THE difference between Carlisle’s home and away results at present is there for all to see, and it is far from the first time things have been this way.

More often, over the years, it has been the opposite effect, and I was reminded of this by the News & Star’s Flashback article last Thursday.

That highlighted our defeat to Oldham in a 2007/8 campaign when we won 17 home games but six on the road.

That pattern was as difficult to explain as the current one. I would like to say that we went into away games like that feeling anxious, knowing we weren’t the best on our travels, but it just wasn’t like that.

Admittedly we did, at home, have that feeling that we were going to win no matter who we played. Confidence was flowing and often we had games effectively won after half-an-hour. We just knew.

Maybe, away from home, we started getting more respect from teams because of this. Maybe they weren’t coming out to try and beat us from minute one, and games became more complicated as a result.

We also drew a number of away games by conceding late. People talk about our home defeat to Nottingham Forest as the game that killed our promotion momentum but I also look at six away points dropped in the closing minutes of games at Hartlepool, Brighton and Northampton, when we should have taken the ball into the corner more and seen things out.

Either way, I don’t think our away form was a psychological problem. There were only a couple of times when John Ward, our manager, really made it an issue and tried to change a few things, that Oldham game being an example.

Maybe if we’d just kept things exactly the same as how we lined up at home, we would have been alright, but we will never know.

People will be looking for explanations now as to why Carlisle have lost three on the spin without scoring at Brunton Park, yet have won three in a row away, Saturday’s excellent victory at Oldham the latest.

John Sheridan has been adamant that United have played well in the home games but also makes a point about getting the first goal, and I have to agree with that.

If Carlisle get the first goal against Tranmere - they had a penalty saved at 0-0, don’t forget - I think they win that game. If they take an early chance against Stevenage and Grimsby, the same.

I do think it is a first goal league and, on the flipside, if Crewe or Port Vale had nicked one early at Brunton Park then those United wins could easily have gone the other way.

It is massively important, then, that Carlisle get that first goal against Morecambe this weekend. If the away side get it then you might sense the crowd getting a bit anxious and thinking, ‘here we go again’.

At least away results are keeping some of that pressure off when it comes to sorting home form out. If United hadn’t picked up points at Bury and Oldham, mentally it could have put the players on edge.

Instead, they are going into this weekend off the back of another great win. Get that goal, and the confidence we saw at Oldham might well flow straight back.

The performance at Boundary Park certainly got the result it merited and it showed the value of a manager doing his homework.

I’m sick to death of people going into certain clubs and demanding a style of play which clearly goes against what they have. It can be embarrassing to watch, from the commentary position.

In the first couple of minutes Oldham put the ball down and their defenders all split. Not one of them, though, really wanted the ball. They turned their back to it and it was clearly uncomfortable to them.

Carlisle pushed right onto them and, despite this, Oldham’s keeper was still being told to give the ball short. United often won it back high up the pitch, the home supporters got annoyed, the defenders got nervy and it played into the away team’s hands.

Bury did something similar for a spell until, later in that game, they got it forward quicker and suddenly Carlisle were penned in their own half.

Sheridan and his team played the conditions at Boundary Park. They didn’t try to entertain from the first minute. First and foremost, they set out to win the battle, and their midfield three in particular looked very strong for this division.

At times over the last couple of years it has been a case of trying to find the best place for Jamie Devitt in Carlisle’s team. When he comes back from injury it might suit him to go in front of that three of Kelvin Etuhu, Mike Jones and Jack Sowerby, who impressed in the way they brought, respectively, power, know-how and industry - and, in Sowerby’s case, that bit of skill in scoring the third goal.

They dominated the game and helped make the game simple.

Oldham, in contrast, did not play to their strengths. They had Peter Clarke in defence, a very experienced player, who is a danger in both boxes. He will head it and kick it and always gets on the end of things. The problem was they weren’t getting up the pitch often enough for him to be a danger. They were too busy trying to play football in their own half.

It is an increasing feature of football at all levels. I speak to people from lower-league clubs who attend coaching courses, and they are being told to play the Manchester City way.

At Carlisle’s level, you don’t always have the time to instil that style. You don’t have six months to work things out. You don’t get the sort of patience Phil Foden, for example, is getting at City, being given 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, steadily adapting.

At this level, the demand is for players to be first-team ready sooner, and that means being able to win a battle first.

The best football Carlisle played in my time was when we were two or three up. We were never known as a free-flowing side. Only once we were on top in games would the passing come out, the tricks come out, the oles heard.

But there is no point trying to do that before you have rolled your sleeves up and made your mark on your opponent - the all-important part of getting ahead in League Two.

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WHEN the Checkatrade Trophy fixtures came out your first instinct was to think Carlisle would be playing Sunderland’s Under-21s at the Stadium of Light.

You then realised it is the Black Cats’ first-team, now my old club are in League One.

It is a competition, though, that you would expect Sunderland to take seriously. They are going for promotion but you do often see successful League One teams doubling up with the Trophy.

There will be people in Sunderland’s squad not getting game time who are more than capable of playing and, even if manager Jack Ross changes a few tonight, they will still be very strong.

There will be a relatively small crowd but it is still great for the Carlisle players to play at a place like the Stadium of Light.

John Sheridan is also expected to make changes and it should be a good opportunity for the likes of Regan Slater.

It’s much better for him to play games in this sort of competitive environment than another under-23 game in the afternoon against people he plays against all the time.