Carlisle United simply have to avoid Swindon, Grimsby repeat so early in Mike Williamson tenure: View | OneFootball

The Williamson era at Carlisle United got off to a strong start with a win away at the Robins.

Carlisle United's win over Swindon Town in their first game of the Mike Williamson era wasn't a classic performance by one of his teams, but it may be a historic one if it leads to many good things down the road.

Paul Simpson's first game back in charge, a 1-0 win over Leyton Orient, as a footballing spectacle wasn't particularly eye-catching, much like the victory in Wiltshire last weekend.

It was a match, however, that lit the blue touch paper and started a more than memorable spell in the club's history. The hope will be that this bedrock performance by the Blues is what can prop this team up to have plenty of success with the new head coach at the helm.

"That gives me so much to work with," Williamson said on his team's performance on Saturday, to the News & Star. "That's why it's exciting. There’s loads to improve on, but the foundation is there."

The former MK Dons boss has a chance to back up his first win in Carlisle colours this weekend against Grimsby Town. Six points from his first two games would be an ideal start. That said, winning back-to-back games against these two sides hasn't always been a good thing.

Carlisle's last back-to-back league wins

If Williamson makes it two from two in his first game at Brunton Park, he will have achieved something that hasn't been done by the Cumbrian outfit for over 18 months: win successive league matches.

The only time since March 2023 that you could argue they won two league fixtures in a row was the 2023 play-offs, in which they beat Bradford City in the second leg of the semi-final and Stockport County in the final.

As much as every United fan loved those two games, they didn't happen in the regular season, so they don't really count towards the back-to-back league wins we are on about.

Coincidentally, the last time Carlisle won two successive matches in the regular season, they beat last weekend's opponents, Swindon, and this weekend's opposition, Grimsby. It happened in reverse order last time, but the point still stands.

Of course, it would be great for Williamson and his side to emulate this and get the double-win monkey off their back - more for the players than for him - but they can't afford a repeat of the form that succeeded it.

Mike Williamson can't afford a repeat of previous Swindon & Grimsby aftermath

Picking up three points versus the two aforementioned Towns in March 2023, which extended their winning run at the time to four on the bounce, meant that United were sat second in the League Two table with 11 games to play.

With three teams going up automatically, and the run of form they were on, supporters felt confident that an automatic promotion could be on for them.

What came next was two wins in their remaining fixtures, 12 points total (just over a point per game) and they dropped down to fifth in the table.

Without that end-of-season drop-off, Carlisle wouldn't have experienced that magical play-off run. However, across the next year-and-a-half, their form never really picked up again.

The results from the Swindon win onwards was what ultimately led to Simpson's sacking.

Now, Williamson is by no means under threat of losing his job. The club were persistent with Simpson, despite poor results, and they're likely to be the same with their new boss.

However, if the ex-Gateshead man does pick up his first victory at Brunton Park against Grimsby on Saturday, he can't afford to have a run of form like the one that followed Carlisle's last successive wins over the Robins and the Mariners.