Carlisle United stayed deep in relegation trouble after a 3-1 home defeat to promotion chasing Oxford United.
It gets no easier as on Tuesday night they travel to Barnsley who are one of Oxford’s rivals in the battle for elevation to the Championship.
Although Carlisle started brightly enough there was no doubting the difference in class by the end of the game although the home side did score the last goal to give brief hope over the last 20 minutes or so.
But it ended in a third defeat in the last four matches and the Blues have only won once in their last 12 fixtures.
United had done well enough early on without being able to seriously test the visitors’ defence but five minutes before the interval Oxford made the breakthrough.
Mark Harris was able to fire home after reaching an Elliott Moore header from Cameron Brannagan’s corner with a deflection helping his cause.
Within minutes of the restart it was Harris again who added the Oxford second goal after United were caught out down the middle feeling that they should have had an offside flag. Harris was able to go on and round debutant keeper Harry Lewis.
The points were heading south after a third goal in the 68th minute when Tyler Goodrham cut inside and rounded-off a class move by firing into the bottom corner.
Alfie McCalmont gave Carlisle some hope three minutes later when he capitalised on some great work from new signing Luke Armstrong in keeping the ball alive.
But it didn’t prove the catalyst for a late push to salvage something from the game as Oxford finished deserving winners.
