The Cumbrians were formed in 1903, five years before Town. Games played in either the North Eastern League or Midland League are not included in this report. Our paths did not cross, however, until the League Cup Round 1 in 1961/62. 7,360 saw Massie score for Town at Brunton Park in a 1-1 draw. Eleven days later McCann and Holt(2), watched by 8,880, saw Town through to Round 2 with a 3-0 win. Carlisle gained revenge in 1969/70, ironically when Town earned its first league double, by a score of 2-0 in Round 2 and watched by a good gate of 11,198. The third meeting came in Round 1 in 1977/78. This was a marathon affair. The first game away ended 1-1 (Eccles) in front of 5,447. Town earned another draw at Leeds Road 2-2 (Butler(2)) watched by only 3,774. The third game, also at Leeds Road ended up 2-1 to Town (Eccles, Gray) this time in front of 4,542.

In the last five years of Town’s second stint in Div2 the league games began when Carlisle made one their visits to those dizzy heights. In those seasons Town lost their first three visits to Cumberland, as it was then, 0-2, 1-2 and 1-2. There followed a 0-0 draw and finally a 2-0 win in the promotion season of 1969/70. The double was completed for the first time at the end of January 1970 with a 1-0 win at Leeds Road when 17,370 saw Stephen Smith score the game’s only goal. This was the second best ever home gate. The first ever League game was on 4th December 1965 when 15,517 turned up to see Tony Leighton score 2 penalties in the 2-0 win. The Cumbrians gained revenge in the penultimate fixture on their own park by the same 2-0 score. This turned out to be in front of the best ever crowd to see Town at Brunton Park – 13,668. An interesting bit of trivia shows that Leighton scored the next home goal for Town on New Year’s Eve 1966 in the 1-1 draw which earned the best ever home gate of 18,606.

The next time we met was early in The Great Slide. In 1972/73 the games ended 1-1 and 0-0. However in the FA Cup Round 3, after earning a 2-2 draw in Carlisle, Fairclough(2) in front of 9,550, Town fell 0-1 in the replay watched by a good crowd of 13,555.

When Town began the climb back to respectability, we crossed swords in 1980/81 both games ending 1-1. The following season United were promoted but Town won 2-1 at home and drew 2-2 away. In the same 1981/82 season Town also gained its only FA Cup win with a 3-2 triumph at Brunton Park in Round 3. Fletcher scored a hat-trick. The crowd was modest at only 6,345.

Town followed up with promotion the next season and played them for three seasons before United fell back. In 1983/84 the games ended scoreless. In 1984/85 Town won its second double but this time the home game was won 1-0 and the away game 2-0. The last league meetings before this season were in 1985/86 and Carlisle fared rather better, earning a 3-3 draw at Leeds Road and a 2-0 win on their own midden. A few days ago we did of course scrape a 2-1 home win in an unconvincing manner.

The sides met again in 2003/04 when Town had dropped into the basement. The home fixture saw Town run out 2-1 winners (Booth, Stead) in a game which saw both sides reduced to 10 men just about on half time. The return fixture saw the Cumbrians win 1-0.

The only other meetings came in the Lower Divisions Semi-Final in 1993/94 when a great crowd of 10,552 saw Town win comfortably at Leeds Road by 4-1. Carlisle won the second leg 2-0, when 8330 fans turned out to watch but Town went to Wembley on aggregate 4-3.Of course Swansea City won the final 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw AET. Then we met again in 2003/04 in Round 2 at Brunton Park. It was a bad night for Town because 2 quick goals in the first 15 minutes saw Town eliminated from the competition.

In 2006/07 Town won the home fixture 2-1 thanks to Luke Beckett (2) (1pen). After a good first half Town gave up a goal just before the break and did not turn up in the second half and had to hang on for the points. The return fixture, Town’s second without a permanent manager, ended in a 1-1 draw with that man Beckett once again tormenting the Cumbrians with Town’s goal. A disputed equalizer in time added on at the end of the first half settled the issue.

