Carlisle United suffered a roller-coaster of a season but eventually finished 14th to preserve their hard-won Second Division status.

With the close season acquisition of Alan Shoulder and Malcolm Poskett, Bob Stokoe showed he'd lost none of his shrewd buying powers, and the two proved as good a partnership up front as United have ever had.

Shoulder went on to score 21 goals, all of them in the league, to lead the goal charts, with Poskett close behind on 16. Goalscoring was never the problem, it was at the other end.

After starting with an excellent 3-0 win at Derby County, United suddenly caved in and conceded twenty goals in their next five league and cup games. United responded in the only way they knew how, knocking in thirteen themselves in the next five, four of them coming from Malcolm Poskett in the home victory over Crystal Palace.

United failed to win another away game until March, and that was the main reason for them remaining in the relegation fight until the closing weeks of the season. At home, they were never less than entertaining, with the highlight being a 2-0 win over Newcastle United in November in front of 16,228. Only champions Queen's Park Rangers finished with more home goals than the Cumbrians, who slammed in 44 in their 21 games at Brunton Park.

A worrying run of seven games without a win between January and March left Carlisle in a tricky position but survival was assured with the return of Bryan Pop Robson and his namesake Keith, who were both signed on loan. Robson snr scored just minutes into his comeback at home to Blackburn and then found the net twice in the next home game,a 5-0 thrashing of relegation-bound Bolton Wanderers. When QPR fell 1-0 on April 30th, United were virtually assured of survival. It seemed the good times were back at Brunton Park.