Things didn't look like improving either when we went behind after only 9 minutes. A free kick was hit hard into the box from our left, and Richie Foran lost Ben Petty to hammer the ball home.
Carlisle kept possession for the rest of the half and suffered little threat from City.
In the second half the Tigers had more of the ball but were unable to do anything with it.
In the 62nd minute a triple substitution was made. Lawrie Dudfield, Julian Johnsson and Mark Greaves replaced the unimpressive Rodney Rowe, Theo Whitmore and Richard Sneekes.
With the midfield creativity lost City seemed clueless how to get past a strong Carlisle side.
Gary Alexander and Rob Matthews both missed the target with reasonable chances, while David Beresford saw several shots from outside the area hit the back of the South Stand.
As the final whistle went, City can have no complaints over the scoreline as they only had themselves to blame. Carlisle were nothing special but guarded their goal well when neccesary.
Starting line-up (4-4-2): Musselwhite; Petty, Whittle, Wicks, Edwards; Matthews, Sneekes (Johnsson), Whitmore (Greaves), Beresford; Alexander, Rowe (Dudfield).
Un-used subs: Glennon, Williams.