Football – England – League One
Tuesday 5th November 2013 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Lowly Carlisle United take on a rampant Wolves side at their Brunton Park ground on Tuesday night as they look for just their third home win of the season in this reduced midweek League One schedule.
Carlisle have won just once in their last five league matches which was a commendable 1-0 win away at MK Dons a couple of weeks ago, but The Cumbrians have lost three of the last five with defeats against Oldham Athletic 0-1 away, a 2-4 defeat at home to Bristol City and Saturday’s loss at Gillingham 0-1.
Carlisle’s overall home record stands at a meagre 2-0-4 6/15 and aside from their two recent back-to-back wins over Sheffield United and Notts County, 1-0 and 2-1 respectively, their fans have had little to cheer about so far this term. The one thing in Carlisle’s favour though as I see it, is that they’re playing a midweek night match against Wolves who have had a long trip to make along with backing up from the weekend – more on this a bit later.
Onto Wolves now then, and Kenny Jackett’s side seem to be really hitting their straps right now as they registered a third successive league win on the weekend when they beat Stevenage 2-0 at Molineux which also extended their unbeaten run to seven matches and has lifted them up into second place just three points behind League One leaders Leyton Orient.
Wolves will no doubt be keen to make their game in hand count with a win tonight which would put them level with the London side, and their away form certainly suggests that this could be the case; an overall away record of 5-1-0 11/3 is automatic promotion material, but a Tuesday night trip to Carlisle will be an interesting test for the side that shouldn’t have been relegated from the Championship.
Now here’s my wrap-up; I’ve hummed and hawed about my pick for this fixture as the odds for a Wolves straight win (for an away team) is extremely skinny, while goals can’t also be guaranteed. Instead, I’ve plumped for Carlisle with the handicap as this is a midweek match and so far all of Wolves’ away success has been on weekend matches on their travels. I reckon Carlisle will only lose by the odd goal if they lose at all, in which case we get our stake refunded. Could be a stubborn draw or Wolves to win by 1 goal.
Pick: Carlisle United AH+1 @ 1.70 bet365
