Jake Caprice’s first goal in 321 career appearances helped Exeter to a 2-1 win against struggling Carlisle at St James Park.

The full-back’s collector’s item gave the Grecians a 2-0 lead before the 10-man Cumbrians staged a spirited late fightback.

Carlisle looked the better of the two teams early on, but it was Exeter who created the first clear chance with Jevani Brown firing tamely at Mark Howard from 20 yards.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Jon Mellish was shown a straight red card for a poor tackle on Exeter midfielder Archie Collins.

Exeter applied all the pressure at the start of the second half and finally broke the deadlock on the hour when Jonathan Grounds’ low cross evaded everyone and crept in at the back post, with Sam Nombe claiming he got the final touch.

The home side were in complete control and made it 2-0 in the 80th minute when Brown ran through midfield and fed Caprice, whose left-footed shot from a narrow angle found a gap at the near post.

Carlisle pulled one back six minutes from time when Jordan Gibson finished from Brennan Dickinson’s sublime cross but they never looked like adding another.