Hartlepool United vs Carlisle United Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Three points is the winner of Hartlepool and Carlisle when they meet this bank holiday Friday but the match is much more important than that. Hartlepool sit just above the drop zone and have a resurgent Newport County breathing down their neck, whilst Carlisle are clinging on to the last of the play-off places with six sides below them still with a realistic chance of taking their spot in the top seven off them.

With this in mind and given the poor form of both of these sides, we think it is best to stay away from predicting an outright winner and instead focus elsewhere. We feel the best chance of a return is backing the visitors to win either half, which is available at 8/11 with bet365. For our correct score tip we can’t see there being too much between the sides despite the vast difference in their league placings, so we are backing Carlisle to come out on top in a 2-1 win at 17/2 with the same site.

Our confidence is boosted further when we look at the head to head between these two sides. Carlisle hold a clear advantage in this fixture having won almost half of the meetings and having suffered defeat in just 35% of the matches between these teams. That record is boosted even further when we look at the recent history, as the Cumbrians have won six of the last seven meetings between the teams and have drawn the other one.

Carlisle started the season in superb fashion and set a new club record for matches undefeated so they will be more than annoyed if they were to get nothing for their efforts. They have a two point gap over eighth place and with just five games remaining they find themselves so close to the finishing line.