Sheffield Wednesday travel north to Carlisle on Tuesday evening as they look to keep up the pressure on the top two in League One. Gary Madine, the Owls top scorer, came through the ranks at Brunton Parkand he will no doubt be keen to impress at the club where he made his professional breakthrough.
Wednesday will travel without current first choice left-back Reda Johnson. The Benin international who has been in good form of late picked up his fifth booking of the season in the home victory overColchesteron Saturday and will now serve a suspension. Julian Bennett is likely to deputise for Johnson.
Few other changes are expected as the Owls look to extend their unbeaten run though Jermaine Johnson may be pushing for a start having been used as a half-time substitute in the last two games.
Carlisle will also have to make a change defensively as Matt Robson will serve a suspension following his dismissal in the weekend defeat at league leaders Charlton. Former Leeds defender Lubo Michalik stepped in for Robson on Saturday and is in line to start against the Owls.
Ex-Wednesday defender Frank Simek will not feature due to injury and former Owls midfielder Graham Kavanagh, who is a player-coach at Brunton Park, has not featured yet this season. Jon Paul McGovern, a key part of Wednesday’s promotion winning team of 2004/05 is likely to start for the home side.
The Owls will be looking to extend their unbeaten run which currently stands at 6 games. Their away record has improved recently but with 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats on the road so far they will need to improve on this further if they are to maintain a promotion challenge.
Carlisle suffered their first defeat in 5 games at the weekend, losing 4-0 at Charlton. Their home form has been patchy to date having lost to Notts County, Hartlepool and MK Dons already at Brunton Park this season.
Wednesday lost at Carlisle 3-1 in the Football League Trophy last November but that was their only defeat in their last five visits and they recorded a 1-0 there in the league in February thanks to a Tommy Miller goal.