A look ahead to the weekend
United travel to Stevenage off the back of two away draws at Colchester and Brentford and with their first win of the season fresh in the memory from last weekend.
Caretaker manager Graham Kavanagh said: “I think we’ll go into the weekend with the group we have. We looked closely at the loan situation, and the player situation both long and short term, and we think it’s important to assess that as much as possible before we take it forward from here.”
“Stevenage is never an easy place to go,” he admitted. “It will be a difficult game and we all know what Graham Westley’s teams bring to the party. They are very organised, they work very hard, especially at home, and they have been very difficult to beat over the years.
“But, and as I’ve said all along, I’m not really concerned about which team is in front of us because it’s about our shape and our mindset. Based on what we’ve done since Monday last week I’m very confident that we can go there and get a result.
“We’re setting standards and targets all the time on a daily basis. We played as a counter attacking team last weekend and I have no problems with doing that again. The onus will be on them to come and attack us and hopefully we can exploit the space and get some joy. The lads did that last week and the question now is whether they can carry that on.
“If we can go back to back on what we did last Saturday with an away result this weekend then belief will grow. If the lads keep giving this work ethic and honesty then I will certainly continue to enjoy it, win, lose or draw.”
“Lewis Guy trained on Wednesday morning for the first time and he’s fine,” he told us. “It wasn’t concussion, it was dizziness, and he’s looking fine and bright again. Reece James has had a difficult time with his thigh problem but he’s getting back to full fitness now. He was with Manchester United at the end of last week but he’s back in the fold now and he’s available for selection this weekend.”
Click HERE to watch a clip from the Wednesday press conference on YouTube.
For Stevenage, Chorley and Akins are out as long term injuries but Peter Hartley should be back in contention after limping off the pitch last weekend.
They are yet to win at home in the league but with just one defeat from their last five games they are bound to provide tough opposition.
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Ticket prices
Click HERE for full away day information for this trip to Stevenage.
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Head to Head
| Stevenage wins | Draws | Carlisle wins | |
| League | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 3 | 1 | 3 |
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When last we met
Saturday 9 February 2013 - United 2-1 Stevenage
An early sending off for keeper Steve Arnold compounded the fact that Rory Loy had already handed the hosts the lead - and Lee Miller made matters worse from the penalty spot as gave the Cumbrians a two-goal cushion with less than 15 minutes on the clock.
Marcus Haber notched midway through the first half but Carlisle stayed on top and deservedly grabbed the three points having created the lion's share of openings.
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Odds
Full match markets are available via our official betting partner, Sky Bet. Click HERE for more information and, remember, every bet you place helps the club!
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Referee
Our match referee is Mr Andy Davies.
He has been the man in the middle for five games so far this season, showing 19 yellow cards and one red card. His busiest game so far in this campaign was at the County Ground when Swindon beat Crewe by an impressive 5-0 margin. The number of yellow cards shown matched the number of times the ball found the back of the net.
Our last meeting with him was for our 1-2 away defeat at Brentford in November 2012. Joe Garner scored our first half goal and there were no United names taken on the day.