The home game in 2007/08 was a disaster. Not only did Town concede the first league goals of the season but the team was completely outplayed and fully deserved the 0-2 loss. The return fixture saw the Cumbrians duly win their first “double” as they led 2-0 only to be pegged back late by Page’s first goal for Town, but it was too little too late and once again Town was undone by corners, as both goals came from that source.

In 2008/09 Town was well and truly thrashed on Boxing Day at Brunton Park where the Terriers were torn apart by a United side playing well above its league position (19th) and they ran out deserved 3-0 winners. The late season return game ended up 1-0 to Town thanks to a late Booth header. After a rotten first half Town improved in the second and just about deserved the win.

In 2009/10 Town should have played away on Boxing Day again but it was snowed off so the home game came first. On 6th Feb it ended up 1-1 after Town had taken the lead when as usual the players switched off and gave up an equaliser. 10 days later the return match was played and a great Town performance saw Novak score early and Rhodes add another early in the second half. Unfortunately Town’s defensive slip recurred and a late United goal took some of the gloss off a win which ended 2-1. Nevertheless it ended a run of 5 games at Brunton Park without a win.

In 2010/11 Town drew the Cumbrians away in Round 1 of the League Cup. A closely fought game was heading into extra time when up popped Novak, a late substitute, to lay on a perfect pass for Rhodes to slide in a virtual open goal for a 1-0 win.

The league away game came on New Year’s Day and a much changed Town side took a 2-0 lead (P.Clarke, Arfield) only for the usual slide to set in. Not for the first time Town then made sloppy defensive errors and the game ended 2-2. It was a case of 2 points thrown away. The next meeting was the northern Area Final (1st leg) of the Lower Divisions Cup. The fourteen players used fluctuated between woeful and abysmal and Town was deservedly thrashed 0-4 giving up 2 soft goals in each half.

The Fourth Test Match went Town’s way when the Cumbrians came to the Galpharm and the fans saw Roberts score 2 goals late on in the first half to win the game 2-0.

The Fifth Test Match, the return LDNF2 came one week later. In the event Town completely outplayed United and Pilkington put Town ahead on the half hour. Lee popped up with two second half goals, but that was as good as it got and the game ended 3-0, in no small part thanks to great goalkeeping by Collin in the net for the Cumbrians. So Town won the battle but lost the war going down 3-4 on aggregate.

The Cumbrians have gained more points away than at home this season, 19 against 15, though they have played 12 games away and only 10 at home. In reverse order their last away games have been Preston 3-3, Scunthorpe 2-1, Blades 0-1, Exeter 0-0 and Charlton 0-4. Apart from the Addicks game all the rest have been close and it is obvious that they will provide tough opposition in the Friday evening contest. Goals are hard to come by these fixtures. On Town turf only once in 17 meetings has either side scored more than 2 goals; in 1985/86 both sides did in a 3-3 draw. I do not expect a goal fest but think that Town may just win 1-0 (Rhodes, of course).

The vast majority of predictors picked up 3 points from this round for backing Town to win and Jordan to score a goal, with juts a couple of notable exceptions…..

Top scorer for the round was FluorescentAdolescent who not only backed Rhodes to score but also knew we’d win 1-0 to pick up the maximum of 6 points.

At the other end of the scale only 1 predictor managed to pick up absolutely nothing from their prediction, well done to Janeo for that ‘effort’.

Not a lot of points handed out yesterday. Yorkie top scored with 4 points for predicting that Jordan Rhodes would get a hat trick and that Town would score 4!

Only 2 predictors managed to pick anything out of yesterdays shambles. officerdibble scored 1 point for backing a 0-0 thriller and TerrierArmy gets 2 points for backing Town to lose.

Town first met AFC Bournemouth, which in an earlier life was known as Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, in the middle of The Great Slide in 1973/74.

