So after we won our “Cup Final” on Tuesday night, we are back down to earth with a bog-standard League Two clash against The Cumbrians of Carlisle United, in what must be one of the easiest games (albeit one of the longest too!) to get to from ground to ground for us this season.
Carlisle United are managed by ex-Bristol City manager, Keith Millen, and currently find themselves sitting 23rd In League Two with just 2 wins from their opening 18 matches! Going into this game they haven’t scored at home for 5 games, and haven’t won a league game for 12 matches. A perfect recipe for a Carlisle win then, isn’t it?!
The Cumbrians last six results have been:
30th Oct - Northampton Town (A) - Lost 3-0
6th Nov - Horsham (H) (FAC1) - Won 1-0
9th Nov - Morecambe (A) (PJT) - Won 2-0
13th Nov - Barrow (H) - Drew 0-0
20th Nov - Exeter City (A) - Lost 2-1
23rd Nov - Harrogate Town (H) - Lost 2-0
Moving onto The Saddlers…
We head into this game on the back of an impressive 1-0 victory against Port Vale with hopes of a second successive victory to help propel us towards the play-off places.
Unless news comes out to the contrary, we appear to have a fully fit squad to choose from, with no confirmation that Conor Wilkinson is injured from Tuesday, perhaps he was just knackered? The only Saddlers player missing is of course Rory Holden.
The starting XI from Tuesday deserve to start again should they all be fit, but on the flip side they all gave a lot so I would suggest we may see a couple of changes, but I’m unsure of where and who. Perhaps Liam Kinsella will make his return to the starting XI in place of Brendan Kiernan, leaving Jack Earing free to take up the number ten role? What do you think?
How many of us off here are going Saturday? It’ll be a cold one as the weather reports suggest it will be anything from -1 to -3 degrees overnight, so wrap up if you do go! Hopefully a few goals to celebrate will warm you up.
As @P.T mentioned on another thread, this would be our first consecutive league win of the season and a real opportunity to build on the momentum of Tuesday night.
Next game is always more important than previous one, so no big expectations. No, not at all.
I would try midfield Osadebe-Earing-Wilkinson with Labadie and Kins behind. Play for a draw, but surprise with a set-piece.
That really would be a surprise to everyone! In the ifollow commentary v Vale they mentioned we had scored only one goal from a corner all season - Ash Taylor at home to Mansfield.
I know that’s my personal view, but in this league, when football quality is not that good, good execution of set pieces is vital for better results. I know it can be seen as something meaningless, but every detail counts. Few points more at the end can be the difference between meh season and a good one.
Their confidence must be rock bottom and ours sky high so go for early goal and keep attacking 2.0 away win for me time for miller to score and a n other.
We could easily play them off the park for a 1-0 victory.
Wilkinson is definitely a threat as is Earing when he plays in a more attacking role.
1-0 or 5-0, as long as we come home with the points.
This could be the perfect game for after Port Vale. Tuesday night will have been draining mentally as well as physically for the players, living up to the atmosphere created, so going to possibly the least emotionally taxing game of the season is probably a God send.
If their league position is true and they are worse than Oldham there’s no reason we can’t get a result here, as they were one of the worst football league sides I’ve ever seen. I’d be quite pleased if Carlisle dropped out of the league. Must be the one fixture most fans see in their listings and think “f*** that”.
Doesn’t change it being a nightmare journey for virtually all of the football league. Just reality, nothing to do with respect. We’ve all got teams we don’t fancy playing every year, this is mine.
Just like Plymouth the other way, but that won’t happen any time soon.
