Newport County return to League Two action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Brunton Park to face Carlisle United (3pm).
The Exiles will be looking to build on Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at home to Bromley, against a Carlisle side that sits bottom of the football league.
Opposition Form
The Cumbrians have endured a tough 2024/25 campaign and are currently rooted to the bottom of the League Two table, nine points from safety.
Mark Hughes’ side have won the fewest number of games of any team in the league this season (7), with only Morecambe losing on more occasions. The former Wales, Barcelona and Manchester United star has been in charge in Cumbria since the middle of February, winning two games, losing four and drawing four times.
Hughes’ first win as Carlisle boss came away to local rivals Barrow, while his first three points in front of the Brunton Park faithful came in the form of a 2-1 win against Bromley two weeks ago.
Kadeem Harris has provided a creative spark in a dim season for the Blues, registering three goals and two assists since his arrival in November. Only centre-back Sam Lavelle (four goals) has netted more times than the former Cardiff City man this season.
Head-to-Head
County emerged victorious from this season’s return fixture, a 1-0 win at Rodney Parade in February. A Bobby Kamwa-led counter attack in the 76th minute was rounded off by Kyle Hudlin, who finished smartly to score the only goal of the game and secure a fourth-consecutive win for the Exiles.
Prior to that, Carlisle had failed to win on each of their nine previous visits to Gwent. Of the 29 historical meetings between the two clubs - stretching back to 1963 - Newport have won twelve times, drawing nine games and losing the remaining eight.
Shared Shirts
A notable former player to have donned the shirts of both clubs is Tristan Abrahams, who now plys his trade with Maidenhead United in the National League.
The 2019-20 Newport County young player of the year joined from Norwich City and made 74 appearances in all competitions for the Amber Army, scoring 18 times. The highlight of Abrahams’ two-year stint in south Wales was a hat-trick against Cheltenham Town in a 2019 EFL Trophy match.
Upon the expiry of his Newport contract in June 2021, the striker joined Carlisle, for whom he featured 27 times, scoring four goals.
Another player to have turned out for both Newport and Carlisle is Harry McKirdy, who played just over half an hour for Bromley at Rodney Parade on Tuesday night. McKirdy featured 13 times for County while on loan from Aston Villa in 2019-20. The winger departed the West Midlands on a permanent basis at the end of that season and joined Carlisle, for whom he played 38 times, scoring 11 goals.
Memorable Encounters
One of County’s most famous meetings with the Cumbrians was a 1-2 win at Brunton Park in March 2022.
Micky Demetriou’s 15th-minute goal gave the Exiles the lead in the north-west before Finn Azaz doubled the away side’s advantage just after the hour mark.
Carlisle pulled one back through Omari Patrick in the 80th minute but his goal would prove to be nothing more than a consolation as James Robwerry’s side held on to secure all three points.
Another memorable meeting between the two sides was a 3-3 draw at Rodney Parade in December 2017, with all six goals coming in the space of 26 minutes either side of half-time.
Shawn McCoulsky gave Newport the lead just before the interval, only for Carlisle to put themselves 2-1 ahead by the 56th minute through Luke Joyce and Kelvin Etuhu. Matty Dolan brought County back on level terms just four minutes later only for Tom Miller to restore Carlisle’s lead in the 62nd minute.
Dolan then netted his second goal of the game to bring County level once again in the 69th minute. Newport and Carlisle were evenly-matched both on the day and throughout the campaign, finishing the season 11th and 10th respectively.
Key Facts
- Carlisle United have won just one of their last six league games against Newport County (D3 L2), though that sole victory did come in this exact home fixture the last time it was played in January 2023 (1-0).
- After winning the reverse fixture 1-0 in February, Newport County will be looking to record a first league double over Carlisle United since the 2015-16 season.
- Carlisle have lost just one of their last six home league games (W1 D4), despite both scoring and conceding exactly six goals during that time.
- Newport have lost each of their last four away league games, and will be looking to avoid losing five in succession within the same season for the first time since March 2020 (6).
