Knight: Crucial Carlisle trip will be easier on eye than Barnet

Pompey defender Christian Burgess battles for the ball with Barnet's Simeon Akinola Picture: Jordan Cross

There’s no dressing up the fact it wasn’t easy on the eye at The Hive on Saturday.

But I’m optimistic we’re going to see a very different affair at Carlisle this weekend.

It’s a huge trip to Brunton Park, and I can see it being an open game with two teams going out there to win.

It proved to be a pretty frustrating day all round in north London, though.

I managed to pick up an ear infection which stopped me doing my radio work.

That did mean I was able to sit and really watch the game, though, and I did that with a certain Andy Awford.

Awfs was there doing some scouting work for his current club Luton, who’ve still got to play Barnet.

What he got to see was a game short on chances and quality.

It was a scrappy, horrible game but we didn’t get bullied this time around.

Admittedly, it took a moment of brilliance from Conor Chaplin to rescue the point for us.

The fact that was our only shot on target and came in the 89th minute was disappointing.

Having said that, Barnet didn’t really threaten either and I can only remember David Forde really having one save to make.

I thought Christian Burgess had a good game at the back.

He came through a little bit of a sticky opening to do a good job on John Akinde. It’s not easy keeping the big man quiet, but Burge managed to do that.

The surface was clearly a problem, but we didn’t really have the attacking threat needed and Eoin Doyle was starved of service.

Still, it’s a huge game on Saturday we’ve got to look forward to now.

The draw means we stay unbeaten, but I keep coming back to the fact that we need to win four or five on the bounce.

If we end up drawing a game like Saturday, we need to follow it up with a couple of wins before we drop any points again. It has to be a run along those kind of lines if we are to get into the automatic promotion picture.

Our allocation of tickets has been sold out again and a good following will be making the long trip north.

The fans hung in there on Saturday, and they may have to be patient again against Keith Curle’s side.

I know the manager appreciates the backing we have - hopefully the lads give them something to cheer about this weekend.