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The Blues pack their bags to visit a cold County Durham tomorrow, hoping to improve upon an average previous return from this fixture. Of the 45 games played between the two sides in Darlington, the Cumbrians have recorded 14 wins, and the home side have come away with 20 victories. United's last win away to the Quakers though was over ten years ago in their 1994-95 title winning campaign, the goals, in a 2-0 win at Feethams, coming from Rod Thomas and David Reeves in front of a crowd of 3,992, which was swelled by a huge away following from Cumbria.
The last match played between the two in County Durham saw the other side of the coin for Blues fans however as, this time, the home side ran out 2-0 winners early in the fateful 2003-04 season that saw United relegated to the Nationwide Conference. Darlington's goals came quickly in that game as they raced into a two goal lead after just fourteen minutes with both goals coming, ironically enough, from Barry Conlon, who had been a summer transfer target for Carlisle that year. The Cumbrians steadied the ship from then on but couldn't breach a tight home defence with the scoreline remaining the same until the final whistle, signalling a run of over 500 minutes without a goal for United. The attendance that day was 5,889 but tomorrow the crowd figure is expected to push the 8,000 mark with around 4,000 Blues fans likely to make the short journey down the A66.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams: | |||||
| 2005/2006 | Mon 26 Dec | Carlisle | 1 - 1 | Darlington | LGE2 |
| 2003/2004 | Sun 28 Dec | Carlisle | 1 - 1 | Darlington | LGE2 |
| 2003/2004 | Sat 06 Sep | Darlington | 2 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
| 2002/2003 | Thu 26 Dec | Carlisle | 2 - 2 | Darlington | LGE2 |
| 2002/2003 | Tue 27 Aug | Darlington | 2 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
| 2001/2002 | Tue 05 Feb | Carlisle | 1 - 3 | Darlington | LGE2 |
| 2001/2002 | Sat 08 Sep | Darlington | 2 - 2 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
Recent respective form guides
Darlington have been playing quite well at home recently, winning three, drawing one and losing just one of their last six games. A total of eight goals have been scored by the the Quakers in those matches, with only a paltry three conceded. If you take the goals out from a 4-0 hammering of Mansfield though it has been a pretty unentertaining time at the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena of late with the ball hitting the back of the net only seven times in five games.
The Cumbrians have had a decent run of form away from home in their last six outings on the road, coming away with three points on three occasions, but drawing one and losing two. Both of those defeats have come at Macclesfield however with the Moss Rose starting to turn into a bogey ground for United. The games have constituted an extremely decent return of twelve goals for the Cumbrians, and only four goals against, an impressive goal differential for a team on their travels.
Darlington's 49 points from their 36 games played sees them lie inside the top half of the table in tenth position. The Quakers are currently five points behind seventh placed Cheltenham in the play-off race and are desperate to win against United on Saturday to kick-start a late promotion push.
Carlisle are leading the way in the League Two table, albeit on goal difference from Wycombe Wanderers, with their 36 games giving them a return of 65 points so far. The Blues need all the wins they can get though with a gap of only two points between Carlisle and Leyton Orient in fourth place as both sides look to gain automatic promotion.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Current form guides: | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Darlington | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Carlisle | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 13 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
United are not doing too bad on their travels, and I think they should continue by carving out a narrow victory at Darlington in a low-scoring encounter. Away win
| Sequence statistics: | |
| Darlington | Not drawn a match in their last four . |
| Carlisle | Four games since last away draw, and six since last draw at home or on the road. |