United secured a fourth win on the bounce with a 2-1 victory against Altrincham at the J. Davidson Stadium.
A Lewis Banks own goal and a Regan Linney thunderbolt, either side of a Jimmy Knowles penalty, gave the Blues the three points, despite being down to ten men for the majority of the second half after Cameron Harper was given a red card.
Mark Hughes made one change from the Blues' 2-0 home win against Aldershot Town, with Georgie Kelly coming in to lead the attack instead of Luke Armstrong, who dropped out due to illness.
Kelly nearly made an instant impact when his looping header drifted wide of Luke Hutchinson’s goal from a corner.
United raced into the lead in the ninth minute through Banks' own goal, who, under pressure from Kelly, nodded Stephen Wearne’s cross from the left past Hutchinson’s despairing dive.
Kelly thought he had scored a second when he headed Harper’s free kick into the back of the net but was adjudged to have been offside.
The Robins looked for an instant response, forcing Gabe Breeze into a save from close range with Archie Davies diving in the way of the rebound to make a goal-saving block.
Phil Parkinson’s side were awarded a penalty in the 17th minute when referee Richie Watkins deemed Kelly’s aerial challenge on Banks to be foul play.
Knowles managed to squeeze his penalty under Breeze into the left corner to even the scoreline.
The Blues regained the lead in the 36th minute through Linney, who glided past a couple of tackles and unleashed a stunning shot which flew into the top left corner.
Breeze had to be sharp off his line to deny Sam Reed with a lunging challenge after he had raced in on goal before Knowles swept his resulting effort wide despite the United goal being vacant.
HALF-TIME: Altrincham 1–2 Carlisle United
The hosts started the second half with renewed intent, with Davies throwing himself in front of Tom Crawford’s goal-bound effort.
United went down to ten men in the 54th minute when Harper was given a second yellow card by referee Watkins for a foul on Kahrel Reddin.
Keaton Ward will feel that he should have restored parity in the 74th minute when he could only direct his free header at Breeze.
Ward continued to cause the Blues problems and tested Breeze with a low effort at the near post.
The Greater Manchester outfit twice came close to an equaliser late on through Matty Kosylo, who diverted consecutive crosses wide of Breeze's goal.
Crawford saw red for the hosts in the 95th minute with a forceful tackle on Terell Thomas as the United defender brought the ball out from the back.
FULL-TIME: Altrincham 1–2 Carlisle United
Teams:
Altrincham: Hutchinson, Banks, Reed, Osborne, Crankshaw (Gale 67), Marriott (Ward 67), Knowles (Kosylo 79), Reddin, Crawford, Golden, Sassy
Not used: Baines, Cooper, Fallon, Kirk
Carlisle United: Breeze, Davies (Feeney 84), Thomas, Mugabi, Harper, Gilliead, Ellis, Wearne (Macadam 72), Luamba (Jones 80), Linney (Ajiboye 80), Kelly
Not used: Lewis, Whelan, Grant
Goals:
Altrincham – (Knowles 19)
Carlisle United – (Banks OG 9) (Linney 36)
Yellow cards:
Altrincham – (Osborne 24) (Crawford 48, 95)
Carlisle United – (Harper 16, 54) (Kelly 19) (Thomas 20) (Ellis 86)
Red cards:
Altrincham – (Crawford 95)
Carlisle United – (Harper 54)
Match officials:
Referee – Richie Watkins
Assistant Referee 1 – Alan Hull
Assistant Referee 2 – Francis Sibley
Fourth Official – Matthew Jones
Attendance:
3332 (1056 away)