The first series of meetings in Divisions 3 and 4, as they accompanied Town down into the basement, were not auspicious for the Terriers. In the first 4 seasons not one win was earned, there were 4 home draws 3 0-1 away defeats with a 1-1 draw in the second meeting.

After this things brightened up and, after two further away defeats and two home wins Town did the ‘double’ in the promotion season of 1979/80 triumphing 2-0 at Leeds Road and 3-1 away.

Since then AFCB won the ‘double’ in Divison 3 in 1990/91 beating Town 3-1 in both games. Since then AFCB has won only one game, that being at Leeds Road in 1992/93 when the Cherries won 1-0. From then on Town has been by far the better side. In 1993/94 the sides drew 1-1 at the Mac on 3rd January 1994 and then Town won five games straight. Later that season the away game was won 2-1. Then came two ‘doubles’, the first in 1994/95 3-1 and 2-0 and then, in the new Division 1 1-0 and 3-2 in 2001/02. Last season the winning run ended with a 2-2 draw away. This signalled a down turn in Town’s fortunes as the side had 2 away defeats and 2 home draws until the return match which the Terriers won 3-2. This was followed by another 5 away defeats. During this time the home record was 2-1-0 4-2. Then came the magnificent end of season run in.

There has been one successful FA Cup meeting, in Round 3 in 1997/98 when Town won 2-0 away in front of 7,385 spectators.

Strangely the best away gate was the first ever game between the sides. The best home gate was the game at home in 2005/06 when 13,522 turned up; this beat the previous best by over 2,000. The worst gate at home was a nothing final day game in 1977-78 which Town won 2-0 thanks to Goldthorpe and Holmes(P). Town finished 11th in Division 4 that year. 2004/05 produced the second best away gate of 8,448 and third best home gate of 9,754.

In 2005/06 at home Town threw away 2 points. After running the show in the first half they let the Cherries off the hook by giving away a daft penalty and then not closing them down. In the return fixture Fletcher scored for the home side in the first half and GTF saved a point for Town with an equalizer in the last quarter.

The next season at home Town twice came back from behind at home to finish with a 2-2 draw (GTF, Beckett). The away fixture brought a Town win, 2-1, with Worthington and Schofield (who came on as a sub) scoring for the Terriers.

Early on in 2007/08 Town won a great away win when Beckett scored the only goal just before half time. It was a notable win because Town had to field a makeshift team with Mirfin, Schofield, Cadamarteri and Sinclair all unavailable. The return fixture ended with the same score, this time Phil Jevons scoring the all important goal to give Town its first double of the season and fourth against AFCB. The Cherries were relegated at the end of the season.

In 2010/11 AFCB, promoted in second place the previous season came to the Galpharm early on and surprised Town by taking the lead. An injury time equaliser by Kay and an early second half penalty converted by Roberts looked to have set up the Terriers for a win, but, once again slackness let the Cherries back and they earned a deserved 2-2 draw. The return game was a match of few clear cut chances but with about 20 minutes left Town gave up a goal, then in the very late stages up popped Cadamarteri yet again to score for Town and save a point. Then we met again in the Play-off first at Dean Court. In an exciting first half Town led thanks to a Kilbane header and yet another Bennett penalty save. In the second half Town did not turn up and AFCB deservedly equalised and Town hung on by their fingertips. The return game was a nail-biter. Town scored mid way through the first half (Peltier) only for AFCB to equalise on 44 minutes. Then Town struck again in stoppage time (Ward). Just past the hour mark AFB equalised again. On 104 minutes AFCB took the lead for the first time but yet again Town scored late almost at the end of stoppage time (KAY). No scoring in the second half of extra-time so on to penalties. AFCB scored their first but Bennett saved the second and the third was blasted over the bar, their fourth was scored but Town scored all four of the home PKs to bring about a pitch invasion and Deano and Lee Clark had a great hug at the edge of the field. Thus the home play-off bogey was laid.

