The long wait is over and we finally know what the 2020/21 season will look like as our fixture schedule is confirmed.
Carlisle United open their 2020/21 campaign with an away game as they head to Cambridge on Saturday 12 September.
Setting last season aside, when we went there in February, it has become a bit of an Abbey habit to head to the University city early in the season, and Mark Bonner will be sure to have his team ready to face the Blues as both sides look to get their momentum going.
Fast forward to the final fixture, and we'll wrap things up on Saturday 8 May [St Jimmy's Day] when we host the Saddlers here at Brunton Park.
Our first league home game sees relegated Southend United head north on Saturday 19 September, and it'll be fingers crossed that restrictions are lifted at the beginning of October when we have the mouth watering derby day visit of National League champions and local rivals Barrow.
The return fixture at Holker Street is the weekend after Easter - Saturday 10 April.
Meanwhile play-off final victors Harrogate Town, who have former-Blues Paul Thirlwell and Mark Beck in their ranks, form part of our festive run of fixtures when we go there on Tuesday 29 December, with Bolton Wanderers on our pitch on Boxing Day, and Walsall our first opponents of 2021 when we go there on Saturday 2 January.
Our longest trips of the season – the 694-mile camel rides to Exeter and Crawley - are in October and November resepctively, and our final away game of the campaign, on Saturday 1 May, is the equally long trip into East London to face Leyton Orient.
Some of the Tuesday night headlines include whopping coach trips to Newport [January] and Colchester [March] which will certainly test the small hours of the morning.
The Easter spell starts with a Good Friday meeting with Southend United down in Essex, followed by an Easter Monday home encounter with Scunthorpe.
Please note – all fixtures are subject to change at this stage.
For a full list of United’s 2020/21 fixtures, click HERE.
Don’t forget to sync the fixtures to your calendar – more information on that can be found in this article HERE.