Tom Parkes scored against his former club to seal a narrow 1-0 win for Exeter at home to 10-man Carlisle at St James Park.

Both teams struggled to deal with a strong wind, and it took until the 22nd minute for the first real chance of the game.

Carlisle’s Joe Riley picked the ball up in midfield, advanced forward and saw his long-range effort well saved by Exeter’s on-loan Icelandic goalkeeper Jokull Andresson.

Exeter had their first attempt at goal when Archie Collins fired straight at Paul Farman after a good move down the left and Lewis Alessandra shot wide from close range as Carlisle looked the more likely to score.

Exeter broke the deadlock after 48 minutes when Nicky Law’s free-kick picked out Parkes and he sent a first-time volley past Farman and into the net from 15 yards.

Jon Mellish missed a glorious chance to equalise when he scuffed a shot straight at Andresson from eight yards and Carlisle were reduced to 10 men when Gime Toure headbutted Jake Taylor on the hour mark and was shown a straight red card.

Exeter dominated the rest of the game, but lacked composure and quality in the final third to win by a bigger score.