The Cherries have not been as good as last season and indeed have been teetering on the relegation zone earlier on but a 5 match unbeaten run has seen them climb to 15th seven points above the drop zone. Town failed to beat them once in four games last season in regular football as noted above. Town has an edge at home and of course is unbeaten at home in 22 regular league games. AFCB always provide tough opposition as evidenced by the close games. Excluding the play-off game Town has scored 3 goals twice (3-1 and 3-2) and the Cherries once (3-1). The visitors have been sent home scoreless 8 times (4 draws) and Town has failed to score in one other game, a 0-1 defeat. I do not expect a high scoring game but I am hopeful that the Terriers can just edge it by 2-1.

20 predictors reckoned that Monday night would be the night the run ended, with 3 of those (schofield7, The Tax Man & weerboil) all correctly predicting that we’d lose 2-0.

That maximum for schofield7 was also enough to secure the November Predictor Of The Month to earn the bonus point!

Hostilities began in 1936/37 in the League when the Addicks were promoted to Division 1. From then until 1969/70, apart from the War Years the only blank seasons were 1952/53 when the Terriers were in Division 2 and1956/57 when Town had been relegated the previous season.. Charlton fell the following season and the sides met every year until Town was promoted in 1969/70. We met again during the Great Slide when Town stayed in Division 3 for 2 years. The teams met again in Division 3 in 1980/81 and yet again for 3 years beginning in 1983/84 in Division 2. We have met in only 4 seasons since in Division 1 (old Div 2) in 1995/96-1997/98 and finally in 1999/2000.

The first match was actually an FA Cup 3rd Round tie in 1925/26 which Town won 1-0 at The Valley in front of 21,184 fans. Roy Goodall scored from a penalty.

The League start was less satisfactory as the Addicks won the first of 5 “doubles”, winning at Leeds Road 2-1 on 5th December 1936 (Richardson – gate 11,609) and 1-0 on their own turf 10th April 1937 – gate 24,995. The Addicks finished runners up to Manchester City while Town languished in 15th place. The following season was not much better as the games ended 1-1 at home and 0-4 away. Next season saw Town finally win a game; after losing 1-2 at The Valley on15th October 1938 – Price – gate 28,038 revenge was gained at Leeds Road on 18th February 4-0 (Price, Hayes(P), Mills and Barclay – gate 16,163). Immediately after The War, in 1946/47 Town won its first “double” with the best results ever against Athletic. At Leeds Road on 2nd November the score was 5-1 (Rodgers(3), Bateman and Glazzard – gate 16,944), this was the only time Town has scored more than 4 goals at home against these opponents. The return match on 8th March ended 3-0 (Thompson, Bateman and Doherty – gate 27,805); this was the best ever win away from home. After that until Town was relegated at the end of 1951/52 Town won only 2 games at home 2-1 in 1949/50 (my final year at Oakes Elementary) and 1-0 in the relegation season the other 3 games went 0-1-2 2-4. Away only 2 draws were gained, 0-0 in 1947/48 and 2-2 in 1949/50. In Fact the 2-1 win in 1949/50 started Town on its best ever home run against Charlton. The 10 meetings beginning then saw Town win 6 and draw 4. This run came to a crashing halt in 1961/62 with a 0-2 loss, yet the away game season was won 2-0. The next 9 home games ended up with a record for Town of 6-2-1 17-5 with 2 wins 4-1 and one by 4-0. Town actually won its two other “doubles in that sequence, 4-1 and 2-1 in 1966/67 and 4-0 and 2-1 in the Championship winning season of 1969/70. Charlton’s other doubles have come, with Town home games first, in 1948/49 2-1, 3-1, 1974/75 3-1, 1-0, 1985/86 2-0, 3-0 and finally in 1997/98 3-0, 1-0. The 1948/49 match at the Valley was watched by the best gate ever totalling 38,437 on 28th August.

