Carlisle Stats

ARGYLE are away to Carlisle United this weekend and Statso has taken a look at the Pilgrim record at Brunton Park.

Overall summary: P 19 W 3 D 6 L 10 F 18 A 29

First time: Derek Ufton’s Argyle won 3-1 in a Second Division fixture at Brunton Park on Saturday, October 16, 1965. Frank Lord and Mike Trebilcock (2) were our scorers. This is still our best ever win at Carlisle and the only time that we have scored more than twice against them away from home.

Last time: Derek Adams’s Pilgrims lost their first away EFL fixture of the season 0-1 at United on Saturday, August 13, 2016. This was our third successive defeat in competitive first-team matches at the start of the 2016-17 season, possibly a hangover from the previous campaign’s play-off final defeat. Fortunately, we won our next six EFL matches on the trot and were to go undefeated in 14 as a successful promotion bid was launched.

Biggest win: The 3-1 victory in 1965 (see above).

Heaviest defeat: A 2-4 loss for Kevin Hodges’s Greens on Monday, August 30, 1999. Rookie teenage striker Ian Stonebridge grabbed a second-half brace for Argyle, pulling the score back from 0-3 to 2-3. Carlisle, however, had the last laugh, scoring their fourth goal just a minute after Stonebridge’s second.

Most goals in a single game: Six, in Carlisle’s 4-2 win detailed above.

Further interesting facts: Argyle’s 2-0 win away to the Cumbrians on Saturday, January 2, 2016 was actually played at Ewood Park, home of Blackburn Rovers FC. Severe flooding in the city of Carlisle meant that Brunton Park was under water and United had to play their home matches elsewhere.

Following our victory in our first ever visit to Carlisle in 1965, it was to take another 13 matches, spread over 36 years before we next won at United. Paul Sturrock’s Argyle took a major step towards winning the Division 3 title with a 2-0 victory on Saturday, April 13, 2002. Marino Keith and Paul Wotton were our scorers. The title was secured little more than 48 hours later in a 4-1 victory at Darlington on Monday, April 15.

Perhaps the most famous ever match between the two teams occurred on the final day of the 1998-9 season, Saturday, May 8, 1999. Promising young striker Lee Phillips scored his first ever League goal to give us a 1-0 lead early in the second half. Carlisle equalised through former Manchester City defender David Brightwell, but with the match nearing conclusion the score remained 1-1 and the Cumbrians were on course to be relegated out of the Football League. However, United’s ‘keeper Jimmy Glass had other ideas, scoring the winning goal from a corner deep into second-half stoppage time. Carlisle stayed up by a solitary point and Scarborough went down to the Conference instead.

Following John Sheridan’s Argyle’s 0-2 defeat at Carlisle on Saturday, April 18, 2015, we went on a club record run of 65 regular EFL away matches without losing by more than a single goal. The sequence ended almost three years later at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, March 24, 2018 with another 0-2 defeat. We did, of course, lose 0-2 to AFC Wimbledon at Wembley during this time, but that was in the play-offs.