Carlisle United and Barrow meet for the first time in a Cumbrian derby in front of a crowd on Saturday.
Last season’s clashes, on Barrow’s return to the Football League, were governed by COVID restrictions with no fans allowed.
When the two teams last met in the 1963/64 season it was not a county derby with Carlisle in Cumberland and Barrow in north Lancashire.
The new county of Cumbria was formed in 1974 when Barrow was incorporated into a revamped Cumberland and Westmorland.
Barrow had lost their Fourth Division place in 1972 and famously produced the greatest comeback in the Football League’s history by regaining their place in the fourth tier (now League Two in) 2020 – after 48 years of relative obscurity.
So ahead of the historic first fans’ derby both managers have much to ponder, particularly Carlisle boss Keith Millen.
He said: “What we’ve got now is competition for places, and if you haven’t got that you’ve got no chance. It’s giving me headaches, but they’re nice headaches.
“I want people showing me that they want to play for the club and that they want to be in the team for Saturday. That can only make us better.
“I can only pick 11 players but at the moment I know that the subs, if they come on, will have an impact as well.
“Any manager would tell you that you need that in your group. You want them all to be staking their claim.
“Hopefully we have no new injuries, a few tired legs, but there should be a full squad for Saturday’s game.
“I’ve got some tough decisions. It’s a great game I think, because it’ll be a good atmosphere, good crowd, a bit of a local derby, even though it’s an hour-and-a-half away or whatever it is, but it will be a good test for us.”
Opposite number Mark Cooper made ten changes in mid-week for the 1-0 Papa Joe’s Trophy win over Leicester City Under-23s.
But he will almost certainly make up to as many for the trip to Brunton Park as he reverts to most of the side who were on duty for the last game, then 4-0 FA Cup win at Banbury.
He said: “We are getting more players back from injury and some of them got good minutes on Tuesday against Leicester, which was the aim.
“But the big thing for me is we’ve kept two successive clean sheets after conceding some silly goals in previous games.
“Mind you Carlisle have had two wins as well, keeping clean sheets, so they will be in a better frame of mind for this one.
“We are looking forward to it. There should be a good atmosphere and it should be a good game.”
