ONE defeat in eight outings and a place on the brink of the play-offs has lifted spirits at Brunton Park, but Carlisle were made to work hard in a tight game at Exeter for the right to come away with a share of the spoils.

And it could have been even better but for an instinctive point-blank save from former-Blue Lenny Pidgeley who came off the bench to thwart Lee Miller with a two-handed parry from a powerful downward header.

“It maybe wasn’t a classic game, but we have battled hard and we have done the ugly things, and we have shown that we are willing to stick together as a group,” manager Greg Abbott said. “If we’re going to be critical, it’s that we didn’t use the ball as well in the final third as we have been.

“It’s the kind of game I think we would have lost last season, but we’re here now and we could be talking about nicking a point with the header at the end.

“It hasn’t happened for us, but we leave here with plenty of positives to pick over.”

A game of much endeavour but few goalmouth chances saw Carlisle shade the first half with Matt Robson going closest to opening the scoring with a deflected shot which spun just past the upright.

“I thought it was in if I’m honest, ” the left back explained. “I just put my boot through it and went for it, and the keeper was beaten. It went wide though, and I thought we created enough to have got the three points from the game.