutes into the second half.

His hat-trick goal was another close-ranger, following a Glennon kick and some determined aerial Foran work. It was his second treble of the season (he had scored three against Boston in September) and though Rodgers dipped in a late home goal, Carlisle saw it through. They were safe and Shrewsbury were down. Ratcliffe swiftly resigned.

“At the end of the day,” a breathless Courtenay later said, “there is only winning and losing, staying up and going down. We are up, and that’s all that matters.”

For Wake, meanwhile, it was an instant entry into the all-time affections of United’s jubilant supporters. The 20-year-old said: “It means a great deal for everyone involved. Carlisle is not a Conference club.”

The sad truth, though, is that 12 months later they were. Another season of struggle could not be averted by Collins’ successor Paul Simpson despite an heroic mid-campaign turnaround, and United’s survival luck ran out in 2004.

They rebounded the following year, but without Wake, who moved on to Gretna, Scarborough, Hamilton, Morton and Gateshead, before heading to Sweden with Ostersunds.

A coaching spell followed there, before a more recent switch to Danish outfit Kjellerup IF for a man whose name, even 18 years on, remains close at hand when Blues fans go through their long list of last-action heroes.

Shrewsbury: Cartwright, Thompson (Moss), Wilding, Murray, Holt, Aiston, Tolley, Hulbert, Woan (Watts), Rodgers, Jemson (Lowe). Not used: Artell, Moss, Jagielka.

Carlisle: Glennon, Birch (Shelley), Murphy, Raven (Andrews), Maddison, Baldacchino, Summerbell, McCarthy, Russell, Foran, Wake. Not used: Keen, McGill, Farrell.