Carlisle United Football Club

It's a second away day of the week as the Blues head to Stevenage on Saturday.

Having parted company with Alex Revell midway through last month the search for a new boss linked Boro with Steve Evans, with rumours of a pending move quickly squashed by Gillingham.

It then became apparent that Paul Tisdale had always been a target, and there was no real surprise when his appointment was confirmed just under a fortnight ago.

"Looking at some recent games, I've been nicely surprised by how hard they are trying," he told the local press at his unveiling.

"The most important thing at the moment is that I set the players achievable targets, that they go into a game knowing they can meet those targets, and I give them a reason to have no performance anxiety.

"They can go out there and give their all, impress the supporters with a can-do attitude, with forward play, with having a go. I need that on the pitch soon.

"When it comes to how we finesse that, let me see what they are capable of, but I do think we have the makings of a good team here."

Last weekend's FA Cup away game at Yeovil saw Stevenage create chances and control much of the play, but they were undone by a second half strike from Charlie Wakefield that ultimately left them feeling frustrated, at the same time as dumping them out of the competition.

It was perhaps the product of a run of results which had seen Saturday's hosts win just one league match from their previous eight outings, with confidence in front of goal once again under the spotlight.

Heavy defeats against Newport and Oldham came at the start of the spell of poor form, but things have tightened up with draws against Orient and Rochdale, and a win over Colchester, to lighten the mood.

Tuesday night took Scunthorpe to Stevenage and the hosts made the ideal start with a sixth minute goal from Luke Norris. But they were pegged back quickly when Myles Hyppolyte equalised just eight minutes later, and that's how things stayed in Paul Tisdale's first league game in charge.

Elliott List has a healthy 12 goals in all competitions, and has scored at regular intervals through the first half of the season.

The 24-year-old has three in his last two (three) league games, and is a real livewire.

The shining star in their season so far, he'll be looking to keep his tally ticking over.

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A red card for Rod McDonald on 18 minutes put United on the back foot as Tom Pett, Luke Norris and Arthur Read made the one-man advantage when these teams met in March 2021. Brennan Dickenson scored his first goal for the club, but it wasn't quite enough to make a difference.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

December 2020 brought a convincing home victory for United with goals from Nick Anderton, Josh Kayode, Lewis Alessandra and Joe riley making up the 4-0 win. Luke Prosser was sent off with 15 minutes left to play to compound the misery for the visitors.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

The only meeting of these teams in the Covid hit 2019/20 season was in September, where a brace from Harry McKirdy and a goal from Nathan Thomas were enough to cancel out a double strike from Kurtis Guthrie.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

We were also down in Stevenage in April 2019, and it was one to forget for United as Iontton and a brace from Guthrie deflated the travelling crowd.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

The Boro picked up where they had left off the previous season when they came north in September 2018. Carlisle were made to pay for early missed chances when Ben Kennedy scored a beauty after the break, and there was more disappointment when an Adam Campbell header crashed against the post late in the day.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

Our visit to the Lamex in January 2018 was a tight affair but it was United who created the better of the chances, with Danny Grainger and Jamie Devitt both going close from first half free kicks. Sam Cosgrove could have wrapped things up when he was played clean through but, in the end, neither side could find a way to break the deadlock.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

It was another tough one for the Blues almost exactly two years ago when early second half goals from Kennedy and Tom Pett put Boro in cruise control as they saw their way through to a comfortable three points.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

Referee - Declan Bourne
Assistant Referee 1 - Paul Yates
Assistant Referee 2 - Joseph Stokes
Fourth Official - Marc Wilson
Observer - Michael Bull

Our referee for this fixture is Mr Declan Bourne. 

He has been in charge of 14 games so far this season and has shown 57 yellows and two reds.

We first met him in February 2021 for a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Forest Green. Gime Toure scored in the second half for the Blues, and Joe Riley and Rhys Bennett had their names taken on the night.

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