Carlisle United 1 Northampton Town 4: The good news is that Carlisle United don't have to face the most dominant team in England again this season, and 11 sides still do. Otherwise, you needed forensics to uncover the "positives" from this punishing defeat at the hands of runaway Northampton Town.
Actually, there's one other plus. The DVD of this fixture can be the most useful training tool Keith Curle has in his quest to put United where the Cobblers are: at the top, comfortably better than everybody else in League Two.
On a chilly, revealing day, a small disclosure at full-time told the tale. Asked why Bastien Hery had been deployed in an unfamiliar right-wing role, Curle explained that he wanted the French midfielder to perform as Ricky Holmes does for Chris Wilder's fluent visitors.
That meant coming in off the line, sneaking into pockets of space and feeding United's frontmen. The experiment was such a success that it was abandoned at half-time, while in the 90th minute the classy Holmes was being applauded off by both sets of fans.
Holmes, whose pass for Northampton's fourth goal was precision itself, is among many reasons the Cobblers are giving everyone a shoeing. Another is the ponytailed John-Joe O'Toole, who was the strongest player on the pitch, scoring two goals and taking firm command of the midfield ground and most other places he visited.
Against this authority, and Northampton's natural momentum after 17 wins from 21, Carlisle were short. It is true that they created enough chances to have made a better contest of it, but the reason Wilder's side are where they are is that they make the key moments count.
Any time United's back door looked ajar, they flung it open. This included the key spell of Saturday's game, when the Blues had pulled one back through Hallam Hope and briefly looked like making the leaders wobble. Twenty-eight minutes after Hope had given hope, Carlisle were 4-1 down.
"I've got to be honest, I thought the goals were soft from our point of view," said Curle. "Northampton have got good players, playing with confidence and were against a defence that looked fragile. That's something I'm not used to."
It is fair comment to say this United team are seldom buried. And there is no point in being too scathing after defeat to easily the finest team the fourth tier offers. But Carlisle's faults must still be inspected ruthlessly: that static defending, the uneasy first-half shape, the anxiety about their play when the game's tone needed to be set.
The lack of a player to run or pass Northampton out of their comfort zone. It was not a play-off performance by any chalk: the kind of feisty display Curle had insisted was possible. Overthrowing Wilder's leaders may have been a tall order but could United not have made them a little less comfortable? Or was tomorrow's game, against struggling Dagenham, always the more likely opportunity for Carlisle to display their top-seven potential?
We shall find out. In this instance the Blues started quite brightly but were unable to sustain themselves once Northampton settled. The return of Danny Grainger (and David Atkinson) was an obvious boost and the captain's persistence in the third minute gave Derek Asamoah the chance to burrow into the visiting box, shooting wide as Jabo Ibehre screamed for a pass.
Later, Grainger crossed menacingly into the six-yard box, where Michael Raynes failed to convert, and after a further spell Ibehre ricocheted a clearance into the net, denied by an offside flag.
This, though, proved an illusion of Carlisle enterprise, for Northampton were a capable and fast counter-attacking unit, almost scoring early through James Collins and Lee Martin, and then doing so as Martin swung a cross from the left and John Marquis buried a simple header.
The Cobblers' number 27 had eased himself into gaping space - the first of those "soft" goals that had Curle cursing. Jason Kennedy nearly found a quick response for Carlisle but from here there was a caution and uncertainty about their forward play, Hery a poor fit on the right and United's industrious midfielders outmanoeuvred by Northampton's passing and constant, busy movement.
Holmes had a couple of sighters from 25 yards and Ibehre passed a Grainger cross into the side-netting for the Blues. Northampton then ambushed Luke Joyce despite a stadium-wide cry of "man on" and advanced again. A few minutes later they were allowed a second goal, as David Buchanan's arrival on the edge of the box after a cleared free-kick seemed to spook all in blue, and his low cross was turned, via a deflection, past Mark Gillespie by O'Toole.
Carlisle brushed the side-netting again, through Asamoah, but too much of their play was forced and functional, Ibehre covering ground across the line to try and build a platform without enough presence in support. At the break Curle hooked Hery and Joyce, sent on Hope and Alex McQueen, brought Atkinson into defensive midfield and asked Carlisle to be a little sharper on the uptake.
Instantly there was a boost as, 57 seconds after the restart, Hope raced from the left to the back post, to volley home a firm Ibehre cross. Suitably buoyed, the sub then barrelled past a defender and almost set up Asamoah, with Atkinson attempting to feed the raiding Hope further from the base of midfield.
Was this to be another dramatic Carlisle comeback? No, because they were not potent enough when given the chance, and then Northampton nailed them again. Their best opportunity of startling the visitors came when Kennedy blocked a Martin shot and Alex Gilliead swept forward, feeding Asamoah against some briefly outnumbered pink shirts.
But the attack petered out clumsily, Asamoah's final work unconvincing, a backheel to Mark Ellis which was met by a saving tackle. The crowd had been heartened in this phase but bitterness returned when Holmes crossed from the right, and O'Toole ghosted behind the centre-halves to help it home.
That was that, just 59 minutes gone. "We are the Cobblers, we're top of the league," was the refrain from the away seats, as Martin shot wide from 25 yards, Gillespie denied Marquis and then, after a Raynes miss for Carlisle, the fourth arrived: smashed across Gillespie by Collins, who met Holmes' threaded pass on the run.
At this stark moment, a sixth of the game still to go, several fans in the Main Stand got up and left. They missed a Kennedy crossbar shot that needed the help of a Russian linesman, some enigmatic refereeing from David Coote, a short burst of booing at full-time, and then some applause that Northampton certainly deserved.
The absurdity of League Two is that United could recover from this dismantling tomorrow night and be level with the play-off places. Their prospects certainly should not be written off on the basis of defeat to the Cobblers, for that measurement would make everyone else a no-hoper too.
They looked, though, like a team with distance still to travel, and the next 13 games - against thankfully less formidable foes - are going to tell us exactly how far.
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