Carlisle v Stevenage

[hellogregory]

Huge game. 7th vs 6th.

Stevenage have stuttered in recent games, but prior to that their form over the past few months has been excellent which has propelled them into the playoffs. After back to back defeats they'll be looking at Carlisle's dreadful home form and be seeing this as a glorious chance to get back to winning ways.

As for us, well we are coming off the back of 2 really poor results from matches where we were leading in both games. It's now 1 win in 10, with 7 defeats coming in those games. We're in terrible form going into a crucial 4 games where really we probably need 2 wins minimum. Time is now running out, our form has to turn around now if we're going to do anything.

We'll probably be without Jason Kennedy who had a recurrence of his injury, that is a huge blow as any hopes we have were being pinned on him. John O'Sullivan is potentially out for the season as well as Nicky Adams, so a lot of our attacking threat is missing.

Sadly I don't think we'll win this or any of our remaining games. I can see us picking up 1 possibly 2 points from the 4 games which won't be enough. I expect we'll be out of the top 7 come 5pm Monday.

Carlisle 1-3 Stevenage

 

[cufc17]

I thought I read Kennedy's absence yesterday wasn't down to injury? I was hoping O'Sullivan's injury wasn't too serious as he said he hoped to be back for Monday. We're a bit fucked if both are out.

Jabo has hit form, the rest need to follow suit. He's the only striker I have confidence in right now, Waring and Proctor aren't good enough whilst Miller is still suspended. I'd go 4-2-3-1 and dominate the midfield, get some creativity in and around Jabo. I'd go (providing Miller/Kennedy are fit):

Gillespie
Miller Raynes Brisley Grainger
Liddle Joyce
Devitt Nabi Kennedy
Jabo

Bailey will play ahead of Nabi, Lambe ahead of Kennedy, and Proctor will be in there too.

A win is needed here, the teams behind us are trying to gift us the final playoff place and we're declining it. 2 wins and a draw for a play off spot I think, 3 wins from 4 would almost definitely be enough.

2-1

 

[shoddycollins]

I'm surprised Nabi didn't come on towards the end of the Hartlepool game. On what little evidence I have, he does seem like the exact sort of player to make something happen in a game that's petering out.

I can only assume that Bailey has been sent by our promotion rival's to help ensure we fail to make the playoffs (not including Luton, who probably hope we do make the playoffs). Calling him ineffective would be wrong as he can have a huge effect in favour of the opposition.

 

[hellogregory]

I thought I read Kennedy's absence yesterday wasn't down to injury?

I don't know how serious it is, but he was missing yesterday due to his injury. Curle said post match that he'd overdid it in training this week and picked up a niggle to his previous injury, which is why he wasn't involved yesterday. Hopefully he'll be back.

Curle also said post match that we'll be without O'Sullivan for a while.

I'm glad you're confident of us winning this. Is that blind optimism that we'll pull a rabbit out of a hat and beat a better team or was there genuine promising signs yesterday that we've finally turned the corner?

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Have you noticed that HG is getting more optimistic, he is predicting you'll score. Things are obviously looking up. Good luck anyway.

 

[hellogregory]

Have you noticed that HG is getting more optimistic, he is predicting you'll score. Things are obviously looking up. Good luck anyway.

Well we've scored in our last 3 matches. Massive progress that!

 

[cufc17]

I don't know how serious it is, but he was missing yesterday due to his injury. Curle said post match that he'd overdid it in training this week and picked up a niggle to his previous injury, which is why he wasn't involved yesterday. Hopefully he'll be back.

Curle also said post match that we'll be without O'Sullivan for a while.

I'm glad you're confident of us winning this. Is that blind optimism that we'll pull a rabbit out of a hat and beat a better team or was there genuine promising signs yesterday that we've finally turned the corner?

A bit of both. The performance wasn't very convincing but we created a lot more chances than recent weeks (though Hartlepool really were terrible). O'Sullivan will be a big miss as he's looked promising and is a much better option than Lambe.

 

[shoddycollins]

Have you noticed that HG is getting more optimistic, he is predicting you'll score. Things are obviously looking up. Good luck anyway.

Before our goalless run, we'd only failed to score one previous time this season.

 

[hellogregory]

Going in a different part of the stadium today to see if it changes our fortunes.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

[cufc17]

Looks a fairly shit team today, O'Sullivan on the bench, Kennedy out, Proctor, Lambe and Bailey starting. I want to see Nabi given a run out, couldn't do any worse than that midfield.

 

[hellogregory]

We're playing better today, totally dominated that first half. But sadly we're absolutely no goal threat whatsoever, for all our dominance we've failed to make the Stevenage keeper do anything. It's a really comfortable afternoon for a team being totally outplayed.

It's frustrating to watch as it's all carlisle but totally toothless. We will not score in this match that we simply have to win, meaning we're out of the playoffs.

Inept.