The old pitch is gone, and, Carlisle United will hope, a few demons with it. Their first game on Newport County's new "hybrid" surface this weekend offers the chance to reclaim some smoother form at what has, undoubtedly, been a bogey ground.

"I don't think the past history's been too great at Newport," Gary Liddle said this week. The defender certainly knows his onions, and his comment suggests United's poor results at the south Wales club are on a few minds as they prepare to hit the motorways again.

Here goes another attempt to end a hoodoo. Rodney Parade has made a habit of making Carlisle players look like plonkers in recent times, their last three visits seeing them leave with nothing but regrets.

No matter where the teams have sat, in the table or the form charts, the 'Amber Army' have managed to stop the Blues in their tracks. There has been some mitigation for Carlisle in the boggy pitch on which Newport did their work in years past, but that is not available this weekend.

In its place, the result of a £750,000 summer overhaul: a surface installed by Desso Sports Systems, with new irrigation and drainage, and a pitch that contains both live grass and artificial fibres.

It is, said Newport head of operations Mark Jones in August, the best pitch he has seen in more than 30 years at the club, one they continue to share with rugby clubs Newport RFC and the Dragons.

Not that it has made Rodney Parade any more welcoming so far. The Exiles have a solid home record in the league of four wins, three draws and two defeats and, as ever, Carlisle's away form will need to be up to scratch to gain something against Mike Flynn's ninth-placed team.

Given that only one team (Swindon) have won more League Two games on their travels than United, that prospect must be fair. Carlisle have ended long waits for wins at certain places already this season - Colchester, Grimsby - and Keith Curle's team won't be frightened of trying to ease the weight of history in two days' time.

It is, though, considerable, bearing in mind that Rodney Parade is the only place in the entire fourth division where United have lost on their last three visits. It has been a pointless series of trips since early 2015 and the hope is that they do not add another episode to these:

1. January 3, 2015 - Newport 2 United 1

The first defeat of this unwanted trio came at a bleak time. United did not ring in the new year well at Rodney Parade, even after taking an early lead.

It was a bad period in general for the Blues, who were fighting relegation and also, since Boxing Day night, an unwanted reputation for indiscipline.

Six players had hit the tiles after victory at Morecambe, less than 48 hours before a miserable home defeat to York. Fines and other disciplinary measures were imposed by Keith Curle, who had been in office for just four months.

At Newport, he then saw a bright start unravel. Initially, his selection worked well, and after selecting Courtney Meppen-Walter in defensive midfield, the young man normally found at centre-half opened the scoring, heading home a Kyle Dempsey corner.

With their defensive screen working well, all was looking rosy. Before the break, though, it was breached. Danny Grainger fouled the speedy Ryan Jackson and Adam Chapman buried the penalty, and Justin Edinburgh's home side then pushed United back after the break, finally pocketing a winner through Lee Minshull.

It was the final, decisive act on a sorry afternoon, which saw United's errant six taunted by the Welsh supporters and Curle critical, not for the last time, of a "soft" dressing room.

2. February 13, 2016 - Newport 1 United 0

United, having made a modest start to 2016, needed a healthy away win to get their play-off hopes back into life. They picked the wrong place to try that.

This was another one from the negative column: a listless performance that got what it deserved, even against a side with League Two's second-worst home record.

United had been affected by a virus in the build-up, but there were few excuses for the way they failed to trouble the home keeper Joe Day, and then failed to fight back from Scott Boden's goal for the fifth-bottom hosts.

The pitch was, as ever, hideous, but United fell down a rut. There was positive feeling in the air as Curle revealed he had agreed terms on a new contract but that only came after a long post-match inquest.

Carlisle missed their injured captain, Grainger, and were often chasing the heels of Newport's young loan forward Conor Wilkinson. The Blues' own final ball was poor and early in the second half they succumbed, Boden controlling and scoring in the six-yard box after United failed to clear a corner.

It got even worse, if that was possible, when loan midfielder Brandon Comley was sent off for two bookable fouls, and left Carlisle with familiar feelings as they headed back out of the principality.

3. November 12, 2016 - Newport 2 United 0

The longest unbeaten run in the Football League and the best such start to a league season in Carlisle's history. A team equipped to be contenders. The manager (Curle) and player (Jason Kennedy) of the month. United on the march.

No match for the strugglers of Newport when Curle took all this back to Rodney Parade. The Exiles were adrift at the foot of the table, but rose up against the Cumbrians, who had not lost in 15 since the beginning of 2016/17.

They did so, in fact, from the second minute. United failed to get the ball out of the stodgy turf and paid for it when Macaulay Gillesphey's weak clearance was dispatched by Josh Sheehan.

That set up a merry day for Newport, whose fans were warming to their new manager, one Graham Westley. As Carlisle toiled and failed to find their recent, reliable form, the hosts became stronger.

They killed the game with a breakaway Rhys Healey goal in the second half and we were then treated to the unlikely cabaret of Westley dancing in his coaching area.

It was a surreal way indeed for such a powerful run to end - beaten by the worst in the land, to the soundtrack of "We've got - *clap, clap* - Graham Westley" (to the tune of Glad All Over ) - and as much as anything it summed up what has passed for United's performances when they have gone to this particular ground.

Over to Curle and Carlisle's current players, then, to put it right, and find better fortunes on a much better pitch.