The departure of Mick Wadsworth half way though the season came as a big blow to the club, and Michael Knighton's failure to strengthen the squad did not help either as United suffered relegation straight back down to Division Three.

A start of three consecutive league defeats and the release of Derek Mountfield conspired to put the club in early trouble, and despite a revival helped by a resurgent David Currie and on-loan striker Allan Smart before Christmas, the Blues never really got going.

The move of Mervyn Day into the hot seat to replace Wadsworth brought about a much-needed improvement in results, but defensively, Carlisle were still not the same without Mountfield. Dean Walling's confidence took a blow and he only managed two goals compared to his nine of the championship season.

Far from buying players, United ended up selling two key members of their squad in midfielder Paul Murray and left-back Tony Gallimore. This was it seemed an early move to recoup losses incurred by the building of the new East Stand, which opened in April 1996 after months of delays.

The climax to the season was again nailbiting as United defeated Bristol City 2-1 in their final game and relegation rivals York lost four games on the trot to leave themselves needing a point at Brighton to stay up in a game re-arranged because of crowd trouble.

With only about 2,000 present on a Thursday lunchtime, they won 3-1 to send United down instead. It was a sad end to a season that had promised so much.

Statistics

ENDSLEIGH INSURANCE LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
Date        Opponents         Venue   Res    Att   Pts  Pos   Scorers
12/08/95    BRISTOL ROVERS      H     1-2   8003     0    -   Aspinall 27
19/08/95    Chesterfield        A     0-3   3634     0   23   -
26/08/95    SWINDON TOWN        H     0-1   6325     0   24   -
29/08/95    Rotherham United    A     2-2   3550     1   24   Reeves 53,55
01/09/95    Swansea City        A     1-1   3345     2   23   Peacock 9
09/09/95    BURNLEY             H     2-0   7318     5   20   Aspinall 52 Conway 70
12/09/95    PETERBOROUGH UNITED H     1-1   6027     6   20   Reeves 48
16/09/95    Oxford United       A     0-4   5048     6   21   -
23/09/95    HULL CITY           H     2-0   6007     9   17   Reeves 22,37
30/09/95    Walsall             A     1-2   4214     9   21   Thorpe 53
07/10/95    NOTTS COUNTY        H     0-0   6058    10   20   -
14/10/95    Crewe Alexandra     A     1-2   4512    10   22   Delap 61
21/10/95    BRADFORD CITY       H     2-2   6274    11   22   Reeves 10 Edmondson 31
28/10/95    AFC Bournemouth     A     0-2   4250    11   23   -
31/10/95    Wrexham             A     2-3   2939    11   23   Philliskirk 57 Aspinall 85
04/11/95    BRIGHTON            H     1-0   5896    14   22   Currie 51
18/11/95    Bristol City        A     1-1   5423    15   21   Currie 48
26/11/95    WYCOMBE WANDERERS   H     4-2   4459    18   21   Aspinall 4 Walling 8 Reeves 23
                                                              Gallimore (pen) 56
02/12/95    Burnley             A     0-2   8297    18   21   -
09/12/95    Hull City           A     5-2   3478    21   17   Currie 18,28 Murray 40 
                                                              Reeves 48 Bennett 71
16/12/95    WALSALL             H     1-1   5308    22   17   Bennett 2
26/12/95    Stockport County    A     0-2   5941    22   18   -
30/12/95    Shrewsbury Town     A     1-1   2864    23   18   Currie 85
01/01/96    BLACKPOOL           H     1-2   7532    23   18   Gallimore (pen) 62
13/01/96    CHESTERFIELD        H     1-1   5851    24   20   Law (og) 90
20/01/96    Bristol Rovers      A     1-1   5196    25   19   Reeves 14
03/02/96    Swindon Town        A     1-2   8242    25   20   Delap 83
10/02/96    BRENTFORD           H     2-1   5143    28   20   Currie 20 Reeves 61
17/02/96    Peterborough United A     1-6   4302    28   20   Reeves 60
20/02/96    SWANSEA CITY        H     3-0   4645    31   19   Peacock 29 Bennett 37 
                                                              Aspinall 86
24/02/96    OXFORD UNITED       H     1-2   5525    31   20   Robinson 67
02/03/96    STOCKPORT COUNTY    H     0-1   4849    31   22   -
09/03/96    York City           A     1-1   3965    32   22   Currie 9
16/03/96    SHREWSBURY TOWN     H     1-1   3760    33   22   Currie 1
19/03/96    Brentford           A     1-1   3104    34   22   Robinson 31
23/03/96    Blackpool           A     1-3   8144    34   22   Reeves 2
26/03/96    ROTHERHAM UNITED    H     2-0   4054    37   21   Bennett 1 Hayward 29
30/03/96    Notts County        A     1-3   4515    37   21   Aspinall 48
02/04/96    CREWE ALEXANDRA     H     1-0   4698    40   21   Conway 84
06/04/96    AFC BOURNEMOUTH     H     4-0   5401    43   21   Currie 49 Hayward 56 Delap 84
                                                              Bennett 90
08/04/96    Bradford City       A     1-3   6156    43   21   Hayward 78
13/04/96    WREXHAM             H     1-2   7317    43   21   Thomas 78
20/04/96    Brighton            A     0-1   6131    43   22   -
23/04/96    YORK CITY           H     2-0   4813    46   21   Walling 29 Reeves 42
27/04/96    Wycombe Wanderers   A     0-4   3964    46   21   -
04/05/96    BRISTOL CITY        H     2-1   5935    49   20   Conway 10 Hayward (pen) 27