In the 3 year stay back in Division 1 Town won at home 4-1, drew 0-0 in front of the best ever home gate of 26,996 and won 4-0 in the relegation season. The away games were all lost 1-2, 1-2 and 1-4. When the Addicks followed Town down into Division 2 at the end of 1956/57 the next meetings provided an amazing match up. On opening day Bain, Simpson and Taylor scored in a 3-3 draw at Leeds Road. Then on 21st December came the game for the history books. Town led 5-1 at The Valley with only 20 minutes left then the Terriers fell apart and of the 7 (SEVEN) goals scored in the final 20 minutes Athletic claimed 6 of them. Leading 6-5 and finally winning 7-6 they condemned Town to be the only side in League history to score 6 goals and lose! I was amazed when I heard the score on the BBC and horrified when I read the match report in the Examiner. It did not get better in the only other FA Cup meeting, again in the 3rd Round. 20,223 turned up at Leeds Road to see Law and Massie score in a 2-2 draw. The replay four days later ended up 0-1 in front of 26,637. Having missed the 13 goal thriller the TV cameras were at the Valley the next season but they saw only 3 goals in a 2-1 (Massie) win for the Addicks on 27th December. Town had won by a score of 1-0 at home on Christmas Day with Howard scoring.

Since the 1969/70 promotion season Town has not fared too well in the contest. At home the record is only a poor 3-2-5 10-14 and away an even poorer 3-1-6 10-15.

Who will likely forget the last home fixture on 28th December 1999? Town was flying high but came unstuck 1-2 with Stewart scoring in the losing cause. We did not know it at the time but that was effectively the end of Town’s promotion bid and they slid down the table to finish 8th and out of the play-offs. Some sort of revenge was gained at the Valley on 14th April when Town won 1-0 (Wijnhard) but it was too little too late.

The first meeting in this century in 2009/10 did not go well for Town. The lads played quite well but, as usual, defensive slips cost the game. Two silly goals given up with only a Pilkington free kick to show in a 1-2 defeat. The return game was a fairly poor affair. Town had failed to win in 5 home games, had not beaten a top 6 side and the Addicks had failed to beat a top 6 side in their travels. Inevitably it ended up as a 1-1 draw. After Rhodes gave Town the lead they switched off and the Addicks duly equalised.

Early in 2010/11 the Addicks came to the Galpharm where two late first half goals set Town up (Rhodes, McCombe) with a late Roberts goal cancelled out by an injury time score by the Addicks for a professional 3-1 win. The return fixture was a must win for Town to keep second place a possibility, on the day the lads put in a professional performance and a late free kick strike by Gudjonsson saw them through to a 1-0 win.

The Monday meeting should be rather like the Irresistible Force meeting the Immovable Object. The Addicks have lost only 1 game this season 0-1 at Stevenage. The only teams to have earned a point at the Valley this season are The Iron 2-2, The Owls 1-1 and Tranmere 1-1. Charlton has beaten AFCB 3-0, Exeter 2-0, Chesterfield 3-1, Carlisle 4-0 and PNE 5-2. In addition the Addicks won their last 2 home games last season for 10 games without loss, the 11th game back in time they lost 0-1 to the might Terriers! Town, inaddition to 43 league games without loss has gone 22 away games without defeat. It should be a craking game and could easily go either way. The Addicks are without their captain and the Terriers without Alan Lee. We must hope that Jon Parkin is a more than adequate replacement, but, of course he has never played with lads yet so this could be a negative. Town has only a moderate record at the Valley, as shown above and the last time the lads scored more than 1 goal was way back in 1984/85 in the 2-2 draw. Since then the results have been, 0-3, 1-2, 1-2, 0-1, 1-0, 1-2 and 1-0. It will be a tough game but, if both sides try to play for a win it should be entertaining. As I said it could go either way and I fear a loss, but a win may be the only way to keep second place. With the game being on Monday at least both sides will know how their close rivals have performed before a ball is kicked. There have been only 5 draws in 37 games so a definite result is likely and I have to think it will go the way of the Addicks 2-1.

