Carlisle United have launched an astonishing crusade to retain their Football League status after a pathetic opening to the campaign that saw them credited with just five points on the 20th December. Three of those had come in a 3-2 win over Rochdale, in which player manager Paul Simpson netted against his former club. Simpson is top scorer at Brunton Park with six, and that goes to show how much trouble the Cumbrians have had in scoring goals.
They did not pick up a single point until Cambridge visited five games into the campaign, and were winless until a fortnight later. Thereafter their solitary point came in a 2-2 draw at Roots Hall, when Blues were 2-0 up and Kevin Maher missed a penalty to make it 3-1. The northerners then lost an incredible 12 matches on the trot in the Third Division, although they picked up triumphs over Rochdale (again) and Huddersfield Town in the LDV Vans Trophy.
Since defeating Torquay 2-0 in the last game before Christmas, Simpson’s side have won eight and drawn three of their subsequent fifteen games to give them a haul of 34 points going into Saturday’s fixture. That total is four points below Macclesfield Town and seven behind the safety area, having played a game more than those teams. The result of the clash this weekend will go a long way to deciding who stays up, and who goes down…
Nationwide League Division Three |
09/08/03: York City (h) L1-2 (Raven) 16/08/03: Yeovil Town (a) L0-3 23/08/03: Bristol Rovers (h) L0-2 25/08/03: Boston United (a) L0-1 30/08/03: Cambridge United (h) D0-0 06/09/03: Darlington (a) L0-2 13/09/03: Rochdale (h) W3-2 (Simpson, Foran, McGill) 16/09/03: Northampton Town (a) L0-2 20/09/03: Southend United (a) D2-2 (Henderson, Foran) 27/09/03: Swansea City (h) L1-2 (Foran [p]) 30/09/03: Leyton Orient (h) L0-1 04/10/03: Kidderminster Harriers (a) L1-2 (Murphy) 12/10/03: Hull City (a) L1-2 (McDonagh) 18/10/03: Macclesfield Town (h) L0-1 21/10/03: Scunthorpe United (h) L1-4 (Farrell) 25/10/03: Huddersfield Town (a) L1-2 (Kelly) 01/11/03: Lincoln City (a) L0-2 15/11/03: Mansfield Town (h) L0-2 22/11/03: Cheltenham Town (a) L1-2 (Simpson) 29/11/03: Doncaster Rovers (h) L0-1 13/12/03: Oxford United (a) L1-2 (Foran [p]) 20/12/03: Torquay United (h) W2-0 (Preece, Arnison) 26/12/03: Bury (a) W3-1 (Gray, McGill, Henderson) 28/12/03: Darlington (h) D1-1 (McGill) 03/01/04: Boston United (h) W2-1 (Chapman [og], Fryatt) 10/01/04: York City (a) L0-2 17/01/04: Yeovil Town (h) W2-0 (Simpson, Farrell) 24/01/04: Bristol Rovers (a) L0-2 07/02/04: Bury (h) W2-1 (Simpson, Gray) 14/02/04: Hull City (h) D1-1 (Preece) 17/02/04: Cambridge United (a) D2-2 (Simpson 2) 21/02/04: Macclesfield Town (a) D1-1 (McGill) 06/03/04: Torquay United (a) L1-4 (McGill) 09/03/04: Huddersfield Town (h) W1-0 (Duffield) 13/03/04: Oxford United (h) W2-0 (Cowan, Farrell) 16/03/04: Northampton Town (h) D1-1 (Farrell) 20/03/04: Rochdale (a) L0-2 23/03/04: Scunthorpe United (a) W3-2 (Duffield, Boyd, Billy)
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F.A. Cup |
08/11/04: R1 – Oldham Athletic (a) L0-3
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Carling Cup |
12/08/03: R1 – Walsall (a) L1-2 (Russell)
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LDV Vans Trophy |
14/10/03: R1 – Rochdale (h) W2-0 (Rundle, Wake) 04/11/03: R2 – Huddersfield Town (h) W2-0 (Schumacher, Wake) 09/12/03: AQF – Sheffield Wednesday (h) L0-3
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2002/3 Records |
Matches Played: 43 (22 home, 21 away) Matches Won: 11 (9 home, 2 away) Matches Drawn: 7 (4 home, 3 away) Matches Lost: 25 (9 home, 16 away) Goals Scored: 42 (24 home, 18 away) Goals Conceded: 67 (25 home, 42 away)
Matty Glennon 42 Chris Billy 41+1 Brendan McGill 38+2 Lee Andrews 30+4 Will McDonagh 27+3
Paul Simpson 6 Brendan McGill 5 Craig Farrell 4 Richie Foran 4 (five players on 2 goals) |
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com