VALLEY Parade is going to seem a bit quiet and empty for Carlisle.

With Cumbria in tier two, they were lucky enough to be able to open the gates to some fans for Wednesday’s win over Salford.

An audience of 2,000 socially-distanced supporters were allowed in to Brunton Park to witness a sixth victory in seven home games.

Goals from Lewis Alessandra and Rhys Bennett lifted Chris Beech’s team into the play-off spots – like Cheltenham earlier this week, the opposition will head for West Yorkshire in high spirits.

The doors will once more remain closed to the football public as they take on a City side wounded by four defeats on the bounce.

But the surroundings will not appear too strange for the sizeable contingent of former Bantams in the Carlisle ranks.

Danny Devine and Joe Riley, who headed north in the summer after being released by Stuart McCall, were among five ex-City players to feature in midweek.

Omari Patrick and one-time loanee Callum Guy both started - although Guy came off injured at the three-quarter stage. His place was taken by Dean Furman, another midfielder very familiar to Stuart McCall.

It was a first league start for Devine and only his eighth appearance in total since making the move. But his tidy performance did enough to suggest that he will stay in for a fixture that will have been ringed on his calendar.

Devine’s team-mate Jon Mellish, who played alongside him in a more attacking midfield role, will be the one that City need to keep the closest tabs on. The 23-year-old is enjoying a remarkable scoring run since Beech converted him from a centre half in February.

Mellish has already got a dozen goals to his name – although he has now gone three league games without adding to that prolific tally.

Carlisle are not so strong on their travels with eight points from eight outings.