Carlisle United 1-0 Exeter City
LINE-UPS:
CARLISLE UNITED: Gillespie, Miller, Atkinson, Raynes (Archibald-Henville 44'), Grainger, Sweeney (Asamoah 74'), Joyce, Kennedy, Hery, Wyke (Rigg 86'), Gilliead.
SUBS: Hanford, Dicker, Osei, McQueen.
GOALS: Gilliead 79'
EXETER CITY: Olejnik, Ribeiro, Brown, Moore-Taylor, McAllister (Hoskins 82'), Davies, Butterfield, Holmes, Grant (Morrison 57'), Nicholls (Tillson 70'), Wheeler.
SUBS: Hamon, Jay, Watkins, Nichols.
GOALS:
Referee: Tony Harrington
Report
EXETER CITY went down in defeat at Brunton Park as Alex Gilliead struck Carlisle United's winning goal ten minutes from time.
The Grecians had three changes from the starting eleven that drew 3-3 with Stevenage a week earlier at St James Park, with Arron Davies and Danny Butterfield coming into the midfield and Alex Nicholls starting out wide.
An end-to-end first half saw Carlisle, mostly through nineteen-year-old Newcastle United loanee Alex Gilliead, cause the Grecians problems with a peppering of crosses into the box, but City handled the defensive side of their game well. Arron Davies and Alex Nicholls both brought saves out of home goalkeeper Mark Gillespie, but David Wheeler couldn't make the most of the opportunity provided by Troy Brown heading down Danny Butterfield's cross.
HALF-TIME: CARLISLE UNITED 0-0 EXETER CITY
Bobby Olejnik pulled off a great save from Luke Joyce ten minutes into the second period, but the story of the second half was Alex Gilliead, who caused the Grecians all sorts of problems along the right. After Jamie McAllister was booked for fouling the dangerous youngster, the Grecians' left side was attacked by the hosts, leading Paul Tisdale to withdraw Alex Nicholls for Jordan Tillson to increase the numbers at the back.
City only managed to handle the problem until there was ten minutes left. As Bastien Hery found substitute Derek Asamoah on the Carlisle right, he pulled back for Gilliead, who fired his side into the lead. Danny Butterfield was booked late-on for pulling down Gilliead, just as he was announced over the tannoy as the man of the match, in a symbol of his influence across the afternoon.
City did have one late chance to draw level, but they didn't take it - Will Hoskins found David Wheeler in the box, but he couldn't test home goalkeeper Mark Gillespie.
FULL-TIME: CARLISLE UNITED 1-0 EXETER CITY
Attendance: 4,021 (130 away)
Man of the Match: Christian Ribeiro