Scunthorpe opened the match the brightest, capitalising on some nervous defending form the home side.
19-year-old forward Paul Hayes drilled a shot narrowly wide in the opening minutes, and was denied by a onrushing Glennon after being put through after nine minutes.
The first opportunity for the home side was put well wide by Foran, but they took the lead in the 14th minute from a corner kick.
Adam Rundle swung the ball into the box and former Cod'ead defender Paul Raven headed it on to Craig Farrell who in turn found Richie Foran who finished with a close-range header.
An outstretched Matty Glennon palmed a shot away from Ghandi two minutes afterwards, but when Paul Hayes was pulled down just outside the area Peter Beagrie fired in the equaliser.
Beags clipped in an unstoppable shot into Mattie Glennon's right-hand corner.
The Carlisle keeper may not have been able to keep out Beagrie's special, but he frustrated 17-goal top scorer Martin Carruthers and Hayes time after time as Scunthorpe pushed for a second.
Carlisle moved up a gear after the break, but never looked like seiously threatening Tommy Evans infront of the empty waterworks end.
Richie Foran ended Ghandi's game after putting the boot in on him in as the home side pushed for a goal, although Ghandi tried to play on he was quickly replaced by recent signing Bob Taylor.
At the same time Laws brought off Lee Ridley for Alex Calvo-Garcia, Wayne Graves - himself struggling with a knock picked up in the first half - dropped to right-back with Nate Stanton moving inside.
A foul on Hayes, this time by Raven, brought the free-kick which lead to the winning goal.
This time Beagrie played a quick square ball to Andy Dawson who found the net with a 20-yard left-foot shot.
United invited the home side onto them for the remaining 20 minutes, and at the end had a back line of ten players fighting off everything the home side could throw at them.
They never looked in any danger of conceding though, and the blow of the final whistle signalled that United had been moved upto fourth place in the table.
Carlisle meanwhile drop down to 23rd, and face yet another relegation battle - something they are well acustomed to.