Carlisle United 2 Grimsby Town 0: Given the conditions, there could not have been two more appropriate goalscorers for Carlisle: one who was feeling the chill of terrace criticism earlier in the campaign, and another who was in managerial Siberia until very recently.

Hallam Hope and Mark Ellis topped off United's widespread efforts to defeat the Beast from the East, and also reminded us that nothing can be taken for granted even when the climate seems set.

Nobody expected March to begin with a national white-out and volunteers traipsing into Brunton Park to shovel mounds of snow from the stands and pitch. Few, when Hope's substitution was being cheered by some back in September, and Ellis then seemed set for a January departure, will have predicted this outcome too, in a play-off push which also looked miles off at the turn of the year.

Credit to all, then, for plugging away and earning a happier outcome. Top of the list for praise today should be the folk who dropped everything to help United in their bid to get this game on. Next in line: David Mitchell and his groundstaff, who co-ordinated a plan that worked where most other League Two clubs failed.

Club staff who left their desks to pick up shovels, likewise. All it needed after this, come 3pm, was for Keith Curle and his players to do their bit. Flopping against visitors without a win in 14 games would have been a particularly cold outcome to a positive few days.

Thankfully, it went the intended way, and given that only one other match in their division was possible on Saturday this turned into a significant weekend for Carlisle and their belated challenge. The gap to the top seven is now down to three points and while most others have games in hand, a trip to Exeter next weekend is still a great opportunity for United to show they can mix it with the contenders.

This latest win was a fourth in succession against opposition down on their luck. Results-wise, Carlisle have been impeccable against those at the foot of their division. In Devon, in five days' time, we will next learn how far this new form and momentum can really take them.

Before then, we can certainly say their season is alive and swinging for several more weeks. The latest three points were set up early when Hope scored his 11th of term, and then banked when Ellis headed his first Blues goal for more than two years.

In between, it was seldom silky or attractive, but right now, who cares? "It wasn't a performance everyone will remember, but it was a result that, as a community, we can be very proud of," said Curle, whose first press conference answer was a two minute, 44 second monologue on the unity that had resulted in the match going ahead at all.

Once fans had walked through the slush and taken their places, things began in the manner of a team finding things going their way. Only three minutes had passed when Ashley Nadesan, recalled by Curle, broke onside down the right to receive Mike Jones' pass. When he cut in, and unselfishly fed Richie Bennett, Hope was alive to James McKeown's save and rifled it into the net.

Already it was another tick for those who believe Hope, coming in from the left, has found his best position. The strike settled United, but not for too long, since there were then some awkward moments on an understandably streaky pitch, Luke Summerfield steadily organising Grimsby's response with his midfield passing.

Up front, Jamille Matt appeared an awkward, physical customer for Ellis, Clint Hill and United's other defenders to handle. In the 10th minute it needed Tom Parkes' alertness to deny the big striker.

Grimsby's 143 fans, who had braved the journey after a dire week of snow, were vocal. "We only sing when we're fishing," they chorused, as, with new manager Michael Jolley in the stand, caretaker Paul Wilkinson's team kept casting for a bite. They settled into a period of controlled possession but, in attack, lacked teeth. Diallang Jayiesimi offered pace on the left, and a couple of corners examined United, but serious chances were scarce.

Carlisle were themselves struggling to make the ball stick, failing to locate Nadesan's running off the last defender and a host of long deliveries appearing rather aimless, but a couple of more measured forays did promise better, when Parkes launched Bennett onto the attack, and then when Jamie Devitt came infield from the right to hit a fierce 25-yarder that cannoned off the bar.

United had gone for industry rather than Devitt's craft in the centre of midfield, but the Irishman's delivery from set-pieces almost opened further doors. When Hill climbed to keep one corner alive, Bennett failed to steer his header past McKeown.

Grimsby had to weather the loss of left-back Paul Dixon before the break, while some of referee Scott Oldham's decisions gave everyone a few headscratchers, and the sense United had a few higher gears to find remained in the second half, when the visitors applied a persistent spell of pressure, keeping the Blues locked in their territory.

This was the time when Carlisle's day could have turned bitter. Hill, though, made one of several strong interceptions, and then Jack Bonham excelled, saving from Harry Cardwell at close-range after a free-kick broke for the forward.

"A Championship save," reckoned Curle, and there was more rearguard work to be done as things went on, Summerfield having a couple of attempts from distance and Grimsby applying some pace down both sides. It was certainly a relief, then, when Carlisle finally put some space between them.

The second goal was, perhaps, what happens to you when you are a struggling team failing to make your better moments count. Ellis had not scored for United since the FA Cup against Yeovil at Blackpool's Bloomfield Road a few weeks after the Storm Desmond floods, yet he enjoyed ample space here to meet Devitt's inswinging corner and swell the net at the Warwick Road End.

It was a rewarding moment for a player who had appeared permanently out of Curle's favour until this recent, solid run. and although Grimsby kept trying from there, the game was killed at that point, James Berrett unable to damage his former club from the centre or the right.

One burst from sub Charles Vernam ought to have brought one back, but Matt couldn't dig out the shot, and then United twice hit the visitors on the break: once when Kris Twardek was tackled by Nathan Clarke when flying up the pitch, and then when the Canadian linked with another sub, John O'Sullivan, who went down in the box after colliding with Summerfield.

With Danny Grainger an unused sub, and Devitt having been replaced, Hope seized the ball, but McKeown kept out his penalty. It was about the only blot on the day, and one Carlisle could cope with by then: comfortably ahead, their many helpers sufficiently rewarded, and a season warming up, just at the right time.

United: Bonham, Liddle, Parkes, Ellis, Hill, Joyce, Jones, Devitt 7 (Campbell-Ryce 80), Hope, Bennett (O'Sullivan 73), Nadesan (Twardek 68). Not used: Gray, Grainger, Lambe, Stockton.

Goals: Hope 3, Ellis 72

Booked: Hill

Grimsby Town: McKeown, Dixon (Hall-Johnson 45), Mills, Clarke, Collins, Berrett (Hooper 81), Summerfield, Jaiyesimi, Rose, Cardwell (Vernam 66), Matt. Not used: Killip, Osborne, Suliman, Dembele.

Booked: Dixon, Berrett

Ref: Scott Oldham

Crowd: 4,151 (143 Grimsby fans)