Carlisle United vs Wigan Athletic | FA Cup Preview
A trip to Brunton Park on Saturday afternoon kicks off our latest FA Cup campaign, where eight teams stand in between Wigan Athletic and another trophy.
Part One | An overview of our opponents. 🔎
Part Two | “Who to Watch” players. 👓
Part Three | What can we expect from this game? 🏟️
On May 11th 2013, Ben Watson diverted Shaun Maloney’s corner beyond Joe Hart to crown Wigan Athletic as FA Cup champions, beating Manchester City 1-0 with a stoppage-time winner.
Martin Tyler stated “You just cannot write scripts like this!” as the team celebrated by the corner flag, and that was a very fitting line to conclude the exceptional journey Wigan took to lift the trophy.
Four of our five games were away from home on that run-up to Wembley, and as we embark on another journey this season we start away at Brunton Park to face a struggling Carlisle United side.
Anything is possible if you believe, and that is a mantra Shaun Maloney’s squad need to keep at the forefront of their mind in every game.
Let’s see what we can expect from the first round of our FA Cup campaign 👇
Carlisle United
Twenty-five days have passed since Wigan Athletic last visited Carlisle United at Brunton Park, where we won 2-0 in our second EFL Trophy group stage fixture.
If you would like to learn more about the Cumbrians’ journey through the football league since they were founded in the late 1800s, and how they have prepared for their first season back in League Two, you can read through it all in the last match preview here:
When we faced them three and a half weeks ago, Carlisle United were 22nd in League Two. After picking up just one point from their last four games, Mike Williamson’s side have dropped to 23rd, occupying one of two relegation places alongside Morecambe.
To make matters worse, former Latic and captain, Charlie Wyke, has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a left ankle fracture/dislocation that requires surgery. After everything Wyke has gone through over the last few seasons, it is heartbreaking to see him suffer such a big injury and I wish him all the best in his recovery.
Jordan Jones is also likely to be out due to a leg injury, with Williamson stating in his pre-match interview “He’s getting there, slowly, slowly but surely. Still, there's a little bit of lingering kind of feelings of his stiffness in there. But, he's progressing. So, he's just got to make sure we do it carefully.”
Off the field, Carlisle announced this week that they have appointed Rob Clarkson as their new Sporting Director. Clarkson has worked as an Academy Coach at Sunderland, a Performance Analyst at Manchester City, Head of Domestic Scouting at Rangers, and as a Talent ID Lead with the FA for the England pathway. The appointment is a promising one for Carlisle to make, and hopefully he can help them return to a stronger position in the Football League.
Carlisle’s record in League Two so far this season is 2 wins, 2 draws, and 10 losses, leaving them 23rd with 8 points from 14 games. The Cumbrians have scored 12 goals, conceded 28, and have kept 3 clean sheets.
Carlisle United’s Last 5 League Two Games
Colchester United 0 - 0 Carlisle United
AFC Wimbledon 4 - 0 Carlisle United
Carlisle United 1 - 1 Harrogate Town
⚽️ Goal: L. Armstrong (44’)
Walsall 3 - 1 Carlisle United
⚽️ Goal: J. Mellish (82’)
Carlisle United 0 - 1 Cheltenham Town
As this is the FA Cup, we can expect Mike Williamson to play a much stronger side this time around, and these are my ones to watch 👇
Luke Armstrong (#29, Striker, Age: 28, joined on January 4th 2024 from Harrogate Town)
With Charlie Wyke out of action, Luke Armstrong is most likely going to be the starting striker on Saturday. The forward joined Birmingham City’s Academy from Middlesbrough in 2014, and since then has featured for Scottish side Cowdenbeath, Blyth Spartans, Middlesbrough, Gateshead (loan), Accrington Stanley (loan), Salford, Hartlepool (loan), and Harrogate Town before joining Paul Simpson at Brunton Park.
Armstrong has 141 League Two appearances and 37 League One appearances to his name, along with 45 in the National League and many more across various cup competitions. He scored 31 goals and assisted 13 more in 116 games for Harrogate Town, and has scored 5 and assisted 1 in 36 games for Carlisle United.
Wrexham were heavily linked with Armstrong in the Summer 2023 transfer window, and were minutes away from signing him. However, the paperwork was not completed in time before the deadline.
Jon Mellish (#22, Left Centre Back, Age: 27, joined on May 15th 2019 from Gateshead)
With 236 appearances for Carlisle United and a League Two Play-Off Winners medal to his name, Jon Mellish is a very important player for the Cumbrians and is no stranger to being on the scoresheet for them.
Throughout his time at the club, Mellish has netted 32 times and assisted 4, and is currently the joint-top goal contributor this season with 2 goals and 1 assist despite playing mostly in the back line.
Mellish is known to push up into the midfield, and his goal against Gillingham came from open play when he latched onto a loose ball in the penalty box to smash home. His assist for the winner against Barrow was a long ball sent down the left wing for Dan Adu-Adjei to chase, with defending centre back Theo Vassell falling over and allowing the forward to finish from a 1v1 opportunity. The defender has also scored Carlisle’s most recent goal after tapping the ball home from close range against Walsall when a corner was not dealt with by the home side.
I expect Carlisle to try and capitalise most from set piece routines, and Mellish has the experience to be dangerous in these situations.
Cameron Harper (#3, Left Wing Back, Age: 23, joined on June 14th 2024 from Inverness CT)
I mentioned Harper in the last match preview, and he still has the most assists in the squad with 3 in 10 appearances. He joins Mellish as the other top goal contributor at the club so far this season.
Harper made over 150 appearances for Inverness CT with 117 of those in the Scottish Championship. Last season, the left wing-back netted 3 goals and provided 11 assists in 40 appearances, and will be a good attacking outlet down the left side for Carlisle this season.
As you would expect from player who operates in his position, Harper loves to carry the ball up the wing with pace, but he is also their corner taker.
As I mentioned before, I expect Mike Williamson to select a much more senior side than the one he fielded in the EFL Trophy. The winners of this first round tie take home £45,000 in prize money, with the losers taking £15,000. Carlisle United will be desperate to win this one and give themselves a shot at the £75,000 prize money for winning the second round, or bagging £20,000 just for taking part.
That said, Shaun Maloney has mentioned that he will be fielding a strong side and another convincing victory at Brunton Park could be just what we need to return to stronger form.
Maloney has confirmed that Jensen Weir has trained this week and will be in contention for making the squad on Saturday, but Baba Adeeko is more of a doubt despite also returning to training.
He also stated that “This is not a game to make loads of changes. If there is anything tactical or specific from Blackpool that I want to change, I will. But we will be putting out the strongest team possible that I think will win the game.”
I want to see more of what worked well in the first half against Blackpool, and if we can put Carlisle under the same amount of pressure I do feel that we will get more rewards. This is a perfect game to bounce back from the disappointment of conceding two stoppage time own goals to leave Bloomfield Road with just a point, and if our mentality is right then I feel we will see a lot of success.
Let’s start this FA Cup campaign off with an emphatic victory 👊
👕 Starting XI Prediction: Tickle, Carragher, Kerr, Sibbick, Robinson, Francois, M Smith, Rankine, Aasgaard, Olakigbe, Hugill
⚽️ Score Prediction: Carlisle United 0 - 4 Wigan Atheltic
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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