We travel to Carlisle this weekend looking to put the disappointment of the midweek home defeat to Oldham Athletic quickly behind us.
The fixture is the reverse of the one that was finally played at The Envirovent Stadium back in mid-February at the third attempt, following postponements due to both the weather and failed floodlights.
Town came out on top that day with a first-half strike from Josh March earning all three points.
Recent form
Carlisle were badly hit by the weather at the start of 2021 and found themselves with a number of games in hand on their nearest rivals.
The defeat to Town was part of a run of eight games where they were winless at the start of the year.
They have managed to turn things around since that sticky patch and prior to the 1-0 defeat against Bolton on
Tuesday, they had gone six games without defeat. The loss leaves them five points off the playoff positions and all but dashed their promotion hopes.
The Man in Charge
Chris Beech is the man at the helm at Brunton Park, having been appointed in November 2019 to replace Stephen Pressley. Previously, Beech had been assistant to Keith Hill at Rochdale.
In a playing career spanning over a decade, he racked up over 250 appearances for Blackpool, Hartlepool, Huddersfield and Rochdale.
Ones to Watch
Jon Mellish leads the scoring charts having hit 10 gaols this season, ahead of Lewis Alessandra (7) and Josh Kayode (6), whilst Callum Guy has 12 assists to his name.
Conglose forward Offrande Zanzala arrived at the club from Crewe in the January window and has netted five times at a rate of 0.38 goals per 90.
The likes of youngsters George Tanner and Rhys Bennett have made strong impressions since arriving at the club last summer whilst Joe Riley and Aaron Hayden, who have also logged key minutes for Beech.
History
The clubs' golden era was the decade from the mid-1960's to mid-1970's where they had established themselves in the second tier of English football.
A promotion to the old First Division was achieved for the 1974/75 season and they briefly topped the league after winning their opening three games.
However, the club would be relegated that season and they would slide into the old Fourth Division in 1985 after consecutive relegations.
They did escape relegation to the Conference on the final day of the 1998/98 season thanks to goalkeeper Jimmy Glass's famous late header, but the club did slip out of the league in 2005, although they secured an immediate return the following season.
Team News
Town continue to be without Simon Power, Josh March and Aaron Martin for the trip, while a decision on Dan Jones is yet to be made. Connor Kirby will also be unavailable following his midweek loan move to National League side Altrincham.
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