Yeovil Town 0 Carlisle Utd 2: Keith Curle tried to lighten his team's mood in preparing for this outing in Somerset by playing them some comedy clips. And thankfully, for the first time since mid-February, dark humour wasn't needed to lift the Carlisle supporters' mood on their long way home.

After seven accident-prone games, the Blues no longer resembled Del Boy toppling through the Nag's Head bar (one of the classic scenes Curle showed his troops). They replaced slapstick with substance, and moved back into the play-off zone in the process.

When things click as they did at times at Huish Park it makes you wonder why it took so long. Seven hundred and one minutes had passed, in total, before their last goal was followed by their next.

John O'Sullivan, the man who ended the drought, was particularly pleased to have scored with his "mallet head", as he tweeted on the journey back to Cumbria. Reggie Lambe then hammered home a second amid his own best United performance for some weeks, on the left of midfield.

Yes, Yeovil were a tame opponent, and this was by no means a silky spectacle. But this has been such an anxious spell for United and their followers that all that matters is they toughed their way out of it on this sunny and rainy afternoon.

They were worthy winners, certainly, and towards the end even found some of the momentum that had seemed lost since the wins and goals dried up six weeks ago. One hopes this can be converted into a timely run of better form with six games to go.

"A clean sheet and a win away from home is what we needed," Curle said. "I always had a feeling our first victory was going to be a scruffy one." United were also aided by Ben Whitfield's red card early in the second half, but not always have they thrived against 10 men before.

Here they did, creating further chances late in the game, Lambe, George Waring and Jamie Devitt one decisive finish from making the scoreline even healthier. But no matter. United can enjoy the fact they inched back above the dotted line at the bottom of the play-off places, after so many weeks spent falling.

It is no use if the downward motion resumes against Notts County next weekend. But help is also returning, with Jason Kennedy and Jabo Ibehre unused substitutes here. Samir Nabi made a useful debut from the bench, while O'Sullivan's emergence as a goalscorer is welcome.

Fans following events remotely may have wondered if a late April Fool's joke was being played on them when news of United scoring was relayed. When O'Sullivan's header hit the net one feared a flag or a whistle might rule it out, so miserable have their fortunes been lately.

But no: this time it was for real, and it was Yeovil's turn to chew over a poor day. Darren Way's team, who feared a "very direct" Carlisle display, are in rather aimless nick, one win from 12, and one could sense an uncertainty in their play and their crowd as a scrappy opening spell unfolded.

There were sloppy passes and misdirected shots as these two form-less teams fumbled for early shape. Francois Zoko, the former Blues favourite, showed some cute control but lacked the dynamism of old. United's extra man in midfield made that part of the pitch tighter, and gave them a foot in the game's early pattern.

There were uncertain ventures both ways, Tom Eaves beating Danny Grainger but seeing his cross cut out, Liam Shephard also heading down Mark Gillespie's throat, but then United struck, Lambe floating the ball into the box after a short free-kick, where O'Sullivan enjoyed decent space to rise and head past Artur Krysiak.

The sense of relief was apparent in O'Sullivan's celebration and also some of United's play from here. It was not always fluent but there was at least some new purpose in their pressing game, while a couple of cross-field balls from Lambe and Grainger were right on the money. Jamie Proctor's battles with Bevis Mugabi unsettled the hosts further, likewise Trevor Kettle's refereeing.

The man in the middle may be one of the first to have been booed even before kick-off. A few Yeovil fans with long memories had treated the official to that reception. As things went on he did not give the hosts all the decisions they wanted, big striker Eaves particularly frustrated, and there was more evidence of things going United's way when Gillespie scuffed a low clearance straight between two hooped shirts and to a team-mate.

The only real snag in the first half was a booking for Luke Joyce which left United's midfield battler on a tightrope. Yeovil also ended the half on the offensive, but Carlisle survived their closest shave, when Whitfield's inswinging free-kick was glanced a fraction wide by Eaves.

The Glovers' fightback hopes then took a double blow at the start of the second 45. United, led by Michael Raynes, were enraged at Whitfield as his challenge at an aerial ball left Tom Miller on the floor.

Kettle steamed through the melee with his red card, and two minutes later United left Yeovil with another bruise, as Raynes' tidy touch gave Lambe a golden chance, the Bermudan firing in off the post after Krysiak had saved his first attempt.

Remarkably this was Carlisle's first two-goal lead since Valentine's Day and, even more remarkably, you didn't feel they were going to squander it. As substitutions came, Yeovil nearly got one back when Brandon Goodship headed over the bar, after Tom James had kept in play a ball United were trying to put into touch as Raynes lay injured.

But otherwise the remaining chances were chiefly Carlisle's, and perhaps also in their confident end to the game you could see certain players stepping further from the shadow of the injured Nicky Adams' and taking extra responsibility.

Lambe fired over as Waring nodded down a Devitt cross, Waring blew a great opportunity from a Grainger corner, Lambe arrived again to shoot off-target, and a later flurry saw James Bailey drill a shot into Nabi's midsection and Devitt have a volley cleared off the line.

Nabi, on for O'Sullivan, was a welcome addition in these closing stages, the former West Brom man playing behind the tall Waring and showing neat footwork as he helped United defend from the front.

This pressure limited Yeovil's ability to spend any quality time in the Carlisle half. Zoko went close after one piece of ingenious skill, while Gillespie punched away a Ryan Dickson free-kick, but their other offerings were so modest that, three minutes from time, an elderly home fan got up from his seat and made an exasperated hand gesture towards the pitch before heading out of the ground.

These were the sort of scenes we were getting grimly used to at Brunton Park, so it was extremely refreshing to see United's opponents in a state of torment instead.

There were bear-hugs and laughs from the men in red as they warmed down in the sun, and suddenly the idea of the Blues holding onto their promotion dream felt less of a laughing matter than it had seven days before.