Southend United v Carlisle United - Preview

Following his equaliser at Hull, Tes Bramble could be the only change to United's starting line-up.

The Cumbrians, who make the incredible jaunt to South Essex for tonights match (kick-off 7:45pm) lost out 3-1 at home to Hartlepool United at Brunton Park on Saturday in their opening fixture, and boss Roddy Collins has stated in the local press that supporters cannot expect his side to start picking up results for at least another three or four games as his new-look side tries to gel together.

Carlisle have backing though, and on Saturday - in an unbelievable twist of fate - they hauled in the biggest third division crowd of the day, 10,684 people seeing ex-Shrimper Mark Tinkler score twice for the visitors.

The reason for the resurgance is simple - a terrible era in the history of Carlisle United is over, with estranged chairman Michael Knighton finally out of the Club, and many supporters back on board after a whopping 97% claimed that they would not watch the Cumbrians whilst Knighton remained in charge.

Collins is in fact now in his second spell at Brunton Park, having been reinstated into the hot-seat after Knighton had previously disposed of the man who is the brother of boxer Steve Collins. Also to mark Knighton's riddance, hero goalkeeper Jimmy Glass, who scored the injury time goal that kept Carlisle in the League three years ago, was awarded with a life membership of the Club, to the delight of the supporters, of which there could be almost 1,000 at Roots Hall tonight.

Kevin Maher's flukey chip earnt Southend a 3-2 Roots Hall victory over Carlisle 11 months ago.

Meanwhile, Southend boss Rob Newman has announced that he'll name exactly the same squad as travelled to Hull city on Saturday, where United opened their points tally for the campaign in an enthralling 2-2 draw, Tes Bramble grabbing an injury time leveller after Neil Jenkins had intially equalised just after the hour. United supporters can expect the same starting line-up, although Bramble could possibly edge a starting berth ahead of Mark Rawle who did pick up a slight calf strain on Saturday despite playing on.

Southend picked up a point from a dull goalless draw at a cold and wet Tuesday night at Brunton Park back in early March, and last September goals from Phil Whelan, Daniel Webb and a lucky 88th minute goal from Kevin Maher saw off the Cumbrian's at Roots Hall. On that day Carlisle included ex-Shrimper David Morley in their side, but he has since dropped into non-league football following a brief spell at Oxford United. Fellow former Shrimpers man Gordon Connelly has also recently represnted Carlisle, but he spent last season plying his trade with Queen of the South, leaving Damon Searle, whom United signed from Carlisle in July 2000, the only connection between the sides.

LAST MATCHES:
Hull City 2 (Green 8, Elliott 68) Southend United 2 (Jenkins 62, Bramble 90), Line-Up - Flahavan, Broad (Thurgood), Cort, Whelan, Searle, Clark (Bramble 73), Selley, Maher, Jenkins, Rawle, Jones. Unused - Gay, Belgrave, Beard.

Carlisle United 1 (Wake 80) Hartlepool United 3 (Tinkler 44, 71, Humphreys 47), Line-up - Keen, Birch (Galloway 46), Maddison (Hevicon 73), Whitehead, Andrews, Baldacchino, McDonagh, Jack (Wake 51), Goran, Molloy, Shelley. Unused - Nixon, Burns.

LAST FIVE:
March 5th, 2002 - Carlisle United 0 Southend United 0
September 25th, 2001 - Southend United 3 (Whelan, Webb, Maher) Carlisle United 2
April 28th, 2001 - Southend United 1 (Lee) Carlisle United 1
November 11th, 2000 - Carlisle United 3 Southend United 1 (Lee)
April 24th, 2000 - Southend United 2 (Carruthers, Pepper) Carlisle United 0

SOUTHEND (from):- Darryl Flahavan, Daniel Gay, Mark Beard, Damon Searle, Neil Jenkins, Leon Cort, Phil Whelan, Stephen Broad, Kevin Maher, Stuart Thurgood, Ian Selley, Danny Maye, Mark Rawle, Barrington Belgrave, Tesfaye Bramble, Graeme Jones.

Mark Wallis
www.thelittlegazette.com