Wembley beckons once more for Carlisle United in Johnstone’s Paint Trophy

A convincing 4-0 victory over Bristol Rovers at the weekend brought Carlisle United back to winning ways in style and demonstrated that there was indeed life after top-scorer Gary Madine left to join Sheffield Wednesday just 3 hours before kick off.

A mix of flowing football and true grit brought two penalties and two well-taken goals as the Cumbrians threatened to run riot, and the Brunton Park faithful will be hoping they see more of the same on Tuesday night as Huddersfield Town provide the opposition in the first leg of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area final.

The prize for the victor over the 180 minutes is an appearance at Wembley in April and, if successful, it will be an unprecedented sixth time that Carlisle will have made it to the grand final of the competition.

“I don’t know what it is about this trophy, but we do seem to like it,” manager Greg Abbott told mikewellsmastering.com/.

“For me, I would love to get back there again this year because to do it twice in a row would be a magnificent achievement for a club like this. It was a great weekend for everyone connected with the club back in March, but the performance let us all down. It would be nice for us to be able to put that right.”

The Terriers league form has taken them into the second automatic promotion spot and it needed a late revival from United to claw back a two-goal deficit when these sides last met just 17 days ago.

“They are a very good side,” Abbott said. “We won’t be able to take anything for granted because they have quality all over the pitch. However, we think we have quality as well, so this should be another exciting encounter.”

Match odds:

Carlisle United, 13/8 with bet365

Draw, 13/5 with Skybet

Huddersfield Town, 7/4 with William Hill