Carlisle continued their promotion push with a comfortable 3-0 victory at hapless Gateshead.
Former Sunderland midfielder Elliot Embleton made a successful return to the north east with his first competitive goal for the club, robbing Ibrahim Bakare of possession and calmly beating goalkeeper Tiernan Brooks to give Mark Hughes’ team the lead in the 36th minute.
The visitors were awarded a penalty when Regan Linney was fouled and the forward got up to double the lead from the penalty spot with 19 minutes remaining.
Luke Armstrong’s 88th-minute goal completed the scoring as Gateshead, who have not won at home in the Enterprise National League for more than four months, slumped to a 10th successive defeat in all competitions.
