The Cumbrians should have wrapped things up by half time, but some outstanding saves from Grecian’s keeper Kevin Miller, combined with some inept finishing resulted in another miserable away day.

And as if to add insult to injury Exeter scored their winning goal with their only attempt on target in the second half as Carlisle ran out of ideas.

Manager Roddy Collins was upset with the manner of the defeat and said: “I was disappointed the way that we conceded the goal. I thought it was very lackadaisical. We got a couple of good chances to score in the first half but it didn’t happen. I felt that if we got out of the ground nil all after missing chances, then that’s life but the way we defended the goal was an absolute joke. It was identical to the goal we conceded in defeat here last year and that really hurt me because we had talked about being solid at the back.

“Maybe it’s a wake up call for some of the lads because I didn’t feel we played well as a team and individually a couple of people weren’t at the races. It was just a bad day for us.”

The first chance of the game came on twelve minutes when Sean Devine broke clear only for Darren Kelly to get across to charge down the shot.

As Carlisle took control of the game Adam Rundle did well down the left and when Scott Hiley headed back across his own goal Brendan McGill volleyed a stinging shot only to be denied by Miller.

Jamie Burt then curled a shot over from the edge of the box before Mark Hudson should have scored on 24 minutes. The Middlesbrough loan signing did well to control a Des Byrne free kick, before attempting to lift the ball over Miller but the keeper did enough to deflect the ball with Kelly’s shot from the loose ball being deflected for a corner.

Miller saved brilliantly again from Craig Farrell with Peter Murphy crashing the loose ball wide and Farrell should have done better than volley over after controlling the ball well on his chest.

But the Grecians came back strongly late in the half. Matty Glennon did well to block the ball at the feet of Carl Pettefer after Scott Partridge’s cross had found him in space and from the loose ball Will McDonagh bravely saved Devine’s shot at the foot of the post.

Seven minutes into the second half a neat turn by Farrell put Burt clear but a hurried shot was screwed wide.

On the hour sixty seconds of mad defending presented Exeter with their winner. A long ball over the top caught out Brian Shelley and when Steve Flack’s well time run took him round Glennon it looked a formality to roll the ball into the empty net. But he contrived to pull it wide with Devine reacting quickest to crash a shot a against the post from a tight angle, the ball rebounding straight to a grateful Glennon. The Cumbrian’s quickly lost possession again to allow Devine to run clear on the left before crossing to the far post for Partridge to have the simplest of headers into an unguarded net.

Carlisle pushed forward in search of an equaliser but Russell shot weakly at Miller after Burt had put him clear and Burt then had a header saved from a Rundle cross.

In the dying seconds substitute Craig Russell had a great chance to level but Miller capped a fine afternoon turning his shot for a corner and then saving bravely at the feet of Hudson.