It feels like forever ago, but United's first league home game of the season was when we hosted Southend back in September.

Relegated last season, with just four wins from 35 matches, it goes without saying that the Shrimpers headed into the new season in League Two looking to put that right.

Former Weymouth boss Mark Molesley was installed as manager early in August, having taken his previous club into the National League off the back of two promotions in two seasons.

Off-field troubles saw the club face an HMRC winding up petition in January, but this was dismissed when it was revealed at the hearing that all debts had been paid.

As happens with a number of teams who drop down a division, the Shrimpers have struggled to readjust and they've found themselves sucked into another relegation battle, albeit with a much better recent record.

January saw Molesley act decisively with the early capture of Pompey forward Reeco Hackett-Fairchild. 

Centre back Tyler Cordner also arrived from Bournemouth, and midfielder Nathan Ferguson came in from Crawley.

Deadline day activity saw Gills midfielder Jacob Mellis pen a deal, and free agent Ricky Holmes also arrived to bolster options on the wing.

A stir was caused midway through February when Nile Ranger returned to Roots Hall on what was described as an 'incentivised deal' - but sadly he was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign at the start of this month when he picked up a nasty groin injury.

A relatively small number of meetings over the years [36 in all competitions] has seen it edge the way of the Cumbrians, with 15 victories compared to 11 for the other Blues.

Early season form was hard to come by for Southend as they opened the campaign with three straight league defeats.

In fact, they had just three points on the board when they finally registered their first win - that came away at Walsall in November. 

They became much harder to beat through December, and just three defeats from their last 12 games has seen them close the gap as they make a real fight of it. 

They head into Saturday's fixture unbeaten in four, and have drawn their last two home games 0-0. 

Experienced defender Jason Demetriou is edging towards 200 appearances for the Shrimpers and he's been a near ever-present this season.

Keep an eye on him as he looks to control the forwards and compete for every loose ball, whether it comes high or low.

He's our one to watch this Easter weekend.

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Billed as a Covid test game, the September 2020 meeting between these two sides saw 1,000 Blues fans gain admittance on the day.

And they were rewarded with first half goals from Omari Patrick and JJ Kayode which secured a good 2-0 victory.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

Prior to that it was just over six years since Southend were last at Brunton Park when a 1-1 draw was one of their first steps towards promotion during that 2014/15 season.

Fans who were at that game will remember that it was a 90 minutes full of chances – with a particularly interesting five-minute period just before half time.

Antony Sweeney struck with a stunning header to give the Blues a lead to take into the break, or so it seemed, until Conor Clifford pounced deep into time added on for the half to completely change the complexion of the team talk for both managers. His shot, from distance, somehow made it all the way through and into the back of the net.

Watch the highlights from that game here: 

Referee - Alan Young
Assistant Referee 1 - Louis Marks
Assistant Referee 2 - Andy Bennett
Fourth Official - Matthew Lee
Observer - Mick Russell
Coach - Paul Taylor

Our referee for this game is Mr Alan Young.

So far this season he has shown 112 yellow cards and two reds from 26 games.

Now in his third season as a Football League official, this is just the third time he's taken charge of a game involving Carlisle United.

Our first meeting with him was at Home Park in October 2019. Plymouth won the game 2-0, and Jack Iredale and Jarrad Branthwaite had their names taken for the Blues.

We also had him at Forest Green in December 2020. A late Jamille Matt goal won the game for the hosts, and United had four names taken on the day - Paul Farman, Joe Riley, Lewis Alessandra and Taylor Charters.

This is a behind closed doors fixture. 

Please see above for details on how to purchase a live streaming match pass to see all of the action on iFollow.

Alternatively click HERE to go directly to our iFollow United information page where you can also purchase your match pass - match passes cost £10 per game.