I have certainly seen other teams in this division that we are better than but we do have occasional games like this and often at Fleetwood. Lucky to get away with a 2 goal defeat and they could have had the game sown up in the first 15 minutes and we haven't scored in any of the last 3 away games.

Only 5 teams have conceded more goals than us and that is partly due to having to change the back line so often due to injuries and JB not being able to select his first choice defence but he was able to today. Our recent away record has been very poor, 1 point from the last 5 games with 11 goals conceded and 5 points from the last 9 games with 21 goals conceded. In our 22 away games we have conceded 2 or more goals in 13 and gained 2 points, 19 of our 21 away points have come from the other 9 games.

We are going to have to be a lot better next week against an Exeter team who in their last 8 games have won 5 and drawn 3. Also we need the points if we want a top half finish because after todays results there are several teams who can now finish above us.

Mansfield only need 1 more point.

Rain forecast in Fleetwood tomorrow afternoon so advise to take a Fleetwood Mac.

There was a time when we would be getting excited playing away at Highbury but not now it is Fleetwood. If they are to avoid the drop they must view this as a must win game but they are not in good form and we have had a free week whereas they had a tough game at Blackpool in the Fylde derby. They lost narrowly 0-1 but put in a spirited performance and had some chances and their keeper saved a penalty.
Their top scorer Jayden Stockley has not been making the starting 11 in recent games and they have 42 goals in 42 games and only Carlisle have conceded more goals. In their 21 home games they have only scored more than once 4 times and have failed to score in 9, they have conceded more than once 10 times and only kept 4 clean sheets so these stats indicate we have have a good chance of scoring our first ever goal there at the 6th attempt.
It would be good to get a result and help send them down as whoever replaces them will bring more than the paltry 97 support they brought here earlier in the season. Despite their poor support they still manged to attract players like Jack Marriott to the club as they were being bankrolled by Andy Pilling but he is now in jail serving 13 years for fraud and has had to hand over ownership to his children.
I cannot see there being much change to our starting 11 and probably Odimayo and Koiki will again each be given a half, we have kept clean sheets in our last 3 home games and it would be good if we could get our 4th away one.

She probably hasn't asked because she doesn't know how comfortable your couch is Marvo.

It was never going to be a classic in that wind and in the first half we had a job to get up the pitch and were slightly fortunate to go in ahead at HT. Good to see Odimayo in the starting 11 and he had a decent half before being replaced by Koiki and with the wind in our favour it was Koiki's energy and pace that made for a better second half, I would have given him man of the match before his goal.
A largely scrappy game in which neither keeper made a good save but in the end another 3 deserved points.

I hope Carlisle play in their home blue kit today because their away shirt is 1 of the worst in the EFL.

I also see that on their forum it was reported that as many as 5 of their players were in trouble for being in a night club on Saturday night and that Gibson had an altercation with the bouncers.

JB said another of our injured players could be ready tomorrow, I think that may be Willis so he could be on the bench.

The injury list is shrinking fast and most look like they will be fit for their summer holidays. What this should mean is that they all should be fit for pre season unlike last year when several players took minimal part in pre season friendlies and JB had difficulty finding 11 fit players for the opening game, look how badly we tired in the second half against Stevenage. Hopefully this will lead to a better start to the season as we will not be so hamstrung with hamstrings and this season we only took 14 points from the first 15 games.

It was rather a surprise when Carlisle achieved promotion last season and no surprise that they are immediately heading back down as they are cut adrift at the bottom of the table and we can send them on their merry way on Saturday. However, despite having such a poor season and only winning 6 games they have had some impressive results like winning 3-1 away to Bolton and on Good Friday at Peterborough. They also held Stevenage to 2-2 draws in both games and only lost both games against Portsmouth 0-1 which are much better results than we achieved against the same opposition.

Historically we have the edge with 19 wins, 16 draws and 13 defeats but they have left with points from half of their visits as despite only winning 2 games here they have 10 draws and 11 defeats in the 23 games. The last time they won here was in 2015 and we have won all of the last 4 home games. Away from home they have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 14, scoring 19 and conceding 35 and have the worst defensive record in the division with 73 goals conceded. In their 20 away games they have scored 2 or more 5 times and failed to score 8 times, they have conceded 2 or more 10 times and only kept 1 clean sheet. Since the start of 2024 they have lost 13 of the 17 games played winning 3 and drawing 1, they have scored 21 goals and conceded 38 but 24 of those were at home and 14 away. They also scored in 14 of the 17 games but only kept 1 clean sheet and scored 2 or more 6 times and conceded 2 or more 12 times. So they usually manage to score but concede even more. We cannot do the double over them as we scored a added time equaliser in Cumbria in a 2-2 draw.

Carlisle's leading scorer is Jordan Gibson with 7 (9 in all comps) and next comes Jon Mellish with 5 which includes a hat trick at Peterborough on Good Friday.

Referee is Ross Joyce who has been a busy boy with his cards and in 31 games has issued 136 yellows, 9 reds and  awarded 4 penalties. We had him for our first away game of the season at Wigan when he flourished his yellow card 8 times, 4 for each team.

We may not hit 6500 for this game but Carlisle took 486 to Peterborough on Good Friday which is rather more than we took up there for the away fixture. It seems that Moore will be missing so I would expect Manny to deputise again and I would not be surprised if Pinnock is at left wing back again as Koiki and Odimayo are not likely to start. That could be the only change from Monday unless JB decides he wants to use the few remaining games to have another look at other players. Most of us will be expecting us to win and it will be disappointing if we cannot beat the bottom team at home.

