Cheltenham Town 2 Carlisle United 0: A poor first-half display cost Carlisle United as they fell to their third straight League Two defeat, losing 2-0 at Cheltenham.

Gavin Reilly headed home on 15 minutes tonight to put the Robins in front and Luke Varney doubled the hosts' lead shortly before half-time to cap a bleak first 45 minutes from Steven Pressley's side.

Robins forward Reilly, on loan from Bristol Rovers, was picked out at the back post to power home a Jake Doyle-Hayes cross after United had been outdone by a short corner routine. The opener came after Reilly had earlier tested Adam Collin.

Carlisle actually had a relatively positive opening 10 minutes but that soon fizzled out and, after Cheltenham went in front, they applied further pressure, Charlie Raglan hitting the post as United again failed to defend a set-piece.

Byron Webster intercepted a dangerous Sean Long cross as Ryan Broom looked to pounce, before Varney had a goal chalked off for offside.

United briefly emerged with shots from Stefan Scougall and Nathan Thomas but they were largely being overrun and outplayed, and Cheltenham then scored a second.

It came despite big appeals for handball as Varney controlled the ball over the top. The officials allowed play to go on and the striker slotted home.

After the restart, it was the hosts who, once again, started the brighter. They bundled the ball home on the 50th minute, but the goal was disallowed for a foul on Collin.

Five minutes later, as United attempted to build some pressure, McKirdy forced a fine save out of home keeper Scott Flinders after a corner, before Thomas wasted another promising opportunity soon after.

But, with Carlisle struggling to find a breakthrough, things went from bad to worse when midfielder Jack Bridge came off at the end as he appeared to struggle with a knock.

After their opening-day win over Crawley, United have suffered league losses to Swindon, Mansfield and Cheltenham, in between a Carabao Cup victory over Barnsley last week.

Boss Pressley had kept faith with the same XI at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium after Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to Mansfield.

That meant another start in attack for Ryan Loft, as new signing Elias Sorensen again had to be content with a place on the bench.

Jack Iredale was handed his second league start at left-back, with Jon Mellish among an unchanged substitutes' line-up.

Cheltenham manager Michael Duff made one change, as Chris Clements returned to replace Max Sheaf.

Cheltenham: Flinders, Long, Raglan, Greaves, Tozer, Debayo (Hussey 71), Doyle-Hayes, Clements, Broom, Reilly (Lloyd 77), Varney (Campbell 85). Unused subs: Lovett, Brennan, Bowry, Thomas.

United: Collin, Elliott, Iredale, Webster, Knight-Percival, Jones, Bridge (Sagaf 88), Scougall, McKirdy (Hope 71), Thomas, Loft (Olomola 46) Unused subs: Gray, Mellish, Branthwaite, Sorensen.

Ref: Will Finnie.

Crowd: 2,634 (207 Carlisle fans).