Well, what a season that was!
Our final game brings the Saddlers to Brunton Park, with both sides playing for bragging rights as issues of relegation and promotion are settled elsewhere.
A season played out largely behind closed doors has seen the pandemic disrupt everything about the match day, the build-up and preparation, and a lot more besides, and the players have been faced with an unprecedented set of circumstances as they continued their battle to bring something we could celebrate despite all of that.
It wasn't to be, but there's certainly a lot to look forward to next season with many of the players who took us to the top of the table in December already tied up and committed to the club.
Thank you for support, comments, criticisms and presence with us on iFollow and on social media through all of these crazy months. You've been superb.
Here's to more in the way of progression, excitement and thrills and spills when we get back together to do it all again in a few months' time.
Oh, and let's not forget, the game takes place on St Jimmy's Day!
An unbeaten four-game run at the start of April extinguished any doubts about League Two survival for the Saddlers, who had lost manager Darrell Clarke to Port Vale midway through February.
Brian Dutton took up the reins as head coach, and it was initially nervy as he had to wait some 13 games before picking up his first win.
That stats doesn't quite tell the full story - Walsall were hard to beat during that run - but their three wins in four was most welcome through last month, with all tensions being eased.
There was still disappointment last weekend though as they lost their last home game to Morecambe.
Josh Gordon scored one of the two goals that secured a first away win in over three months for Walsall against Scunthorpe two Saturdays ago, and he's been playing well recently.
He suffered a bit of a goal drought, having started the season well, but as part of a three-man attack he can cause some amount of problems.
For the work he does beyond finding the back of the net, we've made him our one to watch.
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| Carlisle wins | Draws | Walsall wins | |
| League | 18 | 18 | 21 |
| League Cup | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| FA Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 19 | 18 | 23 |
United were first-footers at the Bescot in January 2021 and they recorded a comfortable away win courtesy of goals from Omari Patrick and Josh Kayode.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Carlisle and Walsall met at the end of January in 2020 and they recorded a second consecutive 2-1 victory with Nick Anderton and Ryan Loft putting the hosts two goals to the good in the first half. Mat Sadler pegged one back, but United held on to claim the points.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
United were at the Bescot Stadium for the 2019 festive period - just two days before the turn of the year. Winger Nathan Thomas gave the Blues the lead just after the break, but the home side drew level when Elijah Adebayo netted with 20 minutes left to play. James Clarke was given his marching orders for a tug on Harry McKirdy, and the Cumbrians increased the pressure until they got their match winning strike.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
The April 2014 encounter at Brunton Park was a tense affair. It appeared that an early opening goal from Liam Noble was going to do the trick for the Cumbrians but Michael Ngoo struck late to make it a share of the spoils.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
We were at the Bescot in December 2013 earlier in that campaign and, having hit the woodwork and missed a penalty, the game was lost courtesy of strikes for the home side from Romaine Sawyers and Milan Lalkovic.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Referee - Marc Edwards
Assistant Referee 1 - David Avent
Assistant Referee 2 - Alan Clayton
Fourth Official - Peter Gooch
Observer - Barry Sygmuta
Coach - David Allison
Our referee for this game is Mr Marc Edwards.
Marc has taken charge of 31 games so far this season showing 100 yellow cards and one red.
We met him for the first time in September 2019 when we beat Oldham at Brunton Park courtesy of a goal in the third minute from Olufela Olomola. There were no Carlisle bookings on the day.
He was here again in December that same year for our 0-0 draw with Grimsby. As with his previous visit, no home names were taken.
Our 3-1 EFL Trophy win over the Villa under-21 side was his next visit to Cumbria. Micah Obiero, Gime Toure and Gav Reilly scored our goals, with Obiero also receiving a yellow card. Danny Devine also went in the book on the night.
This is a behind closed doors fixture.
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