Our second game in 3 days sees us take on the first "new" side in the division. Carlisle are the first side in the division that we face, who weren't in the division last year, making it a slightly less predictable game than usual.

The last week has been an insane twist of emotions for City fans. A desperatly poor performance was only softened by 3 points against Oxford, a 5-1 hammering of Crewe in the Carling Cup really got the belief going at Sincil Bank and on Saturday lunch time, emotions were even more chirpy as City were drawn to face Fulham in the cup, however, it was back to the usual crap on Saturday afternoon as City sat on a lead.......AGAIN.

THERE WILL BE NO PHOTOS OF THIS GAME (I simply can't be arsed to take any, I want to be able to enjoy a game without having to take pictures every 5 minutes)

Ironic really, we've started playing much better without or supposed "better" players and we were on the way (unconvincingly) to a 3rd win in a row under the new team before two players returned to action and City struggled from that point on.

Morgan, one of the players in question, will more than likely return to the starting line up and Mayo will more than likely also be included. So then it just becomes a question of who to take out of the squad. Kerr, Cryan, Brown and especially Keates have all shown in the last week why they should be in the first team but who will Keith sacrifice in order to bring the "better" players into the team?

The result will definatly hinge of whether Keith goes with the 4-3-3 system which saw the Imps get those two impressive wins in the last week or go back to the 5-2-3 formation which is often heavily slated.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers     Morgan    McCombe   Mayo

Brown  Cryan   Keates

Molango     Asamoah      Birch

Carlisle returned from the conference via the playoffs, a season that saw them take City's 17 year attendance record for the conference. As stated, Carlisle came up via the playoffs after a 1-0 victory in the final over Stevenage, after just managing to sneak through against Aldershot.

Carlisle have had an average start to the new season with 7 points from their first 5 games after 2 wins, a draw and 2 defeats. They started their campaign with a 1-1 draw at Wycombe before recording a 1-0 victory at home to Peterborough. However, just 4 days later, they lost at home to Barnet. A win at Wrexham followed, however, they have lost the two subsequent games, bowing out of the Carling Cup thanks to a 2-1 defeat at Burnley and a 1-0 home defeat to Northampton Town on Saturday.

City's recent record has been fairly good. City have won 4 of the last 6 games, including the last 3. City started this run at the end of the 2001/2 season when Kingsley Black, Tony Battersby and Justin Walker gave the Imps a 3-1 victory, with around 10 games to go, this proved to be the Imps's last win of that season.

In 2002/3, the clubs met 3 times and the first was in the second week of the season and proved to be the most controversial of the season. Carlisle took all 3 points away from Sincil Bank thanks to a Trevor Molley penalty, however, that was only half the story as Carisle finished the game with 8 men on the pitch after 3 players were send off, City themselves had Simon Weaver dismissed. More controversy ensued in the stands when Ritchie Foran, one of the dismissed players and the Carlisle chairman, John Courtney, started a fight with the Lincoln stewards.

The two teams were drawn to play each other at Brunton Park in the First Round of the FA Cup. After Ben Sedgemore had a penalty saved (and Carlisle had another player sent off), Carlisle raced into a 2-0 lead after the half time period and despite Ben Futcher's late effort, City were out of the competition.

The final match between the two that season, was seen by only 41 Lincoln fans, of course, I was one of them on that extremely cold night and despite what was about to happen, no-one was in the mood for singing. Chris Ward headed the Imps into a 6th minute lead before Scott Willis' brilliant curling shot made it 2-0 before half time. Peter Gain and Paul Smith both fired in goals in quick succession in the 2nd half. Carlisle's consolation was a 93rd minute Ritchie Foran strike.

In 2003/4 season, Carlisle were awful when they came to Sincil Bank, they failed to get a single shot on or off target and it was arguably the most one sided game ever seen at Sincil Bank. Simon Yeo proded the Imps in front just before half time and Gary Fletcher (as he was known then), made it 2-0 midway through the 2nd half. City didn't even have to leave first gear to win this match.

The return game at Brunton Park was more even, after being in the relegation zone all season, a late run meant that with 4 games to go, Carlisle could move out of the relegation zone with a win over City. However, a delightful chip from Gain and a 72 yard effort from Mark Bailey saw the Imps run out 2-0 winners. That result was seen by many as the day that Carlisle needed to depend on others to save them. Despite getting 4 points from their final 3 games, they were relegated.

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