Carlisle United’s poor run of form extended to four games without a win at St Mary’s on Saturday but they were left feeling more than aggrieved at the one-goal defeat at the hands of a lacklustre Southampton side following a dubious sending off for left back Gary Borrowdale.

“We can’t talk too much about officials but what I will say is that it was never a red card,” manager Greg Abbott told mikewellsmastering.com/ today.

“It changed the game for us completely because they did us when we were trying to reorganise. They got their goal when it looked like we were containing them, and that is very, very hard to take.”

The weather enforced rearrangement of fixtures means that the Cumbrians have another immediate opportunity to turn things round on Tuesday evening when they travel to Oldham to face a team who have found a rich vein of goals under new manager Paul Dickov.

“We saw at our place a few weeks ago that Paul has got a side with similar attributes to us,” Abbott explained. “They have youth, energy and drive and they have got themselves on the kind of run that we are looking to produce. If we go there and sit back they’ll hurt us, so we want to see the same levels of commitment as we showed in the second half against Southampton. If we play like that we’ll be more than ok.”

United will be without team captain Paul Thirlwell as he continue to recover from a calf injury and Gary Borrowdale will serve out his one match suspension following his double yellow card transgression at the weekend. Matt Robson is expected to step into the left back role.

The Latics meanwhile have their own defensive troubles with centre back Reuben Hazell ruled out have picked up his tenth yellow card of the season on Saturday. Fellow defender Carl Winchester faces a late fitness to test and winger Chris Taylor is also a doubt as he continues to nurse a troublesome leg injury.

Oldham v Carlisle match odds:

Oldham, 11/10 with Victor Chandler

Draw, 5/2 with Betfred

Carlisle, 14/5 with Victor Chandler