Reach Out (Carlisle Be There)

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By Pete H

Five games left, then. And, sure, didn’t the lads learn a lesson from being carted off to Grimsby after the Notts County debacle? Three points for us, two goals for Kurtis and one happy set of fans at 5pm last Saturday. Now, for the tricky part: a repeat performance that does the trick against a Carlisle side who (we’re guessing) set off from the North on Tuesday morning to make it here on time. It’s an awful long trek, dontcha know…

 

Stevenage v Carlisle United: The Lowdown

If maths was a serious thing and not just a filler subject at school, the fact we’re still able to make the playoffs would be worth its place on the side of any bus. And, having made our peace with a mid-table finish, the result of this match indoors against Carlisle can cause more intrigue. If we win, that is. If we lose, it’s neither here nor there. And if we draw, can you tell what it is yet? No, neither can we.

 

The Opposition

P18 W6 D4 L8 F14 A18; last result: Carlisle United 0-1 Stevenage, 29/09/2018

It’s two years on the trot now that we’ve gone up there – waaaaaay up there – to Carlisle and come away with three points. The problem is we haven’t done it indoors against the Cumbrians since April 2015. Our head-to-head record had been pretty iffy for us since *that* day at Stoke, but we are now unbeaten in four – and if we make it five by doing the double over them for the first time since the Conference, it may get interesting…

 

The Referee

P3 W0 D0 L3 F1 A6; last result: Lincoln City 3-0 Stevenage, 26/12/2017

Better late than never, so the saying goes. ‘Better’ is very much up for debate here, but reffing us for the first time this season late rather than never is Carl Boyeson; maybe the only ref on the circuit who’s surname that can be a self-evident truth. Well, it’s something to talk about. Our record with him in charge? Er, not so much. Three matches, three defeats. There’s nothing in that from which to salvage any good news really.

 

The Form

Mmmm, so it hasn’t all been plain sailing of late for a Carlisle side that’s sitting just one point off the playoffs. If you’d have come to us at the end of January to ask us how they were doing, we’d have wondered why. But we’d also have told you they looked certs for the top seven after bagging eight wins in nine games. The story has been very different lately – two wins in 11 being all they’ve managed.

In fact, the Cumbrians seem to have let their guard down at the back. In each of their last three, they’ve let in at least two. And they’ve not kept a clean sheet in the last 11. Their form over the last eight is on a par with ours. But it’s not all give, sadly. This lot tend to score on their travels. And when they take the lead, they’re a bit hard to break down – defending 64% of their leads this term; leading 28 times and letting in 10 equalisers.

The moral of this story? Don’t fall behind, Boro’.

 

• MORE ABOUT ‘EM: Carlisle United club profile