2024/25 Championship, Lower, Non-League & EFL Trophy - On BeIN Sports and iFollow

[CURVE]

The biggest derby in all of England, and maybe the world was played this morning in Barrow-In-Furness and for the sixth time in eight meetings Carlisle United was victorious winning 1-0. Since Barrow's return to the EFL in 2020 the Cumbrian derby has only been played eight times, with the other two results being draws so Barrow is yet to win, so to call this derby the biggest in world might be a slight exaggeration.

Just out of interest, to me mainly, but the last time Barrow defeated Carlisle was April 9 1960, it was a big win, thrashing Carlisle 5-1 at home. Back then this match up wasn't a derby because Barrow was part a of Lancashire and Carlisle was in Cumberland, the Government didn't create the county of Cumbria until 1974 and by then Barrow were no longer a League team having been voted out of the Football League at the end of 1971/72 season, and they didn't return until winning promotion at the end of the 2019/20.

Despite this momentous victory Carlisle remains on the bottom of the L2 table, but we are now level with Morecambe and only two points behind Tranmere and safety. There is a 4pt gap between the bottom 3 and the next two teams Accrington Stanley and Harrogate with Gillingham and Barrow not that far ahead. With 13 games to go there is still a lot to play out, and teams like Barrow who are 11pts clear may not feel totally safe.

Carlisle's next game is against league leaders Walsall at home on the 4th, while Morecambe are away at Gillingham and Tranmere are at home to Port Vale on Saturday.

 

[Upstart Swan]

The biggest derby in all of England, and maybe the world was played this morning in Barrow-In-Furness and for the sixth time in eight meetings Carlisle United was victorious winning 1-0. Since Barrow's return to the EFL in 2020 the Cumbrian derby has only been played eight times, with the other two results being draws so Barrow is yet to win, so to call this derby the biggest in world might be a slight exaggeration.

Just out of interest, to me mainly, but the last time Barrow defeated Carlisle was April 9 1960, it was a big win, thrashing Carlisle 5-1 at home. Back then this match up wasn't a derby because Barrow was part a of Lancashire and Carlisle was in Cumberland, the Government didn't create the county of Cumbria until 1974 and by then Barrow were no longer a League team having been voted out of the Football League at the end of 1971/72 season, and they didn't return until winning promotion at the end of the 2019/20.

Despite this momentous victory Carlisle remains on the bottom of the L2 table, but we are now level with Morecambe and only two points behind Tranmere and safety. There is a 4pt gap between the bottom 3 and the next two teams Accrington Stanley and Harrogate with Gillingham and Barrow not that far ahead. With 13 games to go there is still a lot to play out, and teams like Barrow who are 11pts clear may not feel totally safe.

Carlisle's next game is against league leaders Walsall at home on the 4th, while Morecambe are away at Gillingham and Tranmere are at home to Port Vale on Saturday.

Tranmere are in deep trouble, their last win was 11 games ago (against Carlisle!) They just got rid of their manager yesterday, so it will interesting to see who they appoint.
It seems Carlisle have been slowly improving since Mark Hughes took over.

 

[CURVE]

Tranmere are in deep trouble, their last win was 11 games ago (against Carlisle!) They just got rid of their manager yesterday, so it will interesting to see who they appoint.
It seems Carlisle have been slowly improving since Mark Hughes took over.

Yeah, defensively Carlisle have looked a lot more solid, we haven't conceded a goal in three games, but offensively we are still struggling, our goals against Barrow was our first in almost 350 minutes of football. Hopefully the improved performances we have shown under Hughes can continue and we can work our way out of our predicament. While I don't wish ill on any other clubs, I do hope Tranmere's poor form continues.

 

[Upstart Swan]

Yeah, defensively Carlisle have looked a lot more solid, we haven't conceded a goal in three games, but offensively we are still struggling, our goals against Barrow was our first in almost 350 minutes of football. Hopefully the improved performances we have shown under Hughes can continue and we can work our way out of our predicament. While I don't wish ill on any other clubs, I do hope Tranmere's poor form continues.

I have (distant) cousins who are from Birkenhead and Rovers fans, so for me it would be a bit sad to see them drop out of the Football League again.

 

[Occidental]

Great win by Bolton overnight 3-1 over runaway League One leaders Birmingham. An impressive 23,000 mid week Tuesday night attendance for a third tier game.

 

[CURVE]

Bottom placed Carlisle had a solid 1-1 draw against League Leaders Walsall on Wednesday, unfortunately Morecambe beat Wimbledon 1-0 and Tranmere drew with Grimsby 1-1 so we didn't close the gap. In fact, the bottom five teams all gained at a point mid-week which doesn't help us at all.

The big positive, that is 4 games without a loss, so Mark Hughes appears to be working his magic and making us competitive, now if he can just get us out of the bottom two.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Meanwhile Coventry get hammered 4-1 by third from the bottom Portsmouth. Mark Robins' sacking and Lampard's appointment didn't go down well with the fans, so this will just make the anger worse.

