After Wednesday’s Emirates FA Cup heroics, we return to Sky Bet League Two action tomorrow afternoon with the trip to Cumbria to take on high-flying Carlisle United.
The trip to the south coast saw over 4000 Mariners fans join us at St Mary’s to witness our historic victory over Premier League side Southampton.
Prior to that match, Paul Hurst’s men enjoyed a good week of action where three matches earned his side five points with a win at Northampton before home draws to Harrogate Town and Leyton Orient.
Team News
Otis Khan returned to action in Wednesday’s victory, coming off the bench in the second half and helping the team to victory. Ryan Taylor also stepped up his comeback, replacing Danilo Orsi and playing the last half hour. Jordan Cropper travelled with the group after returning to training.
An unnamed player is an injury doubt for tomorrow’s match while Owen Gallacher’s calf injury will rule him out for a few weeks. Battling midfielder Kieran Green’s absence will continue after leaving the action in our 3-0 victory over Luton with a rib injury.
George Lloyd, Mikey O’Neill and Stephen Wearne all come back into contention after being unavailable for Wednesday’s FA Cup triumph due to playing in the competition for other clubs earlier this season.
Carlisle United
The Cumbrian side currently sit third in the League Two table and last time out they defeated lowly Crawley Town 5-2 away from home, underlining both their promotion credentials as well as attacking prowess. Paul Simpson’s side currently boast the most potent attack in the league with 54 goals across their 33 matches thus far.
Forward Kristian Dennis has scored 17 of those with the 32-year-old the Cumbrians’ top-scorer by far.
Mid-February, however, saw Carlisle hit by a 4-0 home defeat to Mansfield Town so it hasn’t all been plain sailing for tomorrow’s hosts. They have two wins and two losses in their last five matches.
Previous Meetings
The reverse fixture earlier this season saw Town defeated 2-1 by Carlisle at Blundell Park with Owen Moxon and Dennis putting the Cumbrians two goals up before Michee Efete hit back for the Mariners.
Our last victory against them came in April 2019 when a 90th-minute Joe Grayson goal gave Town a 1-0 lead. The Mariners’ last victory at Brunton Park came in that same season when Luke Hendrie’s first-half goal saw Town win 1-0.
The two teams have faced each other fifty times in the past with 24 of those matches going the Mariners’ way with Carlisle winning 12.
Referee
Tomorrow’s referee is Marc Edwards. The last time he refereed a Mariners match was our 1-1 draw at Salford City earlier this season when Lewis Richardson equalised following an early opener from Theo Vassell.
He will be assisted by Matthew Sowerby and Richard Woodward.
Coverage
Due to broadcast regulations, tomorrow’s match at Carlisle is available on Mariners TV to overseas viewers only. Match passes can be purchased for just £10 HERE.
UTM
