Imps look to bounce back against the bottom
By Nathan Jackson
October 29 2003
On Saturday, the Imps face the most out of form team in the whole of English football, no other team in any division has less points than them who've played the game amount of games. Will the Imps be able to prolong their torture or will they gain revenge for last season?
On Saturday, City face what, on paper, would appear to be an easy 3 points when they face rock-bottom Carlisle. The men from Brunton park have infact only gained 5 points so far this season and are currently 10 points behind the team above them.
TEAM NEWS FOR THE IMPS
With Futcher back from suspension, it would seem likely he will regain his posistion in the centre of defence. Futcher was missed against Hull as they played a lot of balls over the top of the defence which would have been dealt with by Futcher if he had played. The man who replaced him for the Hull game, Matt Carbon is expected to shake off a shoulder injury which saw him go off at half time against the leaders. If he does recover, he will more than likely move out to the right as the Imps are still without influential mark Bailey. Infact, Carbon going off against Hull seemed to shift the game and even though Hull were 1-0 up at the time, it was against the run of play as City could have been 3 or 4 up by that point.
There are thankfully no new major injury worries for the Imps. I would expect the Imps to revert back to a 5-3-2 formation which will see them return to a defend first, attack later mentality which seems to have disipated over the last few months. In fact, it has now been a month since the Imp's last had a clean sheet and that came in the 0-0 draw with Northampton. Since then, City have played 6 games and although they won 4 of those games, City conceeded a sloppy 10 goals in that time.
Last Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Hull was the first time the Imps had conceeded 3 goals in a league game (not including playoffs) in over a year and a half.
CARLISLE
Carlisle finally seem to be going down after collecting only 5 points from the first 16 games. The only game they've won was against Rochdale where they won 3-2. The only other victory in any competition this season was also against Rochdale where the Cumbrians won 2-0. The only other games they haven't lost were away at Southend (2-2) and at home to Cambridge). However, they have lost 13 games so far. Those games are
York at Home 2-1
Yeovil away 3-0
Bristol at home 2-0
Boston away 1-0
Darlington away 2-0
Northampton away 2-0
Swansea at home 2-1
Orient at home 1-0
Kidderminster away 2-1
Hull away 2-1
Macclesfield at home 1-0
Scunny at home 4-1
Huddersfield away 2-1
Carlisle have now become a side that are always in the relegation area which makes a change when in the mid 1990's, they won the Division 3 title 2 times in 3 seasons. Infact, since being relegated back in 1997/8 their highest posistions at the end of the season, has been a lowly 17th. In 3 of the 6 seasons, they have finished just 1 placed above the relegation zone. Their most famous escape was at the end of 1998/9. As Manchester United were completing the first stage of the treble and City were getting relegated back to Division 3, Carlisle were drawing 1-1 with Plymouth but needed all 3 points to secure league football as Scarborough (who had just lost) were 2 points ahead of them. It looked all over until on loan goalkeeper Jimmy Glass secured his place as a Folklore Hero when he scored in the 94th minute to give Carlisle a famous 2-1 victory and send Scarborough down.
LAST SEASON
The first game between the 2 sides last season, was by far the most controversial game last season. Infact, Carlisle ended the game with only 8 men left on the pitch but still managed to beat the 10 men Imps thanks to a penalty. Simon Yeo had the chance to equalise in added time with a penalty but his penalty struck the post and went out for a goalkick.
The two sides drew eachother in the 1st ROund of the FA Cup but it turned out to be another City penalty miss that cost the Imps. The only talking point of the first half was when a Carlisle player handled Peter Gain's shot off the line and was subsquently sent off. Sedgemore stepped up for the penalty but it was well saved by Glennon. Carlisle stormed into a 2 goals lead in the 2nd half before Ben Futcher pulled one back for the Imps. However, it ended 2-1 to Carlisle who went through to face Scunthorpe.
Then came the best away performance of the season from the Imps. A very cold winter's evening saw only 41 Imps fans travel up. First half goals from Ward and Willis gave City a 2-0 half time lead. Just after the hour, Gain and Smith made it 4-0 before a last minute cosolation for the Imps made it 4-1.
THE CHANCES OF AN IMPS WIN
The Imps strikers, other than at the Hull game, have been scoring for fun recently so I reckon we'll score a few but it all depends on the defence. Uncharacteristic mistakes from Weaver and Morgan quite literally gifted Hull victory last week and they'll be wanting to redeem themselves. I believe that if we perform like we did in all games this month other than the last 2, then it should be a comprehensive victory. However, if it is like the last 2 then it could be a LOT tighter than people realise.
A lot of fans are expected to come down from Carlisle as they always do, if they get behind their team then it should be a good game, however, with most away fans at Sincil Bank, if City score then they will go silent. The best example of this was Huddersfield who were singing up until we equalised on the hour and we never heard another sound from them.
THE IMPS RECORD AGAINST CARLISLE
The Imps usually score quite a few goals in these games, in fact, since being relegated to Division 3, City have beaten Carlisle 5-0, 4-1 and 3-1. Carlisle infact have a poor record at Sincil Bank, only winning 5 out of the 30 games played at Sincil Bank
LAST 5 LEAGUE RESULTS AGAINST CARLISLE
CARLISLE 1 CITY 4
CITY 0 CARLISLE 1
CITY 3 CARLISLE 1
CARLISLE 2 CITY 2
CITY 1 CARLISLE 1
PREDICTIONS
With City's record of 1 defeat in 13 compared to Carlisle's record of 1 win in 16, it would appear to be a walkover, however, I don't reckon it will be that easy. Although I see the Imps winning, I believe it will only be by the odd goal or 2. So I predict 3-1.
