Hot shot striker Karl Hawley grabbed an 88th minute winner for his 10th goal of the season and clinched victory for Carlisle in a drab encounter against 10-man Dagenham & Redbridge.
Hawley broke the deadlock when Brendan McGill kept the ball in play out wide, and with the Dagenham defence calling for a throw in, McGill crossed to substitute Kevin Henderson.
The veteran hitman knocked down for Hawley to fire low into the net from 10 yards.
A poor game saw few chances for either side with referee Colin Harwood at the centre of attention in the first half.
Ashley Vickers' crude penalty box hack on Andy Preece was left unpunished despite uproar from the home players and crowd.
Chris Lumsdon was unlucky to see his 30-yard free-kick saved and Craig Mackail-Smith wasted the Daggers' best chance when his tame shot was saved by Matty Glennon when clean through.
On the stroke of half time, Hawley nearly opened the scoring when he fired the ball across goal only for Daggers defender Lee Goodwin to back heal away for a corner.
With 10 minutes to play Dagenham's Jake Leberl received his marching orders for a second bookable offence before Hawley struck to kill off the game.