|
The Blues pack their bags to visit the Cobblers of Northamptonshire on Friday evening, looking to break their duck against the hosts. The Cumbrians have drawn nine of the 14 contests, but lost all of the other five.
The previous game played between the two at Sixfields was within the last three years, in September 2003, with Northampton running out comfortable 2-0 winners in a Division Three match in front of an attendance of 4156. Second-half goals from a debatable Martin Smith penalty and a long-range effort by ex-Derby man Paul Trollope did for Carlisle that day in a season where they lost 15 of their 23 league games away from home and were relegated to the Nationwide Conference for the first time in their history.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams: | |||||
| 2005/2006 | Sat 27 Aug | Carlisle | 0 - 1 | Northampton | LGE2 |
| 2003/2004 | Tue 16 Mar | Carlisle | 1 - 1 | Northampton | LGE2 |
| 2003/2004 | Tue 16 Sep | Northampton | 2 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
| 1999/2000 | Tue 11 Apr | Carlisle | 0 - 1 | Northampton | LGE2 |
| 1999/2000 | Sat 04 Sep | Northampton | 0 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE2 |
| 1997/1998 | Sat 17 Jan | Northampton | 2 - 1 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 1997/1998 | Sat 30 Aug | Carlisle | 0 - 2 | Northampton | LGE1 |
Recent respective form guides
Town have been playing quite well at home of late, winning three, drawing two, and losing just one of their last six games, the defeat coming courtesy of a 1-0 reverse against Peterborough on New Year's Eve. The two draws were both against United's prmotion rivals, with Northampton drawing 0-0 against Wycombe and 1-1 against Leyton Orient at Sixfields recently. The Cobblers have scored nine goals and conceded two during this period, the majority of the goals notched though coming in a 5-0 thrashing of Macclesfield Town.
Carlisle have an average recent record on the road, picking up two good wins, but losing three, from the last six, although one of those defeats did come in the LDV Vans Trophy area final at the Moss Rose on Tuesday night. The Cumbrians have a narrow positive goal difference over these games, with ten goals for and nine against, but, like Northampton, five of those goals scored came in one game when they hammered Boston United 5-0 at York Street.
Northampton are just outside the automatic promotion places, in fourth, having taken 60 points from 35 games, the top five are so tightly bunched though that a win over the Blues on Friday night would see the Cobblers go to the top of the League Two table on the back of only two defeats in their last 21 league games.
Carlisle are currently leading the way in the League Two table, with their 35 games giving them a return of 62 points. Avoiding defeat in this huge game against Town is a must for the Cumbrians if they don't want to make life a lot harder for themselves in the promotion run-in, losing the match could conceivably see the Cumbrians languishing in fifth on Saturday evening if the other results go against them.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Current form guides: | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Northampton | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 11 |
| Carlisle | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 11 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
With United only showing average form on the road, Footymad are of the opinion a draw at Sixfields will be a good result. Score draw
| Sequence statistics: | |
| Northampton | Unbeaten in the last five home games. Unbeaten run of three matches. |
| Carlisle | Last drawn game five outings ago. |