That consolation goal for Notts County may have ruined Ian Bennets clean sheet bonus, but it turned out to be a welcome bonus for the 18 predictors who all backed a 2-1 Town win.

Out of those there are 3 that take pride of place as top scorers as they also backed Jordan “He play, he scores” Rhodes to get both goals. So congratulations to foxtrott555, htafc_jojo and Sid 63.

Notts County is the oldest League Club.

There have not been many games between Town and the Magpies, but they span almost 90 years and they have met in all Divisions except the Fourth. There have been 3 FA Cup meetings, 1921/22 Semi Final at Turf Moor, won 3-1; 1937/38 Round 4 at Leeds Road, won 1-0; and 1983/84 Round 4 also at Leeds Road, lost 1-2. The only League Cup match up was in Round 2 in 1999/2000 when Town scraped through 2-1 and 2-2.

The first match up was in Division 2 in 1913/14. On 13th December 1913 Town went to Meadow Lane and, in front of about 12,000, lost 0-3. The return fixture, the penultimate game of the season saw Morley(og) and Mann scoring in a 2-1 win watched by around 9,000. This was an average home gate that season.

The best cup win came in Town’s only winning season and on 25th March 1922, watched by 46,323 at Turf moor Town triumphed 3-1, Mann Billy Smith and Clem Stephenson scoring for Town. This was the best gate ever between the sides. Town won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge against Preston North End just 5 weeks later, thanks to a Billy Smith penalty, in front of 53,710.

The next meetings came in Town’s 3 Championship seasons, but despite being Champions they managed only 1 win in the 6 games, a 2-0 triumph at Leeds Road in 1925/26. The other 5 games resulted in 3 draws and 2 losses. In 1956/57, when Town dropped back into Division 2, Town earned their only ‘double’ winning 3-0 and 2-1. The away win was one of only two gained to date. 1984/85 saw the only other away win 2-0. Strangely Town lost the home fixture 1-2 that year. The Magpies ‘double’ occurred in the last league meetings in the 20th century, 1989/90 in Division 3 when Town came up with the short straw 1-2 and 0-1.

In this century the sides have met 2001-02 (2-2, 1-2) and the following season (3-0, 2-3) until County slid down into the basement. They won the fourth division title by 10 points in 2009-10 and hosted Town on opening day in 2010-11. On the day it was one sided with Town having about 60% of the possession and putting on a great display to take 3 points with a great 3-0 win (Pilkington(2), Rhodes). Everyone gave 100% and indeed the score could have been more emphatic as Town missed several chances. The defence was solid, the midfield in control and all in all a great start to share 1st place at game’s end. The return match was really no contest. The Magpies were truly awful and Town ran out comfortable winners 3-0 (Rhodes(2), Roberts).

This season Town has continued its unbeaten run but has been far from inspiring in the last few games culminating in the shambles at Swindon last week. My optimism is fading fast. It will need a massive improvement for Town to bring home the bacon on Saturday. The Magpies for their part have been less than sparkling away from home but still are two points clear of 7th place and trail Town by only 5 points despite losing 5 games (4 away). The positives from Town’s viewpoint are that we still have the best defensive record along with the Addicks and the Magpies have won just 2 games on Town turf, both by 2-1 in 84/85 and 89/90. County has lost away to the Owls 1-2, Preston 0-2, Franchise 0-3 and Colchester 2-4. Their wins have come against Carlisle 3-0 on opening day, Stevenage 2-0 and Chesterfield 3-1. Draws were against Exeter 1-1 and Bury 2-2. I think it will be much closer than last season and at the end of the day I think Town will end up with yet another draw 1-1.