RETURNING to Brunton Park is always a special occasion for Keith Curle.

But with both current club Latics and former club Carlisle United both desperate for points the game has taken on greater significance.

Just when Oldham were looking to be building a bit of momentum with a run of four clean sheets from five - the most recent coming in their first home league win of the season last weekend - they suffered an untimely setback with a midweek defeat to Walsall at Boundary Park.

Carlisle, meanwhile, have not recorded a League Two win since September 4, and a run of defeats prompted the sacking of Chris Beech earlier this month.

A 2-2 draw for the Cumbrians at Newport County on Tuesday could have been the green shoots of a recovery under caretaker boss Gavin Skelton.

But despite his affection for his old club, Curle is keen for Latics to nip that in the bud as they bid to bounce back themselves.

"I'm always disappointed when I concede a goal but we go again," said the Latics chief.

"There are lessons to be learned, and if we lose we've got to learn.

"The players have taken that on board. We'll look back at the goals and I'm sure they'll see the same things that I am doing."

Curle will welcome captain Carl Piergianni back after his midweek suspension.

"We know what Pidge is about, he's got a presence and a personality," said Curle, who one a personal note is looking forward to going back to Brunton Park, where he first worked with Latics striker Hallam Hope.

"I still speak to a lot of people at Carlisle. I had four very, very good years there and I enjoyed it," he said.

"When I took over the football club they'd just been relegated, four points adrift and everything was doom and gloom. Stayed up the first year, comfortably, and then had three top 10 finishes and a play-off semi-final finish as well, and with that there was a lot of work done behind the scenes by a lot of people who probably didn't get the credit but it was very much appreciated by myself.

"It was a club that had to unite. There were lots of distractions regarding the ownership of the football club, the running of the football club, the investment in the football club that was something that had to get monitored."

It sounds familiar, and makes you wonder why he would put himself through it all again somewhere else.

But there were plenty of highlights there for Curle too, not least cup clashes with Liverpool, in 2015, and Everton, in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2016.

"We drew with Liverpool away and took over 5,000 supporters," he recalled of the League Cup tie which Carlisle lost on penalties after holding them to a 1-1 draw.

"We had a full house, 18-odd thousand, against Everton in the FA Cup, so the support's there and it grew and it grew, and I've got to say I left the place in a lot better shape than it was when I took over."