All things being equal Carlisle United will be hosting Exeter City on Saturday afternoon as the Blues make a return to action for the first time in 28 days.
And, as we’ve mentioned in each of our doomed match previews along the way, the next time the whistle blows on a Carlisle kick off will be game number 50 in charge for manager Chris Beech.
With so much having happened over that impressive run of fixtures, we wondered if it was a milestone that had been noted by the United boss.
“I didn’t know that until you mentioned it,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every game, even the defeats, because you can sometimes learn a lot more about your players in terms of who you feel can go on a longer journey with you or not.
“The next game will be my 50th in charge, which is nice, but I’ll enjoy it a lot more if we win it. Life doesn’t work like that, so we’ve got to make sure we’re prepared and we do everything we possibly can to try and get those three points.”
One thing milestones like this do highlight is just how much time flies, with it feeling like just yesterday that he walked through the door with the club looking over its shoulder at the League Two relegation places.
“Football always moves quickly,” he agreed. “Sometimes things happen in 24 hours that would take a month in a different industry, especially with Covid.
“You can wake up in a morning with a plan and feel good about your day, but three hours later you’ve had some real differences thrown at you from different departments of the football club, but that’s part and parcel of being a manager.
“You’ve got to manage that without letting it affect the product - three points makes a whole football club work. Everybody feels better, when you’re in Tesco, or Pioneer, doing your weekly shop people want to talk about how well the lads are doing.
“It creates that positive energy when you can have those discussions, obviously from two metres away. We’ve got to continue doing it.
“We’re a well-supported club, and the players respect that. We’ve got to make sure we use all the frustrations and differences we face and turn them into three points when we do play games.
“The three-point feeling is the blood of a football club and it makes everybody feel miles better.”
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