Carlisle United suffered their third defeat under Paul Simpson when Exeter City scored the only goal at Brunton Park a minute from the end.
The promotion-chasing Grecians have been going well but United, via their revival under Simpson, fancied their chances of obstructing their promotion charge.
It was not to be, however, and Exeter proved themselves a smart side who deserved to make the long journey home with the three points.
Exeter are now eight games unbeaten and have just one loss in 18 games, and fans have worked out they need 14 points from the final six games to guarantee going up.
For Carlisle, it’s three games without a win now, but the charge to safety had been accomplished in Simpson’s first seven fixtures and they are ten points clear of the three sides fighting to avoid accompanying Scunthorpe into the National League.
The Blues’ keeper Mark Howard was much more active than his opposite number and made a number of good saves and blocks throughout the 90 minutes.
Carlisle created few opportunities against a strong and capable Exeter side who look nailed on for one of the automatic promotion places.
The winning goal came in the 89th minute when Carlisle defended poorly at a deep corner. The ball was headed back into the six yard box where Padraig Amond had a relatively easy job in toe-ending it over the line.
