BIG MATCH PREVIEW: Portsmouth next up at Brunton Park

Pompey boast the joint best defensive record in the division and lead the chasing pack for the right to take a place in the automatic promotion places. 

Manager Keith Curle said: “Paul Cook has developed a resilient side and we will have to work hard if we want to break them down.

“They have strengths and they’ve come together well as a unit, but we know we have nothing to fear. There are areas of our game which are suited to allowing us to play our brand of football against the style we think they’ll use. 

“This is the type of game where the fans will have a huge part to play. They will have a lot of supporters who will try to make a lot of noise. We will have to try to keep them quiet with what we do on the pitch and I’m sure the fans will play their part, as ever, on the terraces and in the stands.”

Our Cumberland Building Society ticket pod [Fisher Street Branch] is also open for the sale of home match day tickets on Wednesdays [10am to 3pm], Thursdays [10am to 5pm] and Fridays [10am to 5pm] in the week leading up to the game.

Former United and Pompey striker Billy Rafferty will be speaking to our hospitality guests in Foxy’s Lounge and meeting fans in the Sunset Suite and Legends Lounge on Saturday afternoon to share stories and anecdotes from his spells with both clubs ahead of kick off in the big game.

Rafferty graced Brunton Park in the late 1970’s and spent four years with Portsmouth between 1980 and 1984. Regularly hitting the back of the net he became a favourite with both sets of fans and we’re looking forward to welcoming him on Saturday.

Supporters in the Sunset Suite will see two brand new 48” HD TV sets have been installed thanks to club partner Heineken. Join us for the live game – Watford v Manchester United – at lunch time and for the 5.30pm head-to-head between Premier League giants Manchester City and Liverpool following the main action of the day. Full refurbishment of the bar will take place in the coming months.

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Make it Blue this Christmas with our fantastic Blues Store festive savings offer on the ideal presents for United fans young and old.

Make sure you bag your bargains with one of the following:

+ 25% discount on Home and Away shirts, Goalkeeper shirts, Home and Away Mini-kits and our full range of replica training wear.

+ Season Ticket Holders will get their 10% discount in addition to the festive 25% discount offer – this gives our Season Ticket Holders a 35% discount in total.

+ Fans who purchase a Half Season Ticket* will receive a voucher for a half price Home or Away shirt. If you have already purchased a Half Season Ticket, please contact our Main Ticket Office for details of how to claim your voucher.

Shop ‘til you drop at our online Blues Store with everything from replica first team kit to Blues items perfect for the home and for school. Click HERE to visit our online Blues Store. 

*Half Season Tickets are on sale now and are available for use from the Hartlepool United home game on Monday 28 December. Click HERE for more information on how to make sure you don’t miss a kick at Brunton Park.

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Back-to-back home games have been a bit of a theme this season and our next double-header starts this weekend, with the visit of high-flying Portsmouth. 

Add a long away trip to Luton into the mix during midweek and it’s building up to be another busy period for our loyal fans.

To help to ease the burden we are delighted to announce a cut-price ticket offer for the visit of Crawley Town [28 November], valid for both home and away supporters.

Match day savings of up to £10 are up for grabs, and we’ll be reducing the match day price increase to just £2 as we look to bring the Blue Army out in force to help us to keep our good start to the season going.

Click HERE for more details.

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Issue 10 of The Blues is on sale from our usual programme selling points and outlets from 10am on Saturday morning.

This week chairman Andrew Jenkins reveals the real story behind the stuffed fox and the naming of Olga, our big, daft fluffy mascot – and we think it makes for fascinating reading.

We also speak to club partner Purple ICT about their relationship with us and our Paddock Patter section investigates an olden betting scandal which took place between giants Liverpool and Manchester United. 

Your regular favourites are there along with a comprehensive stats section to help you to track our progress as we head into a busy period. 

Priced at just £2, it’s a definite match day must-have.

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Our match referee this weekend is Mr Scott Duncan. Scott has taken charge of 13 games so far this season and has shown 34 yellow cards and no reds – an average of just over two cards per game.  

Now a regular in the Championship, he first came to Brunton Park in March 2013 for our 2-0 victory over Brentford. Sean O’Hanlon and Mark Beck scored the goals and Paul Thirlwell was the only Carlisle name taken. 

We met him twice last season, and both games he officiated were feisty affairs. Burton’s Stuart Beavon was sent off in time added on when they beat us 4-3 here at Brunton Park and Kyle Dempsey was given his march orders in the 92nd minute of our 2-0 away win at Tranmere back in February. Charlie Wyke bagged both of our goals that day.

Our home mascots this weekend (both huge Jabo Ibehre fans) are Jamie Forsyth and Robbie Wilson. 

We also welcome three mascots from Portsmouth – Isaac Chambers, Sam Davies and Jack Davies. Conor Chaplin and Matt Tubbs are the favourites for these three particular visitors.

Have a good day lads!

To find out more about our Junior Blues membership and how to become a mascot, click HERE.

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In the Cumberland Building Society Community A Stand this weekend we welcome Allonby Primary School, Northbank U8s, Bampton Rovers and Stanwix Primary School who are attending the match as part of our Community Ticket Scheme. We hope you enjoy your day!

We’re looking forward to hearing them all cheering the Blues on from our packed Community Stand where they will get to meet Olga the Fox and some of the first team squad for that all important autograph and selfie opportunity.

We hope you all have a great day.

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When you’re following Carlisle United away from home this season book yourself a ticket on Virgin Trains and get to the heart of the action in the fastest and most comfortable way possible.

  

If you are booking travel for an afternoon or evening game please be sure to double check the return journey time is suitable (some of the last services may depart before the final whistle goes!).