United head to the north-east at the weekend for their latest League Two encounter.
Pools had an extremely tough start to the season, with no win in their opening 11 fixtures, but they've been harder to beat than that statistic suggests, with six draws along the way.
Four of those stalemates came during the six-game run into Tuesday night's home meeting with Doncaster. That was another tight game, but a late winner from Wes McDonald helped to raise spirits somewhat with a first win of the campaign recorded - accompanied by some amount of relief.
Hartlepool, of course, appointed Keith Curle as their interim manager after the sacking of Paul Hartley last month.
A former Carlisle boss - he was in charge at Brunton Park for over 200 games - Curle has 20 years of management experience and won promotion from League Two via the play-offs with Northampton in 2020.
His most recent job was at Oldham Athletic, but he parted comapny with the Boundary Park outfit last November, after eight months.
Transfer activity for this weekend's hosts ended in September with the loan signing of Barnsley midfielder Clarke Oduor, and things are looking better squad wise as players missing through injury make a gradual return.
But, there's no escaping the fact that it's been slim pickings at the Vic, with the last home success in the league prior to Tuesday night all the way back in February 2022. That was a 1-0 win over Tranmere.
That was a worrying tally of 14 games, and they'll be hoping that Tuesday's success will be the springboard to better home days ahead.
Josh Umerah scored twice in the second half in the game at Mansfield last Saturday to earn his side a 2-2 draw.
That took the 25-year-old's tally to five for the season, an impressive start to life in the Football League following his summer move from Wealdstone.
He bagged again against Doncaster just before the break, so he now sits on six goals with plenty of confidence in the tank.
He has a reputation for being strong and mobile, and he'll be a thorn in the side if he's given the chance.
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| Carlisle wins | Draws | Hartlepool wins | |
| League | 45 | 19 | 34 |
| Cup | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| FA Cup | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 48 | 20 | 36 |
The January 2022 fixture at Brunton Park slogged it's way to a 0-0 draw, with little to separate the sides at all.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
These teams met twice in the space of four days in August 2021, with the Blues at Victoria Park for a league meeting that went the way of the home side. Tyler Burey opened the scoring, Zach Clough levelled, but Gavan Holohan netted the winner late in the day.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
The group game in the Papa John's Trophy was also in August 2021, and that went to penalties after Taylor Charters, Manny Mampala and Tristan Abrahams had bagged for the Blues (the 90 minutes ended 3-3). United won the shoot-out 4-3.
Watch the highlights from that game here:
Hartlepool 1 - 1 United, Friday 14 April 2017
United 3 - 2 Hartlepool, Saturday 15 October 2016
United 1 - 0 Hartlepool, Tuesday 5 April 2016
Hartlepool 2 - 3 United, Saturday 29 August 2015
Referee - Tom Reeves
Assistant Referee 1 - Christopher Ward
Assistant Referee 2 - Helen Edwards
Fourth Official - Stephen Wade
Observer - Clive Oliver
Our referee for this fixture is Tom Reeves. He's taken charge of 13 games so far this season showing 51 yellow cards and no reds.
He was the man in the middle for our September 2021 away game in Crawley, where a Jon Mellish equaliser wiped out the opener from Tom Nichols. Nick Tsaroulla nicked the points for the home team deep into time added on. Jack Armer's was the only name taken on the day.
Our away allocation for this game is SOLD OUT.
Please DO NOT travel without a valid match ticket.