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The Blues pack their bags to visit the Robins tomorrow night, needing to change their fortunes at Ashton Gate. Carlisle will be hoping to improve on a record of losing 11 and winning only two of the 18 games played in Bristol.
The previous match played between the two sides was in April 2003 in front of 50,913 spectators at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, with Bristol City running out 2-0 winners in the LDV Vans Trophy Final thanks to two goals in the last 12 minutes. The last league game at Ashton Gate came in the 1997-98 season when the teams went in opposite directions at the end of that League Two (third tier) campaign, City being promoted in second and United being relegated after finishing second bottom. The Robins won 1-0 that April afternoon thanks to a 53rd minute goal from Barbadian international striker Gregory Goodridge as 12,578 fans looked on.
City's biggest home victory over the Blues was in the 1980-81 FA Cup, the Robins winning a Fourth Round replay 5-0 at Ashton Gate in front of 10,057 spectators, Carlisle being 4-0 down at half-time, after the sides had battled out a 1-1 draw at Brunton Park. United have only come away from City with two victories, and the first one of those came courtesy of a 2-1 win in the 1964-65 Division Three title-winning season thanks to goals from John Evans and Frank Kirkup. The other success was in the 1971-72 Division Two campaign as the Blues won 4-1 as 13,123 fans looked on inside Ashton Gate, the United scorers that day being Frank Barton and Stan Bowles, while Bobby Owen bagged a brace.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams: | |||||
| 2002/2003 | Sun 06 Apr | Bristol City | 2 - 0 | Carlisle | ASSM |
| 1997/1998 | Sat 04 Apr | Bristol City | 1 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 1997/1998 | Sat 29 Nov | Carlisle | 0 - 3 | Bristol City | LGE1 |
| 1995/1996 | Sat 04 May | Carlisle | 2 - 1 | Bristol City | LGE1 |
| 1995/1996 | Sat 18 Nov | Bristol City | 1 - 1 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 1986/1987 | Sat 14 Feb | Carlisle | 1 - 2 | Bristol City | LGE1 |
| 1986/1987 | Sat 20 Sep | Bristol City | 3 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
Recent respective form guides
Bristol City are unbeaten in their last six league home games, winning five of them, and drawing the other one 0-0 against Oldham Athletic. These high-scoring matches for the home side have yielded a total of eleven goals for the Robins, with just four against.
In complete contrast to City, United are having a torrid time on their travels in the league, accumulating just one victory and two draws from their last six games played away from Brunton Park. While the Cumbrians have only notched four goals, ten have hit the back of the wrong net, although half of those did come in a 5-1 hammering at Crewe Alexandra.
Bristol City are just outside the automatic promotion places, in fourth, having taken 33 points from their 19 games to date, 22 of those points coming at Ashton Gate where they have the best home record in the division.
United lie just outside the promotion play-off positions in League One, in eighth, picking up 30 from their 19 games so far, with only seven of those points coming on their travels, that being the sixth worst effort on the road in the division.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Current league form guides : | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Bristol City | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 10 |
| Carlisle | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
FootyMad see this game edging towards a narrow win for the Robins, as the Cumbrians have been none too clever on the road in recent matches. Home win
| Sequence statistics: | |
| Bristol City | Unbeaten run of five matches. Won four successive home games. |
| Carlisle | Four games since last away draw. Last drawn home/away match four outings ago. |