Carlisle United Preview

Wycombe Wanderers entertain Carlisle United on Saturday in their 35th league game of the season.

The League table currently shows Carlisle in 13th place with 40 points from 33 games, while the Chairboys occupy 23rd spot with 28 points from 34 games.

Carlisle's away record is...........Won 3, Drawn 7, Lost 7.
Wycombe's home record is.......Won 4, Drawn 4, Lost 9.

With twelve games remaining of a disappointing but eventful season which has seen 39 different players feature for the first-team under three different managers, Wycombe Wanderers will be hoping to put their pattern of peaks and frequent troughs behind them and find some consistency as they enter the home straight of their quest to avoid relegation.

The first half of last weekend's defeat to bottom club Stockport County was a snapshot of much that's been wrong with the Chairboys this season. With a few notable exceptions, the players inexplicably morphed from the battlers who had put Millwall and Southampton to the sword in their previous two games, into a listless bunch who didn't know how to defend and offered on-loan keeper Tom Heaton no protection whatsoever.

It wasn't the first time this season that the Blues looked like being on the wrong end of a hammering, but to their credit, and unlike in the total capitulations against Huddersfield, Brighton and Yeovil, the players fought back at Edgeley Park and almost stole an unlikely point as the Hatters' own fragile confidence began to shatter.

The fightback didn't impress Gary Waddock though. Speaking to wwfc.com, the Wycombe boss said: "That's not acceptable and I'm not happy at all." He also said: "Let's just wait and see what the team is next week, because not many are guaranteed a place I can tell you."

If Waddock sticks to his post-match comments once he's calmed down, the most likely candidates for promotion to the starting line-up on Saturday are Matt Harrold and Matt Phillips. Harrold came on at half-time against Stockport and put in a barnstorming display which should be enough to earn him a recall in place of the disappointing Alex Revell, while substitute Phillips scored two well taken goals from open play, which makes him a rarity in a Wycombe shirt.

On the strength of their performances on Saturday, Tom Heaton will be the first name on the team sheet, Julian Kelly and Kevin Betsy are forming a promising partnership on the right flank and showed the necessary fight to retain their places, while Jon-Paul Pittman managed five shots on target which should ensure his survival.

No one else came out of the game with much credit and some will only keep their place in the absence of anyone else to fill their position.

Standing between the Chairboys and three desperately needed points this Saturday are Carlisle United who find themselves in mid-table for a change, having become accustomed to promotion challenges and relegation battles in recent years.

It's been a long season for the Cumbrians who have already played 46 games in all competitions and are looking forward to a Wembley appearance at the end of the month in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final against Southampton.

They also enjoyed successful runs in the Carling Cup and the FA Cup, reaching the third round of both competitions before losing to Premiership opposition in Portsmouth and Everton.

The loss of striker Vincent Pericard to Swindon in January was a blow to the Cumbrians, but since then they've beaten Leeds United over two legs in the JPT semi-final, thumped Franchise 5-0 and also recorded victories over Exeter City and Gillingham.

There's not much between the two teams on form since the turn of the year, but with the experience of top scorer Ian Harte and combative midfielder Graham Kavanagh in their side, Carlisle will provide another tough test for the Chairboys on Saturday.

Carlisle's last five games (All Competitions)

LG1: Franchise (H)........Won 5-0
LG1: Huddersfield (H)....Lost 2-1
LG1: Swindon (A)..........Lost 2-0
LG1: Hartlepool (A).......Lost 4-1
LG1: Gillingham (H)......Won 2-0

Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

LG1: Yeovil (H).................Lost 4-1
LG1: Brentford (A) .........Drew 1-1
LG1: Millwall (H)...............Won 1-0
LG1: Southampton (H).....Drew 0-0
LG1: Stockport (A)............Lost 4-3

Carlisle Goal Stats (46 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........72
Goals Conceded (Total).....66

Goals Scored (Away)........32
Goals Conceded (Away)....38

Clean Sheets....12

Wycombe Goal Stats (38 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........42
Goals Conceded (Total).....73

Goals Scored (Home)........22
Goals Conceded (Home)....35

Clean Sheets....4

Carlisle's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Ian Harte................14 (inc 5 pens)
Joe Anyinsah...........11
Scott Dobie..............9
Matthew Robson.......7
Vincent Pericard.......6
Kevan Hurst.............5
Graham Kavanagh....5
Richard Keough........4
Adam Clayton..........2

Nine other Carlisle players have each scored 1 goal.

Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Jon-Paul Pittman.........9 (inc 1 pen)
Matt Harrold...............9 (inc 5 pens)
Scott Davies...............4
Matt Phillips................3
Stuart Beavon............2
Kevin Betsy................2
Chris Westwood..........2
Chris Zebroski............2

Eight other Wycombe players have each scored 1 goal.

Carlisle Shooting (Top-3)

Joe Anyinsah.........43 on-target...22 off-target...2 against woodwork
Ian Harte..............31 on-target...31 off-target...7 against woodwork
Matthew Robson....32 on-target...25 off-target...1 against woodwork

Wycombe Shooting (Top-3)

Jon-Paul Pittman.....28 on-target...19 off-target...1 against woodwork
Scott Davies...........19 on-target...24 off-target...4 against woodwork
Matt Phillips............19 on-target...17 off-target...2 against woodwork

Shooting (Club)

Carlisle.....281 on target..170 off target..14 against woodwork (Rank-4)
Wycombe..178 on target..152 off target..9 against woodwork (Rank-17)

League Form Guide

All Season
Carlisle......Pld: 33...W: 10..D: 10...L: 13...Pts: 40...Pts per game: 1.21
Wycombe...Pld: 34...W: 6....D: 10...L: 18...Pts: 28...Pts per game: 0.82

Since 1st January 2010
Carlisle......Pld: 11...W: 3...D: 3...L: 5...Pts: 12...Pts per game: 1.09
Wycombe...Pld: 10...W: 2...D: 4...L: 4...Pts: 10...Pts per game: 1.00

Against Top Half Opposition
Carlisle...........Pld: 15....Pts: 14....Pts per game: 0.93....(Rank-14)
Wycombe........Pld: 19....Pts: 16....Pts per game: 0.84....(Rank-16)

Against Bottom Half Opposition
Carlisle...........Pld: 18....Pts: 26....Pts per game: 1.44....(Rank-19)
Wycombe........Pld: 15....Pts: 12....Pts per game: 0.80....(Rank-24)

Last Five league Games
Carlisle............WLLLW - 6 points
Wycombe........LDWDL - 5 points

Last Five League Games (Away)
Carlisle..............WLDLL - 4 points

Last Five League Games (Home)
Wycombe.........LLLWD - 4 points

Previous Meetings

In 11 previous meetings there have been 5 wins for Wycombe, 3 for Carlisle and 3 draws.

At Adams Park there have been 3 wins for Wycombe, 1 for Carlisle and 1 draw.

1993/94 LG2: Carlisle 2 Wycombe 2
1993/94 LG2: Wycombe 2 Carlisle 0
1993/94 PLoff Carlisle 0 Wycombe 2
1993/94 PLoff Wycombe 2 Carlisle 1
1995/96 LG1: Carlisle 4 Wycombe 2
1995/96 LG1: Wycombe 4 Carlisle 0
1997/98 LG1: Wycombe 1 Carlisle 4
1997/98 LG1: Carlisle 0 Wycombe 0
2005/06 LG2: Wycombe 1 Carlisle 1
2005/06 LG2: Carlisle 0 Wycombe 1
2009/10 LG1: Carlisle 1 Wycombe 0

The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Phil Crossley from Kent who joined the National List of Referees in 2002. His most recent Wycombe game was the 3-2 defeat at Gillingham in October. So far this season he's issued 90 yellow and 5 red cards in 25 games.

Prediction

Home Win