when fit again, carlisle found it difficult to break into the first team as his place in the centre of defence had been taken by matthew kilgallon. his return came on 28 december 2004, when he was brought on as an 80th-minute substitute for frazer richardson in the 2–1 win against plymouth argyle. he started the next league match, against coventry city, but was shown a red card late on in the 2–1 victory at highfield road. after his return from suspension, he was dropped from the team, making just a handful of substitute appearances in the following two months. carlisle regained his place in the team towards the end of the season, starting in each of the final four matches of the campaign. he left leeds in the summer of 2005, having spent one season at the club, playing 38 matches and scoring four times for the team as they reached the third round of the league cup and attained a 14th-placed finish in the league. at the end of the 2004–05 campaign it was revealed that two clubs, watford and stoke city, were both competing to sign carlisle. leeds united accepted bids of £100,000 from both clubs but carlisle chose to sign for watford, and he agreed a three-year contract with the club on 5 august 2005. the deal taking him to vicarage road included a clause in his contract stipulating that he would not be played against leeds in the following season.