A niggling knee injury has been diagnosed as a medial ligament strain and the 37-year-old veteran will have to miss his second successive match. He sat out Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Huddersfield Town. However he is set to name an unchanged starting line-up with a 4-3-3 formation which should feature Andy Preece, Craig Farrell and Peter Duffield as forwards. The tactical switch paid handsomely on Tuesday after Duffield signed on the dotted line just hours before kick-off. The 34-year-old striker joined initially on loan from Boston but will make the move permanent on the deadline day and has agreed to stay until the end of the season. Simpson is hoping he will prove to be the deadly goalscorer that the Cumbrians have lacked all season. He marked his debut with the winning goal against the Terriers and Simpson will be hoping he continues the run against Ian Atkins's misfiring Bulls. Oxford have lost just five games all season but have gone five games without a win and haven't won away in five games either. In contrast Carlisle have now gone seven home games since their last defeat, the longest unbeaten run at Brunton Park since Atkins himself was in charge. Chairman John Courteney is hoping the Cumbrians fine home form will see big crowds turn out in the closing weeks of the season. With United having a chance to overtake second-bottom Macclesfield with two home games in four days, the jovial Dubliner is predicting gates of 6,000-plus for the final six matches on home soil. "I'd like to think we would get at least 6,000 for all of our remaining home games. We average just over 5,000 for the season but if we keep on winning, there is no reason why the attendances can't go up another notch," he said. "We are turning things around here and are doing all we can to stay up. We put in extra funding to allow Paul Simpson to get players in and that has been rewarded by a great run of form. It would be great to have big crowds from now on as the more everyone can get behind the team the better." The visit to Rochdale next Saturday is shaping up to be a vital match, with United hoping to take up to 2,000 fans down to Spotland, a ground where they won 1-0 last season. The Cumbrians have won the last three league and cup meetings between the two sides. Picture from News & Star |
