Carlisle United’s worst ever run without a league victory – the dismal low mark the current side were threatening to emulate until recently – came in the 2003/4 season.
They went 14 games between wins in Division Three, a spell stretching from September 13 to December 20, as Paul Simpson tried to make some sense of what Roddy Collins had left behind.
It was the sequence that ultimately cost the Blues their Football League status. They mustered one lonely point from a possible 42. And yet, even in that atrocious spell, there were two occasions when they cast off their worries and defied their form.
Both occasions were in the LDV Vans Trophy, the lower-league competition whose modern equivalent provides heartwarming last-16 ties such as Arsenal Under-21s v Chelsea Under-21s.
Don’t worry – this isn’t another Pizza Trophy rant (although those are still available on demand). It’s simply to highlight the fact that, even though momentary relief can be found away from the league, it is wise not to take too much in the way of conclusions from isolated cup results.
Carlisle have done well in the Trophy so far in 2021/22, unbeaten in four games and having overcome two League One sides in the process. Their wins over Morecambe and Lincoln City were diligently earned, offering hope of progress under Keith Millen.
This week, though, it’s back to the big boy stuff. United’s advancement to the last 16 of a cup won’t count for anything if they come out of League Two trips to Mansfield Town and Stevenage with little to show.
This is where their small positive steps, such as they are, will be properly examined. It is one thing producing refreshing results when the pressure is reduced and crowds are barely there – another when the heavy weight of league duty returns.
Simpson perhaps thought his fledgling United were creeping towards better things when they buried Rochdale 2-0 in the Trophy in October 2003. He maybe hoped the same when they overcame Huddersfield Town by the same margin in the next round.
Neither, though, proved any sort of filip. It was not until he sorted out the squad good and proper that Carlisle’s ship started to change course. All those Trophy games did was highlight one or two better qualities when the burden of a relegation battle was temporarily lifted from shoulders.
Millen has pointedly taken United’s cup games seriously, fielding strong sides. Against Lincoln he rejected the idea of using the Trophy to fiddle and experiment. He was rewarded with a 1-1 draw and penalty shoot-out victory which spoke well of his players' nerve.
It is also pretty clear that the manager has used such occasions to try and breed a little more consistency into Carlisle’s play; something less achievable when using an entirely different XI comprised of those from the fringes.
Those are the benefits that could be felt in United’s performance levels over the piece. Assumptions of an inevitable overlap in form from cup to league, though, may have to be resisted given the hugely different circumstances.
Mansfield are 21 places lower in the pyramid than Lincoln but any money says the Stags will provide tighter and more ruthless opposition tomorrow night. The Imps, according to boss Michael Appleton, had a player off the pitch knocking back a drink as United attacked to equalise last Tuesday.
Nigel Clough’s Stags, with seven wins from their last eight in all competitions and perhaps contemplating a play-off run after a poor start, presumably won't accommodate that sort of indiscipline with three points on the line.
Then it is Stevenage, where a new manager in Paul Tisdale will be trying to relieve tension and aiming to put vital distance between his club and the nearby Blues. It looks like the first proper six-pointer of the season.
United, who also have their injury issues just now, have to show gumption in the face of these challenges. The emotional freedom of a quiet Trophy night won’t be available. These are the truly gritty occasions when their pre-January mettle needs to reveal itself.
The Walsall league game of last Saturday, when Carlisle stayed in and then won the contest with good character and late opportunism, is the standard for a team getting off the canvas. This weekend’s FA Cup loss to Shrewsbury was frustrating - especially so given who the Shrews have just pulled out of the hat in round three - but will be mourned much less if Brad Young, or Tristan Abrahams, or Jordan Gibson, or Jon Mellish, or whoever can supply something decisive at the One Call Stadium.
That would say more about United’s heart for this battle than munching their way through the Pizza Trophy. Let it not be forgotten that Carlisle, in 1995/6, got as far as the northern final of the Auto-Windscreens Shield, yet were still relegated from Division Two.
In 2002/3, Collins’ team somehow reached the LDV final yet were scrambling to retain their Football League status until the penultimate game of the season had finished.
Pleasant as such cup runs no doubt were, they meant diddly squat to United’s league fortunes. This week, then, the grown-up stuff returns. Let us hope the Blues can rise accordingly.
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