Carlisle United 1 Swindon Town 2: The contest between "quality" and "quantity" at Carlisle United is already over. Quantity loses, hands down. "We're thin on the ground already," admitted Keith Curle after Tom Parkes limped out of this first-day defeat.

The quality side of the Blues was not enough to overcome Swindon either, and somehow United are hobbling towards their second game of 2017/18 with a battle to fill their bench.

The gamble Curle has taken, with a fairly restricted budget, is to collect fewer players at higher individual cost. The argument goes that signing more, inferior bodies with the same cash would have lowered the general standard, and left United no further on.

Which is all fine, until injuries strike. And so, after losing four players in pre-season, fate saw Parkes hurt his ankle after little more than an hour of the new campaign. If he faces any kind of lay-off then there are no cabs left on the rank as far as Carlisle's back four goes.

At Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup they are likely to have the following as fit defenders: Gary Liddle, Danny Grainger, Mark Ellis and Tom Miller. Reggie Lambe ended the game at right-back and one wonders if he could be pressed into emergency service from the start sometime soon.

Otherwise, nada. "We have to also look at the younger players we've got in the building," Curle added. "Some of the youth team players. When one door closes, another opens."

That was an ultra-optimistic reading of a worrying situation and given what has been said about United's transfer funds - that they have practically spent up - the prospect of reinforcements is limited.

In this context Carlisle could also have done without one of their best players donating a goal to their guests on August's first weekend. Mike Jones, who stumbled on the ball for Swindon's winner, is good enough for this to be put down to rust.

His high standards will surely return soon. In this instance, though, it contributed to a sense of United being on the back foot in several ways. They were good in spells against Swindon but not potent enough to enjoy a better start to their fourth straight term in League Two.

Even the collectors' item of a Luke Joyce goal at the Warwick Road End couldn't propel them back to a point.

Carlisle had grievances over both Swindon goals, feeling the first may have been offside (video footage suggested it was fair) and the second the result of a punch by Paul Mullin. The latter man, too, ought to have walked for a dive which ref Andy Haines failed to meet with a second yellow card.

But them's the breaks. Carlisle did not impose enough of their better side on this game and having lasted until November before tasting defeat last season, it has come right at the beginning this time.

Sadly, the habit of conceding error-prone goals has survived the summer and needs to be eradicated pronto. Saturday saw heavy rain and bright sun at times and that is a decent way of describing United's display.

They started tentatively, then rumbled into life before conceding Luke Norris' opener. They leaked again for Mullin's second but Richie Bennett's arrival from the bench brought a glimmer of light.

Hopefully Curle can pinpoint the good aspects of what unfolded and eliminate the rest. The system with which United had set about Blackburn eight days earlier - Hallam Hope up top, with three attacking midfielders in behind - was sterile at times here. Hope was often isolated as the lone striker, especially in the first half.

It began with a let-off, as Jack Bonham's first touch was heavy and almost allowed Norris an early nibble after just 50 seconds. The keeper got rid in the nick of time but Swindon spent the next 10 minutes pushing and probing. Mullin's movement up front engaged Parkes and Gary Liddle, and the former Morecambe man tested United's resolve with a header and then a 20-yard shot.

Swindon did their best to stretch Carlisle in these spells, fizzing the ball purposefully from back to front. Bonham had to save from Norris and James Dunne, and one wondered when United would give their opponents similar troubles.

It took about 20 minutes for them to find some tempo, and then they played a better part in an end-to-end spell. Jones, first, won good midfield ball to allow Danny Grainger and Nicky Adams to give Lambe a half-chance. Adams then arrived onto a Liddle cross and drew a spectacular save from Lawrence Vigouroux.

Carlisle were at last more vigorous. Parkes failed to convert a Joyce drive, then Hope fed Jamie Devitt on the run. The Irishman cut in from the left and swept his shot past Swindon's keeper - flush against the right-hand post.

United further examined Vigouroux with a flurry of corners, while Parkes was appearing a strong presence on his debut. It is along time, though, since Carlisle looked bankers for a clean-sheet in competitive football and in the 32nd minute, Devitt was penalised against Dunne and Chris Hussey curled a free-kick deep into the box, where Norris had somehow escaped Parkes to beat Bonham with a free header.

It was a defensive malfunction in keeping with last season. It also cost Norris, who was hurt in the act and had to go off. The half then ended in moderate fashion, Bonham making one leaping save and the ball too often bypassing Hope.

Calamity then returned two minutes after the restart. Jones was facing his own goal and only under token pressure when his control failed him. John Goddard took the gift greedily, and when Bonham could only parry his shot, Mullin was at the rebound first.

Some of United's players were adamant that ball found the net via the Swindon No7's fist. Haines did not see it that way, and nor did he feel a challenge on Hope by Olly Lancashire was as worthy of a penalty as many in the ground did.

At least the Blues managed to strike back early this time, as Grainger's cross was laid off by Tom Miller and Joyce clipped it home. One wondered, as United jogged back to the centre, whether another grandstand comeback was on the cards, three months after the madness of the Exeter play-off home leg.

Not this time. Carlisle spent quality time in Swindon's half but without cracking them again. Devitt's inventive use of the ball was a highlight of their play but they also required a little fortune to stay in the game, for on 57 minutes Bonham stayed at home as Harry Smith ran through, Liddle racing back to dispossess the sub.

Then the keeper came out to intercept a misjudged Liddle header, was beaten to it by Mullin, and the reprieve came from the offside flag as Smith stroked it home.

Carlisle could have taken advantage in the final half-hour, especially when Bennett arrived from the bench to give their wide players something to aim at. The ex-Barrow man reached a pair of Devitt crosses but failed to steer his headers past Vigouroux. Much later, he climbed for an Adams centre and this time sent his finish wide.

In between, Mullin, already booked, went past Grainger and then to earth, but found Haines in friendly mood. Parkes' ankle had defeated him by this stage, as Ellis came on. There were a few more errors in midfield, a few more skirmishes at Swindon's end, an Adams thump that tested Vigouroux and a late shot from sub Shaun Miller that brought the final handball appeal from Cumbrian throats.

But, like the others, it went unheeded, and so now Curle must tot up his numbers and hope for better at Fleetwood, where Kyle Dempsey lies in wait. "We'll be down to the bare bones, but we'll be competitive," Carlisle's manager said - a stark position to be in with the season two days old.