Even the sending off of Mark Summerbell, with seventeen minutes remaining, failed to dampen their spirit as they put one over on former manager Ian Atkins Oxford United side.

The Cumbrians had been comfortable throughout until Summerbell’s exit for a second yellow card but the nerves started to jangle a little as Oxford piled the pressure on in the closing stages.

“The one nil win was brilliant, the clean sheet was brilliant but the three points was the best” beamed a jubilant Roddy Collins after the game. “The performance was excellent. The last couple of games we have been playing well in possession but didn’t feel that we were working particularly hard when we didn’t have the ball. So we had a chat this week and the players agreed that when we didn’t have possession we had to work harder to get it back. Oxford are a good side but we didn’t allow them to pass the ball around. We got amongst them from the word go and got our rewards from the game.

“The most important thing at the minute is that we have a team of young players who have the belief they can beat anyone. I am looking forward to training this week, we’ll hopefully add to this performance and it could be the start of a run.”

Oxford almost grabbed an eighth minute lead when Dave Savage found space on the right side of the box to fire a shot which struck the outside of Matty Glennon’s near post.

Carlisle’s first serious attempt on goal took seventeen minutes to materialise but Oxford keeper Andy Woodman did well to turn a Leon Osman shot round the post.

Chances were proving few and far between but Osman squared a 29th minute ball into space only for Mark Magennis to shoot straight at Woodman. But the breakthrough came two minutes later.

Brian Shelley’s cross-field ball found Brendan McGill on the left and the Carlisle wide man cut inside Scott McNiven to rifle a shot into the bottom corner.

Glennon then had to turn a Gavin Gordon shot for a corner and breathed a sigh of relief moments later as Gordon got on the end of a McNiven corner to send a free header over the bar.

On 39 minutes a John Sutton cross fell for Craig Farrell but Andy Crosby made a saving block tackle to thwart the danger.

Five minutes into the second half a surging run from Farrell saw the Oxford defence open up before him but a weak finish spoilt a good opening.

McGill was proving a constant handful for the Oxford defence and he almost extended the lead on the hour latching onto an Osman through ball but Woodman did well to turn the shot away.

Farrell then showed great touch to control Des Byrne’s deep cross before curling a shot inches over the bar.

With Carlisle down to ten men Oxford used their one man advantage to finally create some sustained pressure. Basham went clear from a long Woodman clearance only to shoot wide and Chris Hackett had a shot beaten away by Glennon with Dave Waterman’s follow up shot from the loose ball going narrowly wide.

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