Let's try giving the man a break, hardly his fault if he sustained a bad injury. It does not mean he is forever injury prone, he may go several seasons without another major injury. He has shown that he can be a major asset to the club.

KT delivers as promised.

I totally agree with the above post and would rather see us established as a mid table division 1 side (if that is our current limitations) to going up and down from division 2. The other plus point of being in division 1 is the much better away support whereas in division 2 quite a few sides bring very few supporters.

It is easy to point to a player who has moved to another club and been successful and say we should have signed him, no telling if Joe Taylor would have had as much success here.
At the start of the season people were bemoaning than Admiral Muskwe had gone to Exeter and we should have signed him but he has not scored a single goal for them.
Another was Daniel Agyei who went to Leyton Orient and has only scored 4 goals and like Muskwe has spent much of the season injured.
Jack Marriott, who did not impress me when we played Fleetwood, went to Wrexham and can't get into their team.
Danny Hylton, we were crying out for the club to sign him 12 months before they did, how has that worked out?
So 1 in 5 of the players our supporters wanted has had some success at their chosen club, I don't think a 20% success rate is very impressive.

If Taylor had come here and scored goals it is highly unlikely we would be in Lincolns position. This year they have played 16, won 11, drawn 5, lost 0, scored 33, conceded 5. This year we have conceded 28 and adding the goals Taylor may have scored would not have made any difference to our goals conceded, we have 1 of the worst defensive records in the division. This is down to our awful record of injuries to our defenders and JB not being able to select a settled back line, some games not having a fit full back and having to play 4 centre backs.

Most seasons there is a club that comes with a late run and this season it is Lincoln but it still remains to be seen if it will be successful. Stevenage were in a much better position than us in January but have been on a very poor run and look like missing out and Blackpool have a lot to do if they are going to finish in the top 6.

A routine win without needing to be near our best, plain to see why Vale are in the bottom 4. Fine ball from Bowie to set Pinnock through and a good finish. Could not see Vale scoring unless from our mistake and we tried to give them a helping hand with some sloppy passing, 2 from Moore in the first half. They had a bit of pressure in the second half because when we were clearing their attacks we were not finding a man and the ball came back at us. Good attempt by Leonard to beat the keeper from just inside their half.
Having seen comments about their young prospect Dipepa I was looking forward to seeing him but the lad did very little and did not look ready for div.1 football.

All 3 of our remaining home games are winnable. Historically we just have the edge over Port Vale with 30 wins to their 25 and 23 games drawn, in the 38 home games we have 20 wins, 9 draws and 9 defeats.

From the start of 2024 Vale went 14 games without winning a game and only picked up 4 points but they have won their last 2 and will feel they have a fighting chance of avoiding the drop. However these 2 wins were against Burton, and we know how poor they are, and Bristol Rovers who have not scored a goal in their last 4 games.

Vale have taken points from half of their away games with 4 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats, scoring only 14 while conceding 33. In these 19 games they have only scored 2 or more 3 times and have failed to score 9 times. Defensively they have conceded 2 or more 10 times and have kept 5 clean sheets.

As for our team JB has said that Koiki is not yet ready to start so the back 4 may be unchanged unless any of them are deemed to be unable to play 2 games in 4 days. I think Bowie could return to the starting 11 and it will be interesting to see who starts in goal.

We have to want this as much as Vale do and I'm sure JB will not settle for anything but a full commitment and I expect us to take all 3 points.

If Sherring, Moore and Willis all stayed as Guthrie, Magloire, Monthe and Dyche are all under contract we would have 7 centre backs.

If Odimayo stays as McGowan, Lintott, Brough and Koiki are all under contract we would have 5 full backs making 12 defenders in total for 4 or 5 positions depending on how we line up. This is obviously too many as usually the intention is to have 2 players for each position and also too much of the budget spent on defenders so at least 2 would have to go. Perhaps some under contract players may leave if they are not going to get enough game time otherwise we cannot offer contracts to all of the other 4.

With his injury record this season I would not offer Burge another contract as we have had to play rookie keepers for the majority of the season but all 3 have cost us goals. I wonder what our points total would be without so many keeper errors. An experienced keeper is needed but do we go for another rookie as back up?

I think McWilliams may be offered a new contract but he does pick up regular injuries and he has added surging runs forward to his game. Not up to speed since coming back from his latest injury which is why he is on the bench.

Fox will also probably get an offer, if so we hope he plays more games next season.

Appere I also think will get an offer, you cannot fault his work rate but at the moment does not look likely to be a prolific scorer.

Of the loan players I wonder if we might try to keep Bowie for another season, but with his young family up in Scotland would he want to stay?  Over the season I don't think Simpson has done enough. We have not seen enough of Springett to form a conclusive opinion but he has been bright in his limited game time and may be worth another 6 month loan.

A quality midfielder to replace Leonard is needed and a couple of forward options.

I'm not sure about their keeper having "a blinder", other than saving the 1 on 1 with Appere and Hoskins shot (which may have come back off the post) his other saves were all pretty routine.

Well that was disappointing, we should have taken a point and been ahead at HT with the chances we had in the first half in which we were the better side and Moulden didn't have a shot to save. Then we produced a poor second half performance with too many misplaced passes and rarely looked like scoring. Their player took the goal well but he got away from Leonard and Pinnock far too easily.

We haven't scored in 3 of our last 4 games and need to up our game on Monday against Port Vale who having not won a game in 2024 have now won their last 2 and given themselves a fighting chance of avoiding the drop and will be fighting for survival.

Reading have only 2 players missing, Yiadom suspended and Holmes injured.

We need to get the first goal as we have not come from behind to win yet this season.

Wrexham lost £5million and after only being there 3 years the Hollywood boys are owed £9million.