After a narrow relegation to the National League in 2025, Carlisle United are involved in a tough and exciting promotion fight to see who gets promoted to the footballing pyramid come late June.
Carlisle have won 27 games out of 44 so far and sit third in the division behind two rampant sides in York City and Rochdale, who both sit on over 100 points.
Fifteen points off the lead but still with a chance of going up, but could they really make their way back to EFL League Two?
Due to the way the National League is set up, only one team can win automatic promotion while places 2-7 would go into a playoff round.
Teams in second and third get a bye to the next round while 4-7 initiate the first round of the playoffs. Based on this, it means one of the centurions (York or Rochdale) will have to go through the playoffs.
The playoffs will be very difficult for Carlisle United as they have suffered defeat five times from the twelve occasions with the current top seven.
They can be argued to be slightly average with the Blues scoring the fourth most goals, and conceded the fifth least amount but in playoff football anything can happen.
Led by talisman Regan Linney with 18 goals and six assists, he would be looking to fire the fans of Brunton Park back to the league pyramid.
Defender Terell Thomas will become a free agent at the end of the season and would hope to send his team back to where they belong as one of his final acts, should his contract not be renewed.
Carlisle’s summer recruitment could come down to how the season ends, and supporters will be hoping for an automatic return to the EFL through the play-offs.
