Carlisle United Football Club

United go to the Peninsula Stadium for the first time in their history, with last season's trip falling foul of the virus.

Salford also suffered postponement setbacks through February but they did manage to slot a home game in against Cambridge ten days ago - and they were glad they did. A resounding 4-1 victory kept them in touch at the top as things remain tight across League Two.

The Ammies also have the small matter of the delayed 2020 EFL Trophy Final to contend with, a date has finally been finalised for the meeting with Portsmouth on Saturday 13 March. Incidentally, the 2021 Papa John's Trophy final should be played out the following day.

Salford hosted Barrow on Tuesday night as they also returned to action and a first half goal from Ian Henderson was enough to add three more points to the tally and propel them up to fourth spot.

Hard to beat and, indeed, unbeaten at home in league action, this weekend's home side had a run of two wins, two draws and just the one defeat from their five outings prior to the midweek win.

Add to that the fact they have the meanest defence (they've conceded just 22 goals this season) and you can see why they are currently riding high.

January was a busy one, with notable transactions including the arrival of midfielder Robbie Gotts on-loan from Leeds. 

Hibs full back Tom James became another loanee, as did Fleetwood midfielder Paul Coutts. 

Heading out the other way was midfielder Alex Denny, who went to Morecambe for the remainder of the current season.

We've gone for the experienced Ian Henderson who is in a good run of form with five goals from his last six games.

Extremely alert in the final third he finds gaps, space and time, and has an eye for goal or for a killer pass.

With over 600 appearances in a career that has spanned almost 20 seasons, his reliability still makes him one of the first names to find its way onto the team sheet.

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These teams have met on just two occasions, both of them here at Brunton Park.

We hosted the Ammies in December 2020 with strikes from Lewis Alessandra and Rhys Bennett putting the Blues two goals to the good. D'Ishon Bernard hit back late in the day but it was too little too late the Cumbrians took the points.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

The first meeting of these clubs was in August 2019, when the newly-promoted outfit came north for our first ever meeting. An early lead for the Blues from an Olufela Olomola goal was turned on its head as Salford's Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Danny Whitehead scored in quick succession to put the visitors ahead as half-time approached. Stefan Scougall completed the scoring moments before the break, and that was it for the day as it ended all-square at 2-2.

Watch the highlights from that game here:

Referee - Kevin Johnson
Assistant Referee 1 - Danny Gratton
Assistant Referee 2 - Joe Clark
Fourth Official - Martin Woods

Our match referee this weekend is Mr Kevin Johnson. He has been in charge of 19 games so far this season showing 52 yellow cards and four reds.

It's just over three years since we last saw Mr Johnson, and that was for our December 2017 visit to Forest Green. Richie Bennett bagged the winner and Tom Miller and Danny Grainger were the visiting names taken on the day.

He was also the man in the middle for our eventful visit to Crawley in September that same year. Hallam Hope scored the only goal, but Richie Bennett (two yellows) and Tom Parkes (a straight red in time added on) were both given their marching orders. Josh Yorwerth was also sent off in the injury time incident with Parkes. Clint Hill and Mike Jones were shown yellow cards for good measure.

This game is behind closed doors. See above for details of how to watch this game via iFollow, our live streaming service.