I had the pleasure of reporting on last year's emotional contest at Edgar Street in the second leg of Aldershot's semi-final date with the Bulls. The Shots turned up as firm underdogs in my opinion but walked away leaving Graham Turner's side heartbroken.
The home support turned to the sending off of defender Andy Tretton as key to their side's demise, but in truth the Shots simply had more about them on the day — and their nerves held together, just about, as the contest reached its climax.
Though they are behind at this time, Carlisle will surely be more pumped up tomorrow night with an expected record-crowd getting behind their team. But at the end of the day, as Terry Brown correctly puts it, it is "11 versus 11" on the pitch. That is where the real battle takes place and from Monday's evidence, there was little to be afraid of.
In truth, for 80 minutes in the first leg, the visitors to the Recreation Ground were dreadful while Aldershot were good value for the win, though still nowhere near to being at their best.
Brown, remaining focussed on his own side's intentions, said: "I didn't think Carlisle played well, but we are getting stronger as a side all the time.
"The tie is set up perfectly for us and we are in a much stronger position than we were last year when we went to Edgar Street to face Hereford.
"At that time, they were head and shoulders above any other side in the league. They played exciting football and ripped through sides and for the two years that I have been managing in the Conference, no team has come close to them.
"But as good as they were, we went there with a game plan and we beat them. I expect Carlisle to throw everything at us in the opening 20 minutes but if we can weather that I feel very confident about our chances. We always like to get the pace of the game anyway."
Brown has no real injury concerns and was due to set off for Cumbria on Thursday.
For Carlisle, Danny Livesey will slot back into the centre of defence after completing a two-game suspension, while David Beharall could move to right-back to replace Paul Arnison from Monday's XI.
Jon Challinor could replace Dwain Clarke in a more solid looking 4-4-2 formation come Friday night, but Brown simply said: “All of my squad will have a role to play.”
He added: “It's a fantastic position to be in. I would have settled for this before kick-off on Monday but we won't be booking any hotel reservations in Stoke just yet.
“Carlisle will have to expose themselves at the back and push players forward into midfield, where we are very strong. I think it will be one of the toughest games of the year and the most nervous too. But that is why me and Paul (Simpson) are both in this game — to enjoy big occasions like this.
“It was a massive clean sheet in the first leg and we played well but they could have taken something out of the game had they grabbed their chances at the end. But they didn't and that is why we are in the position we are in.
“Carlisle have handled the pressure well all year. They have taken four points off us this season so they will go in quite confident that they can turn this around.
“But it isn't my job to worry about that, it's my job to worry about my own players and focus on grabbing a goal up there, which I know we are more than capable of doing."
With thanks to Alex Narey at the Aldershot News.