Carlisle United 1 Wycombe Wanderers 0: A few more days like this and the asterisk accompanying Carlisle United's unbeaten start can be rubbed out for good. This was one important step away from the nagging feeling that the Blues were becoming draw specialists who had no idea how to win.

They did here. This third 1-0 triumph of 2016/17 involved a physically stubborn mentality against a tough visiting team, and a successful period of "game-management", as Keith Curle likes to call it, towards the end.

There is, of course, no such thing as the comprehensive Carlisle victory. Instead our nerves are given a good working over until the very end. This time, though, even a narrow margin felt wide enough as the normally anxious closing minutes passed by.

This is because United were being streetwise in the right places, occupying Wycombe deep in their own territory, and drawing maximum value out of Shaun Miller's goal in the process.

It was a pleasing opposite to the way they had lost control of a two-goal advantage at Blackpool the previous weekend. There was a clean-sheet for a defence that had faltered by the seaside. There was an example of Curle's substitutions helping convert the victory, instead of putting it in peril.

There was also, in Miller's case, a timely first league goal since his summer move from Morecambe: a smooth finish in the 57th minute after he broke Wycombe's attempted offside line, having passed up a similarly good chance earlier in the game.

"In the first half he said he didn’t see the guy [defender Aaron Pierre] when he went through," said Nicky Adams of his matchwinning team-mate. "But second time I knew there would be no mistake.

"He's an unbelievable finisher. I'm buzzing for him."

Adams is on a remarkable sequence of his own that far surpasses Carlisle's nine-game unbeaten start (now the second best in the club's Football League history). The former Northampton winger has still not suffered a league defeat in 2016. If both runs are extended at Doncaster tomorrow night the Blues can certainly claim to be among the serious contenders for the play-offs, or higher.

At the moment they are sixth and rising, after that run of frustrating draws. "The next thing will be [for people] to look back and ask when we last won consecutive games," Curle said. "We're not always going to get our own way, but we're fighting for everything we get."

The answer to the manager's question, in league terms, is last November. So their latest attempt at stringing victories together can now be made after a gristly but open contest which produced a high level of penalty-box incident.

Not too much of it, thankfully, involved Adebayo Akinfenwa, whose profile exceeded his impact on this occasion. Wycombe's highly recognisable striker posed for selfies with a few young members of the Paddock before Carlisle set about trying to elude the rest of Gareth Ainsworth's injury-hit team.

With Jason Kennedy tucking in from the right wing, and Luke Joyce recalled in the centre, things began tightly, but with spaces appearing down the flanks as the midfield skirmishes developed.

Miller, also recalled, was alert to possibilities down the middle, and in the ninth minute latched onto a long Macaulay Gillesphey ball, but failed to notice Pierre at his shoulder as Wycombe survived.

Centre-half Pierre was involved in plenty more last-ditch defending as United tried to force their way through. He intercepted a Tom Miller gallop and later a Kennedy dash, while at the other end Mike Jones repelled a pair of shots and Michael Harriman bent a shot wide of the far post.

Kennedy was at the heart of several more attempts, while Charlie Wyke was also denied by impressive keeper Jamal Blackman after sneaking the other side of Pierre. United were positive in their intent but not yet ruthless with their finishing - something almost punished when Matt Bloomfield swivelled onto a shot that hit the post, Mark Gillespie then denying the offside Paul Hayes with a brilliant save.

This, then, was a familiar position for Carlisle - encouraged by their work, but concerned that it would not deliver what they needed. Thankfully, an anxious start to the second half was quickly overcome and United forced themselves back onto Wycombe with just the right amount of purpose.

Michael Raynes was close with a header across goal, then Gillesphey tested Blackman after a solo run from defence. Then, the goal, as Wyke was tripped on the left but Danny Grainger sent the ball forward regardless and Miller, timing his run perfectly, accepted the pass and clipped it home.

This is what the striker was doing often for Morecambe last season, and hopefully it will herald a flow of goals for his new club. Here he was soon replaced by Jabo Ibehre as Curle asked his big substitute to menace Ainsworth's defenders some more. Reggie Lambe was also on for Joyce, who performed vigorously in midfield but was left precarious by a booking early in the second half.

Ainsworth made his own changes that shifted Wycombe's approach from physical to nimble, with Paris Cowan-Hall a floating threat and Scott Kashket also replacing the becalmed "Beast" Akinfenwa.

The greatest scare this gave Carlisle was when Grainger appeared to be fouled but ref Seb Stockbridge allowed play to continue, Kashket attacking space behind the Blues captain and curling a shot against the outside of the post.

This controversial passage saw tempers raised by the dugouts, with visiting keeper coach (and substitute) Barry Richardson trading views with Blues fitness guru Lee Fearn. Ainsworth, too, was animated, especially when Dominic Gape found a hole in the box but hit the turf too cheaply for Stockbridge's liking.

Either side of these flashpoints, Wyke went off injured, Ibehre clipped a cross narrowly wide, and United's three subs (Jamie Devitt included) linked attractively to put Lambe through, Blackman saving his shot.

Tom Miller also tested the keeper with a late header, while there was plenty of time-killing in the corners, and useful pressing by Ibehre and his colleagues, to limit what Wycombe could do with their remaining minutes.

A Cowan-Hall curler, off-target, was as near as they got before injury-time was up and Curle faced the Paddock with a double fist-pump: a little relieved, perhaps, that his unbeaten team were no longer drawing themselves to a standstill.