Walsall v Carlisle - Match preview

Michael Flynn’s side drew 0-0 that day and would go on to lose just one game in nine until February, raising real hopes of the Saddlers extending their season.

Add to that a run to the fourth round of the FA Cup and a big home tie with Leicester City, and all was good at the Bescot Stadium.

Along the way in the competition, they narrowly beat Carlisle at home with two late goals in a tie which saw both sides clubs fined for ugly scenes after the match.

As it stands on the day of the return game, Walsall have just one win in 17 league games having just lost to bottom-of-the-table Rochdale, and Carlisle are 19 points ahead of them and in the last automatic promotion spot.

While Carlisle licked their wounds after that FA Cup battle at Bescot and Walsall went on to bag the glory and limelight of a game against Premier League opposition, it is visiting manager Paul Simpson who will be quietly happier with the current situation.

A bumper crowd of 13,410 saw them beat Tranmere 2-0 on Friday, with striker Kristian Dennis scoring both and moving on to 20 goals for the season – the first Carlisle player to achieve that feat since Karl Hawley in 2005-06.

Hawley played one game for the Saddlers and how they could do with a 20-goal-a-season striker now – most fans feeling the loss of Danny Johnson in January has defined their decline since.

Flynn bemoaned his side’s luck after the 4-2 defeat at Rochdale, when refereeing decisions conspired against them, and he is also without skipper Donervon Daniels, who has a hamstring problem and will be missing for two weeks.

Flynn said: “It’s been a crazy season in which we have experienced the highs and the lows but that’’s why we love the game.

“In some ways, I will be glad when it comes to an end the way it has gone recently. But as much as I can bemoan injuries and bad luck, we need to finish it as positively as possible.

“I think it was positive at Rochdale compared to recent games at Sutton and Wimbledon, where we deserved nothing,

“I felt on Friday the lads gave it their all and we talk about refereeing decisions but Tom Knowles also hit both posts at once just before we scored. It was an incredible game in many ways.

“But we have to go again against Carlisle and as much as they are in the third play-off position and Paul has done a great job, they went four games before that without a win or even scoring, so we have to take the positives.

“I am a positive person and we have a group of lads who won’t sulk about what happened at Rochdale.

“They will quickly get past it and ready to give it their all at home”