The thought of playing a couple of games in the space of three or four days is enough to bring most Premier League managers out in cold sweats. There is typically talk of skewed fixture lists or dark agendas.

They can be thankful they were not in charge during simpler times when, over Christmas, teams were routinely expected to play on successive afternoons.

In 1980, for instance, there was a typical case, Carlisle hosting Burnley on Boxing Day before loading the team bus for a trip to Rotherham on December 27.

Those festive fixtures came at the end of a turbulent 12 months. It had been the first calendar year in which United had employed three different managers, Bob Moncur having left for Hearts in February, Martin Harvey steering the ship to September, then Bob Stokoe moving back in for a second spell.

The 1980/1 season had started badly, Carlisle hit by some key departures including Mike McCartney, Steve Ludlam and the earlier exit of Phil Bonnyman hindering Harvey.

Stokoe’s arrival, though, restored some order, even though the campaign proved a struggle until well into the spring.

Their display against Burnley at Brunton Park then, proved a tonic in testing times, even if it unfolded with traditional United melodrama, given how Stokoe’s team moved into a commanding lead and then nearly lost it.

In front of a 7,000-plus crowd, Carlisle began the Third Division spectacle playing football that had the great Ivor Broadis, reporting for the Evening News & Star, comparing it with their 1970s glory game.

Midfielder Russ Coughlin was at the heart of affairs, directing play and setting the early pattern with some telling and cutting passes. This, and some dynamic counter-attacking led by the instinctive front pairing of Gordon Staniforth and a 19-year-old Peter Beardsley, allowed United to establish first-half control.

Their 12th-minute opener set the scene. Former Cardiff midfielder Alan Campbell began it near his own box with a ball that Coughlin sent wide to Staniforth.

He crossed from the byline, and by then Campbell had arrived to head his first Blues goal in off the legs of Burnley keeper Alan Stevenson.

Five minutes later, United’s joy was doubled. This time it was a reminder of Beardsley’s precocious quality, as the teenager received a Coughlin pass and swiftly dummied Clarets midfielder Tommy Cassidy, the former Newcastle favourite and future Workington boss.

Seconds later Beardsley sent the ball past Stevenson and with this sort of play it was hard to conceive that Carlisle had not long come off a six-game winless run.

Beardsley almost added another, but United were rampant in this spell and the third duly came, Coughlin this time getting the better of Cassidy and shooting low inside the post.

Remarkably they could have had four before the break, Staniforth and Beardsley threatening, yet in spite of their arrears Burnley had served occasional warnings through Phil Cavener’s dribbling and Bill Hamilton’s forward play.

These traits were to the fore as they eventually fought back in the second half. After Paul Bannon had passed up a chance of another Blues goal, Brian Miller’s visitors gambled by sending an extra man forward - and it so nearly paid off.

They almost scored through Steve Taylor, who was foiled by a last-ditch Bobby Parker tackle, but then on 65 minutes they did get one back, Derek Scott hammering in a rebound after a save from keeper Tony Harrison.

Anxiety then increased when Bannon failed to convert another chance and Burnley then chipped further at United’s lead, this time Taylor shooting past Harrison with 10 minutes left.

The prospect of losing the lead completely was alive in the closing stages and it took some good Harrison saves and the calming head of Coughlin to steer them home, Burnley’s vigorous pursuit of a point seeing a yellow card for defender Vince Overson, a future Blues academy coach.

An entertaining 3-2 win certainly delighted the Brunton Park crowd, though it left Stokoe nursing a few knocks and inevitably tired legs ahead of a game in south Yorkshire 24 hours later.

The manager praised his team’s midfield poise against Burnley. “We’re showing a lot more confidence on the ball, a lot more patience and not giving it away as much,” Stokoe said.

They could not repeat it, alas, at Rotherham, where they fell to a sluggish 3-0 defeat, keeping them concerned about their status for a good while longer until a solid run in 1981 got them to the safety of 19th.

A year later under Stokoe, it was gloriously different: promotion back to the second tier.

United: Harrison, Haigh, MacDonald, Parker, Coady, Campbell (Hamilton), Coughlin, Metcalfe, Bannon, Beardsley, Staniforth.

Burnley: Stevenson, Laws, Overson, Dobson, Holt, Scott, Cassidy, Potts, Hamilton, Taylor, Cavener. Sub: Young.

Crowd: 7,137