Through the seasons before us..

Hot on the heels of talking about practically nothing but the Chelsea cup game, we’ve signed two players which has naturally drawn attention away from tomorrow’s important trip to Carlisle.  Neither Prutton nor Chambers are eligible to take part in the fixture due to signing for us too late - so Smoulds will not have the luxury of experimenting with his new acquisitions at least until Saturday’s game at Bradford.

Carlisle are on a shaky run, they’ve only won one in the last four league games - but then again, so have we - albeit more recently against Yeovil Town in our last home game.  United occupy 10th place in the table, and have a number of injury concerns which will be troubling their selection - Atkin and Lumsdon are ruled out, whilst Smith and Murray are both also doubts, but have a chance of featuring against us.

We emerge from a rather uninspiring showing against Chelsea at the weekend with no injuries or suspensions - Sammy Clingan’s harsh booking at Stamford Bridge earning him a suspension for the Northampton home game - so aside for the new boys we have a full squad to choose from, which is good news.  Given that we’ve dropped to fourth in the league this game becomes hugely significant, as it is one of our games in hand over Scunthorpe.  Bristol City are also in action tomorrow, at home to Cheltenham which has home win written all over it - meaning that it’s all the more important we pick up points.

Top scorer Grant Holt is of course a native of Carlisle, so will undoubtedly be keen to impress against his home town club - that is, of course, if Smoulderwood opts to play him upfront instead of in the bizarre left wing/left back position he found himself at the weekend.  The midfield will need to be on their toes too, knowing that Prutton is waiting in the wings to claim a place in the starting eleven.

I’m hoping to see a similar lineup as against Chelsea, but swapping Grant Holt with Nathan Tyson, and Sammy Clingan to replace Gary Holt in the starting eleven.  Having said that, I’m certainly hoping for a vastly improved performance from the lads - hopefully the Carlisle scouts opted for the easy option of watching our last game on TV and believe us to be the hapless disorganised team that turned up in the cup!