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Carlisle travel to Essex tomorrow night, needing to turn around their fortunes away to the U's, the Blues hoping to improve on a record which has seen them lose twelve, draw four and win only two of the 18 games played in Colchester.
Last season in League One it took the U's until injury time to defeat the Cumbrians at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, Kayode Odejayi scoring in the last minute for the home side to win them the game 2-1. That coming after Carlisle had gone 1-0 up after 24 minutes through Ian Harte, before Clive Platt equalised for the U's just after the hour-mark in front of 3,903 spectators.
The season before that was Colchester's biggest ever win at home to Carlisle and it also provided their first victory at their new ground. The U's, already 3-0 up at half-time thanks to David Perkins and a brace of goals from Mark Yeates, eventually winning 5-0 as Dean Hammond and Akanni-Sunday Wasiu netted in the closing stages in front of 5,152 spectators.
Both of United's two victories in Essex over the years have been in title-winning campaigns, the first was a 1-0 success on the Division Three (fourth tier) title-winning day in late April 1995 as Dean Walling scored a second-half winner with 3,333 fans looking on. Meanwhile Carlisle's other victory at the old Layer Road being another 1-0 win, this time on the opening day of the 1964-65 old Division Three season, that man Hugh McIlmoyle scoring a first-half goal in front of 4,420 spectators.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams | |||||
| 2009/2010 | Sat 13 Mar | Carlisle | 2 - 1 | Colchester | LGE1 |
| 2009/2010 | Tue 02 Feb | Colchester | 2 - 1 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 2008/2009 | Sat 31 Jan | Carlisle | 0 - 2 | Colchester | LGE1 |
| 2008/2009 | Sat 25 Oct | Colchester | 5 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 1996/1997 | Sun 20 Apr | Carlisle | 0 - 0 | Colchester | ASSM |
| 1996/1997 | Sat 18 Jan | Colchester | 1 - 1 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
| 1996/1997 | Tue 01 Oct | Carlisle | 3 - 0 | Colchester | LGE2 |
Recent respective form guides
Colchester have collected a reasonable record of two wins, three draws and a defeat from their last six home matches. A total of eight goals have been scored by the U's in these games, with five conceded.
Carlisle meanwhile have an average recent record on the road, with two wins, two draws, and two defeats. The Cumbrians have a narrow positive goal difference over these games, with nine goals for and eight against.
Colchester's five points from their three games played so far this season sees them lie inside the top half of the table, in ninth position. Carlisle meanwhile are leading the way in npower League One, with their three games contested to date giving them a return of seven points.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Last six games form guide | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Colchester | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 11 |
| Carlisle | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 11 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
The away form of the Cumbrians has not been the best, though the Footymad panel sees them pulling off a narrow win on their visit to Colchester.... Away win
| Sequence statistics | |
| Colchester | Unbeaten in the last four home games. |
| Carlisle | No sequences of note. |