Swindon Town were made to pay from a pair of poorly defended corners as they fell to a third home defeat 2-0 against Carlisle United.

The disruption of a change of officials led to a slow opening 45 that Carlisle took the lead in courtesy of a header from Sam Lavelle.

With Swindon struggling to find a way beyond to grab an equaliser, Luke Armstrong turned home another corner to give Carlisle their second win of the season.

Swindon have won just one of their four home games to start the season and they have now won one of their last six against Carlisle.

Although he was never going to give away his plans before the match, Mark Kennedy stuck to the wisdom of never changing a winning team and kept the same 11 that had dispatched with Newport County during the first 45 minutes last week.

Mike Williamson taking his first Carlisle game just two days after being appointed brought some uncertainty to proceedings, which was seen by his immediate move away from a 433 to his preferred 343. The Blues were using his methodical build-up but not without some hitches as within ten minutes they were caught out three times.

Kabongo Tshimanga was a man with a point to prove after joining Swindon and nearly followed up his first EFL goal last weekend early on. A ball into the channel saw him race in behind, manoeuvre himself away from the defender and get a shot off that was well saved by Harry Lewis.

Carlisle were still breaking in their new style and Ben Barclay got a bit excited in the 14th minute as he tried a trivela back to Lewis that went badly wrong. The ball was running behind and the ‘keeper used his hand to prevent it, giving Town an indirect free kick on the edge of the six-yard box.

If anything, the chance was a bit too close as Jeff King rolled it to George Cox to strike but Lewis was able to dart out and make a block for the visitors to survive.

If an indirect free kick wasn’t strange enough, after 16 minutes, the assistant referee on the far side suffered an injury that caused him to be replaced by the fourth official, leading to an eight-minute stoppage before play could continue.

The long disruption did not help either side to find much flow. Swindon kept looking to get the strikers in down the side in transition without much success and the aggression of Lewis in goal meant their crossing had to be spot on to have much effect.

It was a set piece that sent the goalkeeper scrambling as Will Wright curled a free kick from 25 yards over the wall and curved away from the bottom corner at the last second.

King’s blocked shot from a Cox low cross was as close as they came but Swindon were belted up in the driver’s seat. Carlisle were struggling to escape as Swindon sized them up and searched for the gaps.

But all of that turned as Jordan Jones began to drop deeper and find the space to get Carlisle up the pitch as the half went on.

A second successive corner was swung into the middle and met by Sam Lavelle at the near post to pound home with a header.

During the ten minutes of stoppage time during the opening period, Carlisle could have had another from a corner as Jordan Jones picked out Jon Mellish at the far post who somehow couldn’t divert his header on target.

Carlisle were still having their teething problems early in the second half as they were first caught out in the left-back area to nearly allow Paul Glatzel in behind and then Lewis had a pass charged down that Danny Butterworth tried to make the most of but couldn’t quite find anyone after making a run down the side.

The visitor’s deep defending was generally holding firm as Swindon couldn’t find the right key for the lock, but it was the self-inflicted moments on the ball that were creating avenues that Town were always a fraction away from being able to exploit.

With Swindon unable to make the most of their position, Carlisle again stung them from a corner. A scramble in the middle after the ball was swung in from the left fell to Armstrong and from close range, despite Jack Bycroft getting a hand to it, the ball trickled over the line.

Sean McGurk and Aaron Drinan were introduced after the second to try and inject some new energy, but The Blues refused to go on their long coach journey back ruing a late collapse. Butterworth’s effort from range rattled the post and there was a key block at the near post from Gavin Kilkenny to leave Town frustrated.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Sobowale, Wright, Cotterill, Glatzel, King, Kilkenny, Freckleton, Tshimanga, Butterworth, Cox.

STFC substitutes: Barden, Ofoborh, McGurk, Cain, Drinan, Minturn, Mitchell.

CUFC starting XI: Lewis, Davies, Harper, Lavelle, Wyke, Jones, Biggins, McGeouch, Mellish, Barclay, Armstrong.

CUFC substitutes: Breeze, Vela, Neal, Ellis, Sadi, Dudik, O’Donoghue.

Attendance: 6,878 (483 away).