Carlisle United Football Club

It's the Blues against the Bluebirds for the second time in the space of 10 days with the sides having not met since March 2001 prior to the FA Cup third-round game at the Cardiff City stadium just over a week ago.

City are currently sat in mid-table, but are just four points outside the play-off places in what is a congested battle for a return to the top flight.

A steady run of results through December saw Cardiff consolidate their position as contenders, but there was a shock on New Year's Day when they fell to a 6-1 away defeat at Loftus Road.

They followed up the 2-2 draw with us on their own patch with a 0-0 draw with Swansea on Sunday, having had the better of the chances in the south Wales derby on Sunday.

The winners of the tie face Reading in round four, so it's all to play for come Wednesday evening.

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From Chris Beech ...

Speaking ahead of the game manager Chris Beech said: "It's a great game for us all to really look forward to.

"As I said after Saturday's game, we need to reflect on what happened and then we need to put ourselves in a fighting position against what is a very good Championship team.

"They had a good gem on Sunday which I think Neil [Harris] will feel they could have won. It's a squad full of strong, dynamic players and if we let them mover the ball they'll hurt us.

"What we have to do is find a way. The players were disappointed after the Plymouth game, because they'd kept consecutive clean sheets here at Brunton Park, and it hurt them to give that away so easily.

"These are the inconsistencies we're dealing with. When you have players at the higher levels who can perform and give you constant traits, you can go into games with more of an idea of what you're getting because they hit the high notes more often. 

"What we need to do is try to find those high notes in the group of players as much as you can. If you get that the results will come with it."

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Head to Head

Prior to our January 2020 visit to the Cardiff City stadium it was March 2001 and Division 3 when United last played in Cardiff, and the 4-1 home victory continued a trend reaching all the way back to 1966 which has seen the Cumbrians fail to pick up a victory at the nest of the Bluebirds.

The first FA Cup meeting between the teams came just 10 days ago with goals from Jack Bridge and Harry McKirdy giving the away side a two-goal lead come the half-time interval. The hosts struck back through Callum Paterson and Gavin Whyte, and that brings Cardiff north on Wednesday with the tie still to be settled.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

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Man in the middle

Our official for this fixture is Mr Darren Handley. Darren has been in charge of 22 games so far this season and has shown 84 yellow cards and eight reds. 

He was last in charge of a Carlisle game at the beginning of December 2019 when we drew 1-1 with Morecambe at the Globe Arena. Hallam Hope put us in front just ahead of the break, but former-Blue John O'Sullivan pulled things level just three minutes later. Hope and Jarrad Branthwaite picked up bookings on the day.

Prior to that he was with us in October when we beat Blackpool 2-1 in the Leasing.com Trophy group game here at Brunton Park.

Ryan Loft and Canice Carroll got us the goals that won the tie, and Canice went in the book alongside Jon Mellish on the night.

Referee - Darren Handley
Assistant Referee 1 - Shaun Hudson
Assistant Referee 2 - Graeme Fyvie
Fourth Official - Scott Oldham

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Ticket information

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Click HERE to purchase your tickets online.

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