I can understand Coventry fans being unhappy that Frank got the job. His 2nd stint as Chelsea boss was a shocker. But before that he did well at Derby, only losing in the play-off final to a Villa side containing Grealish, Mings, McGinn, Abraham, Elmohamady. He got Chelsea to an FA Cup final and 4th place before it went pear shaped the following season.

When he took over at Coventry they were sitting in 17th place, two points above the relegation places. Now they are 5th with the best form in the league. It looks like the top 4 is sorted but there's going to be an almighty scrap for 5th and 6th place, with the current contenders going down as far as Watford who are 11th.

 

[SM]

I can understand Coventry fans being unhappy that Frank got the job. His 2nd stint as Chelsea boss was a shocker. But before that he did well at Derby, only losing in the play-off final to a Villa side containing Grealish, Mings, McGinn, Abraham, Elmohamady. He got Chelsea to an FA Cup final and 4th place before it went pear shaped the following season.

When he took over at Coventry they were sitting in 17th place, two points above the relegation places. Now they are 5th with the best form in the league. It looks like the top 4 is sorted but there's going to be an almighty scrap for 5th and 6th place, with the current contenders going down as far as Watford who are 11th.

Yes of course they're happy with him now.

 

[Upstart Swan]

Yes of course they're happy with him now.

That's Super Frank Lampard now!

 

[SM]

That's Super Frank Lampard now!

Indeed! Seems a bit weird to quote a five month old post with a rather condescending essay on why they should be happy with him when they are..

 

[largebus]

Another last minute winner for Fat Frank

 

[Frank Bunn]

Another last minute winner for Fat Frank

97th minute!

 

[joop]

Reckon 4-5 wins from the remaining 9 (8 as there is next to no chance we beat QPR) should see us up.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Reckon 4-5 wins from the remaining 9 (8 as there is next to no chance we beat QPR) should see us up.

Well if we want to get promoted you have to beat the likes of QPR. They have a few injuries so no excuses.

There’s a fifth of the season remaining, reckon we may need more than 4-5 wins. Not much in it

 

[SM]

Getting a second yellow for a "dive" where you're clearly pushed over (irrespective of the force of the push) is one of the weirder things I've seen. Surely if there's contact, no matter how soft, it's a pen or play on?

 

[joop]

Well if we want to get promoted you have to beat the likes of QPR. They have a few injuries so no excuses.

There’s a fifth of the season remaining, reckon we may need more than 4-5 wins. Not much in it

5 wins puts us on 94 points, meaning Burnley would need to win 7 of 9 & the Blades 6 of 9 to over take us. And they play each other. I think it’d be enough.

 

[Jatz]

Reckon 4-5 wins from the remaining 9 (8 as there is next to no chance we beat QPR) should see us up.

Why would you not beat QPR? They're hot form is over.

 

[joop]

Why would you not beat QPR? They're hot form is over.

We’ve lost 5 out of the last 6 at loftus rd. That includes being beaten with QPR having 10 men. Also beat us 4-0 last season.
We typically do terribly in London, and all our loses this season have come in the 12:30 games.

 

[CURVE]

And I that is it, while it's not official Carlisle are now 9pts from safety with only 7 games to go, unless a miracle occurs and we go on a seven-game winning streak, we will officially be relegated to the Conference sometime in mid April.

Our form hadn't been too bad since Mark Hughes took over the reins, but the clubs we are chasing continue to pull away, Tranmere have won 3 from 4 and Harrogate, Accrington and Gillingham have only lost once in their last 5.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Dropped 7 points in last 4 games against behemoths Pompey, QPR and now Swansea. Meslier with another gift although saved a pen. Think he’s cost us 8-10 points with crazy errors. Third spring collapse in last 6 seasons. On current form you’d have to back SU and Burnley for auto spots.

 

[SM]

The own goal in our game about 30 seconds after the restart is one of the more insane goals I've seen.

 

[errant bounce]

And I that is it, while it's not official Carlisle are now 9pts from safety with only 7 games to go, unless a miracle occurs and we go on a seven-game winning streak, we will officially be relegated to the Conference sometime in mid April.

Our form hadn't been too bad since Mark Hughes took over the reins, but the clubs we are chasing continue to pull away, Tranmere have won 3 from 4 and Harrogate, Accrington and Gillingham have only lost once in their last 5.

Mark Hughes is ****in rubbish, Bradford City needed a big name after a string of completely benign managers and I thought he'd be the man to turn things around – he sort of needed to be – and now he's seemingly just happy going season to season in League Two?

**** that.

 

[Catman]

Dropped 7 points in last 4 games against behemoths Pompey, QPR and now Swansea. Meslier with another gift although saved a pen. Think he’s cost us 8-10 points with crazy errors. Third spring collapse in last 6 seasons. On current form you’d have to back SU and Burnley for auto spots.

Like clockwork, isn't it?

 

[joop]

Dropped 7 points in last 4 games against behemoths Pompey, QPR and now Swansea. Meslier with another gift although saved a pen. Think he’s cost us 8-10 points with crazy errors. Third spring collapse in last 6 seasons. On current form you’d have to back SU and Burnley for auto spots.

I wonder what Meslier actually has to do to lose his spot? It’s beyond parody at this point.

 

[RossFC]