The defeat to Barnet was a blow, but not a bitter blow and the attitude coming out of the Carlisle camp this week is that the only thing to do now is go on another long unbeaten run, starting tomorrow. Certainly United deserved more out of the Bees clash than they got, and another performance like that, without the moments of bad luck they experienced last Saturday should get them back on the winning trail. The good news for the Cumbrians is that the Bulls are bang out of form. They've failed to win in four league games and are now nine points behind Barnet. Last week they blew a 2-0 lead at home to Woking, ending up with only a point. For a team who took 91 points in finishing runners-up to Chester last season, their home form has been a disappointment. But manager Graham Turner knows they have looked stronger on their travels. He had some strong words last week though. "It's two points thrown away and it's a frustrating time at the moment," he said. "We can't seem to keep a clean sheet and from totally dominating the first half we went to sleep for the first 10 minutes of the second and it proved to be costly. We should not be conceding goals like we did today." And if conceding goals was not a bad enough problem, Turner also has injury problems. Jamie Pitman is out with a back injury and Tom Smith is suffering with a stomach bug. However defender Tamika Mkandawire is available again after serving a three-match ban for a sending off. The Bulls' top scorer Adam Stansfield will be looking to add to his seven-goal tally. Alongside him David Brown has managed to get 26 of his 34 shots on target so far, although only five have found the back of the net. For United, Brian Shelley and Andy Preece are both back in the squad after missing four and nine games respectively through injury. Kevin Henderson is a doubt after having stitches in a shin wound sustained against Barnet. There is still no sign of a comeback for the player-manager Paul Simpson, as he seeks to prolong his career which has seen him rack up over 900 senior games in 20 seasons. Carlos Roca should return to light training next week after his knee op but is still probably 2-3 weeks away from being back in full contention. Simmo's main task will be to decide whether to revert to 4-3-3 and include Preece or stick with 4-4-2 which would see Karl Hawley and Magno Vieira continue up front. However with the Brazilian youngster likely to be kept out of the York FA Cup game next week, the boss may decide to see how the three-man attack looks against league opposition first. United are talking up their prospects of embarking on another club-record run. Full back Tom Cowan is confident the players can put the Barnet setback behind them and is looking for the right result against Turner's men. "We need a good reaction and hopefully there'll be a big backlash," said the 35-year-old Scot. "We are very disappointed that our run has been ended and we need to get on another one. We may have been playing Barnet but we've just got to look at it as three points lost as the championship is not won in October." Very true, and if past patterns of form are anything to go by, a wounded United team is a very dangerous one indeed. Expect another unbeaten surge to start tomorrow. Prediction: UNITED 3-0 Hereford |