COCA COLA CUP
Date        Opponents            Venue   Res    Att    Scorers
15/08/95    Hull City (R1,1L)      A     2-1   2779    Walling 72 Aspinall 78
22/08/95    HULL CITY (R1,2L)      H     2-4   4250    Reeves 65,90

AUTO WINDSCREENS SHIELD
Date        Opponents            Venue   Res    Att    Scorers
17/10/95    Bradford City (R1)     A     1-1   1287    Thomas 60
07/11/95    DONCASTER ROVERS (R1)  H     1-1   4421    Currie 90
28/11/95    Wrexham (R2)           A     2-1   2522    Bennett 21 Aspinall 72
06/01/96    BURNLEY (R3)           H     5-0   5169    Edmondson 12,14 Reeves 30,49,88
30/01/96    CHESTERFIELD (R4)      H     1-0   5511    Hayward 3
05/03/96    Rotherham United (NF)  A     0-2   6858    -
12/03/96    ROTHERHAM UNITED (NF)  H     0-2   6692    -

FA CHALLENGE CUP
Date        Opponents            Venue   Res    Att    Scorers
11/11/95    PRESTON NORTH END (R1) H     1-2   7046    Reeves 2

HOME LEAGUE ATTENDANCE
Avg   High  Low  Total Matches
5704  8003 3760 131198      23

PLAYER RANKINGS
(Min 10 apps)
                   Avg  Pts  Apps Man of Match
Paul Murray       7.00  245  30+5   8
Gary Bennett      6.90  214  31     4
Tony Elliott      6.88  110  16     2
Rod Thomas        6.81  293  34+9   4
Steve Hayward     6.80  313  44+2  10
David Currie      6.77  352  50+2   8
Jamie Robinson    6.69  174  21+5   1
David Reeves      6.64  352  53     3
Richard Prokas    6.63  179  24+3   1
Darren Edmondson  6.62  311  45+2   1
Tony Caig         6.62  265  40     1
Warren Aspinall   6.62  331  44+6   5
Rory Delap        6.61  152   8+15
Tony Gallimore    6.57  302  46     3
Neil Moore        6.47   97  15     1
Dean Walling      6.26  332  53     2
Jeff Thorpe       6.24  237  19+19
Paul Conway       6.21  174  14+14
Lee Peacock       6.18  173  13+15  1


(Under 10 apps)
Allan Smart       7.25   29   3+1
Derek Mountfield  7.00    7   1
Danny Donachie    7.00    7   0+1
Tony Philliskirk  6.67   20   3
Wayne Dowell      6.43   45   2+5
Clive Allen       6.00   18   3
Gareth McAlindon  6.00   18   0+3
Tony Hopper       6.00   36   2+4
Brian Atkinson    5.67   17   3
Joe Joyce         5.00    5   1


GOALSCORERS
Name                Lge CCola AWS FAC Total
David Reeves         13   2   3   1      19
David Currie          9   0   1   0      10
Warren Aspinall       6   1   1   0       8
Gary Bennett          5   0   1   0       6
Steve Hayward         4   0   1   0       5
Darren Edmondson      1   0   2   0       3
Rory Delap            3   0   0   0       3
Dean Walling          2   1   0   0       3
Paul Conway           3   0   0   0       3
Tony Gallimore        2   0   0   0       2
Lee Peacock           2   0   0   0       2
Jamie Robinson        2   0   0   0       2
Rod Thomas            1   0   1   0       2
Jeff Thorpe           1   0   0   0       1
Tony Philliskirk      1   0   0   0       1
Paul Murray           1   0   0   0       1
Own goals             1   0   0   0       1
TOTALS               57   4  10   1      72