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Carlisle face a trip to Nottingham Forest on Monday evening in front of the SKY cameras, looking to break their duck at the home of their hosts. Most of the previous meetings having ended up in defeat for the Blues.
Last season the sides fought out a 0-0 draw at the City Ground in League One in front of 19,535 spectators. Pantomime villain Grant Holt had the best chance of the day to break the eventual deadlock on the half-hour mark but his tame penalty, contentiously given for a foul by Peter Murphy on Junior Agogo, was easily saved by Keiren Westwood who almost dived over the ball it got there so slowly.
Carlisle's worst defeat at Forest came in the old Division Two in late September of the 1976-77 season, that campaign being United's second relegation season in three years as they slipped from the top of Division One to Division Three obscurity. The score was 1-1 at half-time, Carlisle's goal coming from Michael Barry in front of just 12,479 spectators at the City Ground, only for the Cumbrians to go home with their tail between their legs after shipping four further goals without reply in the second-half.
With only six games played between the clubs at the City Ground over the years Forest have claimed four wins while the Blues have managed to grab just two draws. One of those coming last season and the other occuring in the FA Cup third round in 1969-70, the final result again being 0-0 as 23,419 fans looked on.
For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
| Recent encounters between the teams: | |||||
| 2006/2007 | Wed 31 Jan | Carlisle | 1 - 0 | Nottm. Forest | LGE1 |
| 2006/2007 | Sat 16 Sep | Nottm. Forest | 0 - 0 | Carlisle | LGE1 |
| 1976/1977 | Sat 05 Mar | Carlisle | 1 - 1 | Nottm. Forest | CHMP |
| 1976/1977 | Sat 25 Sep | Nottm. Forest | 5 - 1 | Carlisle | CHMP |
| 1975/1976 | Sat 06 Mar | Carlisle | 1 - 1 | Nottm. Forest | CHMP |
| 1975/1976 | Sat 01 Nov | Nottm. Forest | 4 - 0 | Carlisle | CHMP |
| 1973/1974 | Sat 13 Apr | Carlisle | 2 - 1 | Nottm. Forest | CHMP |
Recent respective form guides
Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in their last six home games, winning five of them, and drawing the other one. These high-scoring games have yielded a very healthy total of 11 goals for the Tricky Trees, with just one goal conceded.
In complete contrast to Forest, Carlisle are having a torrid time on their travels, accumulating just one victory and one draw from their last six games played away from the Brunton Park. That win did come last time out on the road though at Crewe and it snapped a four-month run without an away victory for the Blues. In their last six matches away from home the Cumbrians have conceded a bumper eight goals, and have only scored two themselves in reply.
The sides couldn't be much closer in the table after 32 games apiece, United in third on 58 points and Forest two points behind in fourth. Either team would leapfrog Doncaster and go second tomorrow with a win, but a draw would see all the positions remain the same.
For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here
| Last six games form guide | P | W | D | L | F | A | P |
| Nottm. Forest | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| Carlisle | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 13 |
FootyMad's prediction ...
FootyMad see this game edging towards a narrow win for Forest, as the Cumbrians have been none too clever on the road in recent matches. Home win
| Sequence statistics: | |
| Nottm. Forest | Unbeaten run of four matches. Not lost in the last 15 home games. |
| Carlisle | Won all of the previous three matches. |