They were two goals up and cruising at Northwich on Tuesday night when two shock goals from Mark Devlin and former Blue Jonny Allan knocked the stuffing out of them. Although United were camped in the home half again towards the end of the 90 minutes, a point was all that Simmo's boys got. It's important that they take the full points from The Lawn, where Forest Green Rovers play in the small Gloucestershire town of Nailsworth, a few miles south of Stroud. Not surprisingly, Rovers always kick off each season as favourites for relegation. Each season they confound the pundits. So although they have opened with two defeats in two games and have leaked seven goals, manager Tim Harris won't be gnashing his teeth just yet. For the Cumbrians, Brazilian signing Magno Vieira is set to make his debut after signing on loan from First Division Wigan during the week. The news that erstwhile United ownership contender Brooks Mileson is offering to finance new signings will at least take the Blue Army off down south in higher spirits than they were when they trooped home rather deflated in midweek. Simpson has to work out how to go about collecting that crucial first win after his rather cavalier approach failed in the opening two fixtures. After giving his players a half-hour rollocking in the dressing room at Wincham Park on Tuesday night the feeling was that he would challenge the same players to prove a point in the next game. However with Vieira signed up, he might be tempted into at least one change. If the young striker makes his bow, then veteran Andy Preece might be the one to miss out, although there is the option to have Vieira play behind the same front two as started in midweek. At the back, the manager has taken note of fans' concerns that Peter Murphy is not ideal captaincy material by handing the armband to popular stopper Kevin Gray, who again showed his value with a fine display at Northwich after missing the first game through suspension. Forest Green kicked off their season at Barnet but lost 3-1. On Tuesday night they crashed 4-1 at home Dagenham & Redbridge in front of just 676 fans. However a cursory glance at their results last season showed they suffered several pastings and still bounced back to gain enough points to stay up. Manager Harris said after the defeat last Saturday: "I thought we were very naive at times and it's always disappointing to lose your first game. Our retention of the ball was poor." United will be taking note. The one thing Carlisle have done pretty well up to now is hang on to the ball. However their pressure and possession have not led to the sort of goalscoring opportunities that they need to be taking at this level. Forest Green will be keen to prove to their supporters that the first two results have not damaged their confidence and United have to expect a fired-up side tomorrow. There has been quite a high turnover of players at The Lawn, with ex-United defender Damon Searle one of those to leave during the summer. They are quite a physical side who committed 15 fouls and collected two bookings at Barnet, in a league where United's games have so far yet to yield a single caution. Defender Darren Davies went into the book for a nasty challenge on Barnet's Liam Hatch and the Cumbrians may be in for their most physical encounter to date. They will be watchful of Charlie Griffin, an ex-Swindon and Yeovil player who has netted both Rovers' goals so far. The atmosphere should be quite electric tomorrow afternoon with United fans again being tipped to match or almost match the number of home supporters. They outnumbered the Vics followers on Tuesday night by almost 2 to 1 in what will be the first of several expected 1,000-plus travelling armies. One thing is for sure, the opposition directors will be licking their lips at the prospect of us staying in the Conference for another season. |
