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That was a rare defeat for United at home to Portsmouth though, the Cumbrians only having lost one other time at Brunton Park against the south coast side. Carlisle having beaten Pompey nine times in 16 matches, with the other five games finishing all-square. United amassing a bumper 29 goals in those matches while conceding 11.
The teams have never met in the cup before though, all the games between the two sides at both grounds coming in either the second or third tier. Now there are two divisions behind the clubs though it promises to be a tougher ask for the Blues tonight, although with Portsmouth having a weakened squad due to cup-tie rules and injuries, and having lost their first six matches of their Premier League season, a cup shock might still be in the reckoning.
With nine players arriving at Fratton Park in the last five days of the August transfer window it is hardly surprising that some of them will be cup-tied. The quartet missing out being Kevin-Prince Boateng, Jamie O'Hara, Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson, the first two having featured for Spurs in their 5-1 second round win at Doncaster while Smith and Williamson have played in one game and two matches respectively of Watford's Carling Cup campaign.
There are also plenty of players on the treatment table at Fratton Park at the moment, eight squad members being either injured or not match fit ahead of this evening. Starting off in goal veteran stopper Antti Niemi is close to coming back to training after undergoing a wrist operation in August, while just ahead of him is defender Linvoy Primus who has also been under the knife, Primus having surgery recently to rectify an ankle problem.
Also in the back line Hermann Hreidarrson is not back in training yet after picking up a tendon injury in the bottom of his foot while on international duty with Iceland earlier this month. Another Pompey player well over the age of 30, in Steve Finnan, also being sidelined for another two weeks or so with a hamstring problem, while finally in defence Joel Ward has recently undergone a hernia operation.
One more experienced defender, in Tal Ben Haim, will not be travelling up for the game as he has a sore calf muscle. While back in goal, perhaps the most well-known name, that being goalkeeper David James, is also absent as he is rested after only coming back from severe bruising to his knee in the last couple of weeks.
Moving up the pitch midfielders Papa Bouba Diop and Marc Wilson are another couple of players that will return to training in the next week or two as they come back from respective hamstring and leg injuries. Finally comes striker Aruna Dindane, signed from French club RC Lens during August, the Ivory Coast international still looking to build-up his fitness following a persistent knee problem.
With all those factors taken into consideration it would seem that Portsmouth have 19 players out of a full squad of 33 to choose from this evening, those 19 being :
Goalkeepers
Jamie Ashdown
Asmir Begovic
Defenders
Nadir Belhadj
James Hurst
Younes Kaboul
Leonard Sowah
Anthony Vanden Borre
Luke Wilkinson
Midfielders
Angelos Basinas
Michael Brown
Richard Hughes
Gautier Mahoto
Aaron Mokoena
Hayden Mullins
Hassan Yebda
Forwards
Nwankwo Kanu
Frederic Piquionne
John Utaka
Danny Webber
The referee for tonight's match is Neil Swarbrick from Preston, and he will be assisted down the lines by Gary Hilton from Wigan and Billy Khatib from Sunderland. Meanwhile the fourth official is National Group referee Nigel Miller from Darlington.