Scunthorpe United 0 Carlisle United 1: Sub Ryan Loft scored in the second half to give Carlisle United their first away league win since January.

The Leicester loan man struck his first senior goal on the hour mark with the Blues' first shot of the game against League Two's bottom side.

That proved enough to end a four-game winless run for Steven Pressley's side who moved up to 18th in the table.

Loft's goal was the highlight of a largely poor game after he replaced full debutant Elias Sorensen at the break against the Iron.

After challenging in the air for the ball, he took advantage of some poor defending by running onto Harry McKirdy's pass and driving it low past keeper Rory Watson.

The big striker made a difference for Carlisle in general with his aerial presence after a sterile first half.

Scunthorpe had the better of a poor opening 45 minutes with ex-Blues loan man Regan Slater involved in the best of the home side's play.

In an attacking midfield role, Slater went close with a diving header on 31 minutes from a cross from fellow former Blues man Alex Gilliead.

Other Iron openings saw Yann Songo'o have an effort cleared off the line by Nathan Thomas, and Abo Eisa and George Miller head off target.

A rare Carlisle foray saw Jack Iredale's cross picked up by Sorensen in the box but he couldn't fashion a shooting chance.

Before the break Nathaniel Knight-Percival made a crucial block to deny Eisa from close range, before Slater beat Knight-Percival and shot wide from 20 yards.

Carlisle improved after the interval with a Thomas cross causing problems for Scunthorpe.

Rory McArdle put a free header from a corner over the Blues’ bar before Loft broke the deadlock.

McKirdy was denied by a block as Carlisle looked for a second, with Thomas denied a penalty when he went down under keeper Watson's challenge.

United had to defend a series of home corners and the closest they came was when Matty Lund attacked a Slater delivery, but Collin sharply tipped over.

Carlisle collected five bookings but kept their goal intact to record their first clean sheet of the league campaign as well as three points.

There was no place in the Scunthorpe squad for Jamie Proctor despite yesterday's loan move from Rotherham, with the striker's registration having not gone through in time to be included.

Scunthorpe: Watson, Clarke, Brown, McArdle, Songo'o, Butler (McGahey 62), Lund, Slater (McAtee 85), Gilliead (Colclough 72), Miller, Eisa. Not used: Eastwood, Van Veen, O'Malley, Dawson.

United: Collin, Elliott, Iredale, Webster, Knight-Percival, Jones, Carroll (Sagaf 56), Bridge, McKirdy (Hope 80), Sorensen (Loft 46), Thomas. Not used: Gray, Mellish, Charters, Branthwaite.

Ref: Sam Purkiss

Crowd: 3,359 (344 Carlisle fans)