United went close moments later when Kevan Hurst was just unable to reach a Richard Offiong cross at the back-post, then shortly afterwards Offiong touched a Robson cross narrowly wide. Things looking good for Southampton in the 16th minute when set-piece expert Rickie Lambert lined up a free-kick 25 yards out, fortunately for Carlisle though he blazed his shot way over the top.
Lambert then turning provider with 22 minutes gone as he flicked the ball on into the path of Adam Lallana, the Saints frontman however only able to slam a strike into the side-netting at Pidgeley's near-post. United then having their own effort on goal as livewire midfielder Tom Taiwo had a shot blocked, Hurst moments later missing out on a Joe Anyinsah ball forward.
The visitors won 16 corners throughout the game and it was at one just after the half-hour mark when Jospeh Mills swung the ball in, Lallana knocked it on and Pidgeley appeared to get a firm hand to push away Hammond's close-range header, in one of a few bizarre decisions on the afternoon though referee Graham Salisbury only awarded a goal-kick.
Southampton were seeing plenty of the ball in a match where possession was often rapid fire punted from one end to the other and in the 39th minute a combination of Robson and the near post was required to clear away a Neal Trotman header from a Mills corner in. Mills then going close himself sixty seconds later when, on the back of a Morgan Schneiderlin pass, he shot weakly beyond Pidgeley only to see Ian Harte easily clear the ball away from danger.
Pidgeley was able to get his hand involved after 43 minutes though when he tipped a Lambert header over the top, then Carlisle had their own effort cleared off the line a minute into injury time. Harte, from a Hurst corner, seeing his header well hoofed away by defender Dan Harding with glovesman Kelvin Davis well beaten in the Southampton goal.
Things were a little tighter after the interval as the quality on show got even lower, Harding doing well early on to chest a Robson cross down into the hands of Davis. Pidgeley a few minutes later then watching a Radhi Jaidi header, following yet another corner for the visitors, fly over the top of his crossbar as the Saints looked to up the pressure once more.
Lambert then headed a Dean Hammond cross into an empty Waterworks End just before the midway point in the half, the visitors then missing a great chance to take the lead in the 67th minute. Lambert holding the ball up well before feeding it on to Jacob Mellis, the Chelsea-loanee though wasting the opportunity as he sliced his shot into the side-netting from inside the right of the United box.
That missed chance was to cost Southampton dear too as Carlisle took the lead only two minutes later. Taiwo's initial shot from the edge of box being deflected here, there and everywhere before falling to the right boot of Dobie 12 yards out in fromt of an empty net, Dobie therefore left with the simple task of stroking the ball home to send 6,100 of the 7,000 strong crowd into raptures.
The Saints then going close to an equaliser after 78 minutes when Lallana's cross in from the right saw a dipping Lambert header expertly tipped over by a rapidly backtracking Pidgeley. Robson though couldn't have gone closer to making it 2-0 to the home side with 85 minutes on the clock when he made a barnstorming run down the left only to see his eventual 18-yard drive flash across goal and inches wide of the far-post.
And then came the big moment of controversy four and a half minutes into stoppage time when referee Salisbury awarded an extremely weak free-kick for a "foul" by Dobie on substitute Lee Holmes on the left wing. Schneiderlin's ball in going straight through the gloves of Pidgeley, in his only mistake of an otherwise faultless display, with Jaidi then able to nod the ball into the net from close range at the back-stick to signal Southampton celebrations and break Carlisle hearts.