Morecambe 0 Carlisle Utd 2: Here it is again, then - the Tainted Trophy. The Stockpiling Shield. The FansRIrrelevant Prize. The You-Didn’t-Want-It-But-You’re-Having-It-Anyway Cup.

Rejoice, rejoice.

The bad penny of English competitions, the B Team-infused Checkatrade Trophy, is back – and this time it’s personal. Not here, for Morecambe 0 Carlisle 2 was a deceptively normal-looking tie in what used to be a competition for the humble lower leagues alone.

But elsewhere, and at Brunton Park soon enough, it returns with bells on: another two years of an unpopular experiment that has passed through the system with dismal predictability.

It is the competition of our age, fuelled by money’s ability to win any argument. In a sane world, last season’s historically low crowds and general fan hostility should have finished it off. In the same way, a poll that delivered 98 per cent rejection of the concept ought to have taken things a certain way at club level.

But not in 2017: not with the doormat EFL, their risible chief executive and the faustian pact between the billionaires’ league and those who can barely afford to fix a hole in the roof of their stands.

The vote of clubs passed in the summer because more money was thrown at their feet. Not because anyone was inspired by rule tweaks, nudges to selection criteria, other superficial changes or the general appeal of the idea.

United were among the many voting in favour of the two-year extension to a scheme that will again use their own players as training cones for some of the big boys’ uncontrollably huge squads. This despite a landslide majority of their people urging them to say no to this sad, devaluing exercise.

As a result, they will follow this well-earned win at the Globe Arena, where Hallam Hope and Jason Kennedy scored, with a game against Leicester City’s Under-21s at Brunton Park, another fixture which some of their die-hards will not attend.

One hopes the cash has been worth it. One hopes it can buy what has been lost through enabling the hoarding culture at the top of the game. One hopes those supporters alienated by it all feel warmed by the extra dough falling into their clubs’ accounts while they make the hard choice not to watch.

The 353 United fans who did go to Morecambe last night should not, though, be pilloried. Those who will follow Carlisle to all corners no matter the circumstances, are people they cannot do without. It is those in suits, making the decisions that give these folk dilemmas, who deserve contempt.

Equally, it is the job of Keith Curle and his players to make the most of the competition regardless. Last night was particularly important in this sense, for United were three days on from a 4-1 defeat at Lincoln which had highlighted flaws and raised questions.

Something more substantial was needed, even as the shouts on the pitch echoed around the sparse stands. Carlisle’s team included debutants Shamal George and James Brown, with Luke Joyce and Shaun Miller recalled and Kennedy handed a welcome start. Suspension rules cooked up by this competition’s geniuses meant Tom Parkes could also start in defence despite Saturday’s red card; helpfully, he must sit out Saturday’s league game against Mansfield instead.

The Blues could not have made a better start, leading after 32 seconds. One of the earliest goals they have scored for some time was laid tidily into Hope’s path by Miller, and Carlisle’s No9 drilled it home.

Good to see Hope finally getting off the mark in this permanent United spell. It gave the Blues an early platform they sought to consolidate with some useful attacking periods, often aided by Miller’s running and control.

Morecambe did not test the rookie George unduly as the young keeper tried to get to grips with his kicking game, often aiming for Danny Grainger, sometimes finding touch. Aaron Wildig whistled a shot over the bar but United looked more threatening as Parkes often stepped out of defence to good effect.

One such moment ended with Parkes getting the ball back and bending a cross just out of Kennedy’s reach. Adam Campbell checked George’s alertness with a volley but United then went close twice more, Brown’s cross for Miller cut out by Max Muller, and Parkes denied by a block as he met a low corner.

Carlisle’s most risky moments came when they were careless on the ball themselves. The worst came when Jamie Devitt was dispossessed and Morecambe were quick on the break, as Kevin Ellison beat Mike Jones to go through – but the veteran shot over as defenders closed in.

Fortunately, there was a moment of loose play at the other end that benefited the Blues, as a defensive clearance looped into the air and we then had the happy sight of Kennedy poaching it as clinically as he had so often last season, with keeper Dan Nizic unable to get there.

After the break, it could easily have been three, as Carlisle’s extra quality showed more strongly. Devitt found Hope with a cultured pass but the striker and Miller failed to make the most of the chance at close range. Moments later, Hope went through again, ignoring Devitt as he took on a shot that lacked power. Next, Brown did well to beat his man but Devitt met the low cross with an air-shot.

United were beginning to dominate their hosts and it was a shame their next attempt didn’t find the net, for it resulted from superb work by Miller that bamboozled Muller, and then a curling strike from Devitt that crashed against the post.

Carlisle ought to have been out of sight as this went on, while Brown grew impressively into the game at the back, also clearing in front of the line as Morecambe finally found a period of pressure. The hosts got close when Garry Thompson came on for Ellison, and beat George to the ball as the keeper came out of his box to try and deal with a lapse in possession, but Mark Ellis, excellent in the second half, came to the rescue.

Carlisle should then have sealed it for sure, when one sub, Nicky Adams, fed another, Samir Nabi, but his deft finish was marginally inaccurate past the left-hand post. Nabi then shot into a Morecambe defender after more bright play.

Two, though, proved plenty, and that’s how it ended: a decent contest in its own right, and certainly a worthwhile Carlisle performance and win. A detail, though, in the big picture which risks further devaluing the lower-league game and has already lost many who, when they told this important truth to power, were dismally ignored.

Anyone for a Carabao?