A CITY restaurant has pledged to reward Carlisle United with a free celebratory feast if they are successful in the playoffs and get promoted to League One.

The Viceroy, a Bangladeshi restaurant on Shaddongate in Carlisle, has a history of working with the club.

The restaurant’s owner, Alamgir Ali, said the free celebratory meal will be a reward for the club, and a thank you from the city and themselves.

Mr Ali said: “We have always had a good relationship with Carlisle United, and so we are wanting to invite the manager, Paul Simpson, and the players for a celebratory free meal.”

He said that the restaurant did something similar for Carlisle United when they won the EFL Trophy in 1997 (at the time referred to as the Auto Windscreen Shield, now called the Papa Johns Trophy, both for sponsorship reasons).

The dramatic match was held on April 20, 1997, at Wembley, and saw Carlisle United feature in their second final in the competition, looking for their first win, and Colchester United, who were appearing in the final for the first time.

Each club needed to progress through five rounds to reach the final, which included a two-legged area final.

Carlisle began their Football League Trophy campaign at home to Rochdale, defeating them 2-0, before tearing apart Hull City 4-0.

They were handed an area quarter-final against York City and won 2-0.

They then defeated Shrewsbury Town 2-1 to reach the area final.

In the area final first leg, Carlisle beat Stockport County 2-0, and a goalless match a week later handed them a 2-0 aggregate to get to the final.

After a goalless final, the Cumbrians won after a penalty shootout, with a score of 4-3.

It is hoped future glory befalls the Blues in the playoffs, but they need to beat Bradford City in the second leg while already being 1-0 down on aggregate, and then progress to Wembley to face either Salford City or Stockport County and win.

Mr Ali continued: “It would be a reward for them, and a thank you from us for making us proud of our club.”