Oldham Athletic 4 Carlisle Utd 5: The “rejuvenation”, presumably, happened somewhere else. This historic day for English football, when the B Team experiment finally became real, did not feel very revolutionary at SportsDirect.com Park.

There was a game between a League One club and a League Two club, in front of a small first-round crowd. Plus ça change. The Checkatrade Trophy felt no more glamorous, no more radical, than it ever has.

Alterations to this former lower-league cup are supposed, in the long term, to supply the England team with better players and lift national spirits accordingly. They are also meant to enliven a drab competition through the introduction of unknown Premier League and Championship prospects.

The person who tried those lines on the patrons of Oldham Athletic versus Carlisle United – or, more pertinently, those who decided not to bother with it – would have been advised to do so from a safe distance. The laughter would have echoed from wherever the boycotters were passing an evening they would normally have been spending at the football.

This entertaining, high-scoring game, which deserved to be enjoyed on its own merits, was not, perhaps, the best occasion to judge the EFL’s new wheeze. Other games, such as Fleetwood v Blackburn Under-23s in Carlisle’s first-round group, saw the innovation realised at closer quarters, in front of 392 fans.

But Tuesday, August 30, 2016 was a significant day for the Blues all the same. They, and Oldham, were among the clubs who voted in favour of the League’s “pilot scheme”, in a ballot which seemed to factor in all sorts of variables except a proper measuring of supporter opinion.

And on this late summer’s evening, the pilot indeed flew, despite a good deal of objection, and regardless of the principle many wish to protect: that the B Team idea, though it exists in some other countries, is not wanted here.

English football’s most ravenous problem – the stockpiling of young players by the richest – has led us to this pass. Instead of legislating against that practice, instead of checking the predictable advance of the Elite Player Performance Plan, the top-flight asked to invade the lower leagues to give their vast numbers “game time” in “real football”.

As such, a modest but principled competition, which always guaranteed two smallish clubs the annual chance of a Wembley final, was warped beyond recognition. Its ethos was sucked up by the Premier League’s relentless hoover. It legitimised what some regard as the worst excesses of the modern game.

For 2016/17 at least - and however normal last night’s lively affair looked at Oldham – the trophy is disfigured. Now it is about “development” rather than glory; a petri dish instead of a contest.

It was once a trophy Carlisle in particular liked to cherish, from the precious community day out of 1995 to the first Wembley win of 1997, from the final appearances of 2003, 2006 and 2010 to the second glorious victory of 2011, Peter Murphy and all.

These occasions enrich United’s history. In some cases they define it. Now it is a cup with an asterisk, the product of thinking so muddled it might have been dreamed up by a team of Apprentice contestants.

Let it be remembered, after all, that the grand plan was not deemed grand enough by some of the clubs it was specifically designed to help: Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, none of whom entered a team.

Let it also be recalled that one of the second rung of would-be entrants, Newcastle, learned of their belated invitation on Sky Sports, and so rejected it, on the basis that they had already made alternative plans for their young players, including – very old school, this - the use of the loan system.

Let it be on the record that various rules changed after the big vote, including the number of young and over-age players allowed, and disciplinary measures. Let history show that a competition supposed to hasten the progress of fledgling English players contains no restrictions against the fielding of overseas youngsters.

Let it further be noted how Checkatrade, having seized the poisoned chalice of sponsorship, achieved PR gold with the outrageous suggestion on Twitter that lifelong fans swerving it on principle were not true supporters of their clubs. Let it be observed how the EFL, at the final hour, tried to pretend the competing Under-23 teams were no such thing, despite their clubs openly describing them as such.

And let it be known, amid rare heights of absurdity, that clubs such as Carlisle can be fined for fielding too many of their own young, home-grown fringe players, but the big beasts can select as many as they wish.

Despite all this, those in charge remain almost deranged in their belief. Shaun Harvey, the EFL’s chief executive, insisted the competition would be a success “going forward” – that risible piece of management-speak which football has regrettably adopted.

Harvey, whilst protesting that clubs would be free to reject the wider notion of B Teams in the League pyramid, admitted such a move had “never been discounted as a possibility.”

A chilling thought - and some others at United’s level followed the leader. For instance, Plymouth chairman James Brent, a supporter of the Trophy pilot scheme, who said: “In terms of B teams entering the Football League structure, you can never say never.”

Well, James, you could always give it a try. Five letters, two syllables. “Never”. Not that hard, is it?

The attached fear, among many at the grass-roots of lower-league support, is that, if you can’t say “never” to this, what can you say it to? What dubious plan can be halted in its tracks?

We have, after all, already had the arrival of Premier League tanks on the youth development lawns of small clubs, thanks to the EPPP. We have had those small clubs’ own cup competition now similarly invaded.

In both instances, the wheels were greased by money – in the Trophy’s case, an extra £1m into the prize fund, the price of the EFL’s principles.

With that in mind, it is perhaps not Luddite to fear that B Teams in the League will eventually be subject to the same bribes, the same loaded “recommendations” that will see 90 per cent of clubs – the threshhold required, as Harvey reminded us – buckle and vote it through.

As such, Oldham v Carlisle on a quiet Tuesday night was much more significant than it seemed – for it occurred on the first day of this new future, a match between two clubs who did not object to this initial opening of the door.

This is why the big picture, for once, overwhelms. Should you be interested in the detail of the match, Oldham scored first through Billy McKay, Carlisle replied through Michael Raynes, Reggie Lambe and a Cameron Burgess own-goal, before half-time sub Darius Osei scored twice in a minute to level for the hosts.

Ollie Banks then dispatched a superb effort from outside the box to put Oldham ahead, Tom Miller responded for Carlisle to level once more, Macaulay Gillesphey was sent off for tugging back Freddie Ladapo, and Raynes – or possibly Charlie Wyke – then got something on a Jamie Devitt free-kick to make it 5-4.

Should you wish to know the score on a more profound basis, regarding football at Carlisle United’s level, it may be best to look away now.

Oldham: Kettings, Wilson, Edmundson, Burgess, Dunne, McLaughlin, Banks, Woodland, Flynn, McKay, Ladapo. Subs: Ripley, Stott, Mantack, Fane, Croft, Winchester, Osei.

Carlisle United: Crocombe, T Miller, Grainger, Brisley, Raynes, Gillesphey, Jones, Joyce, Lambe, Devitt, S Miller. Subs: Gillespie, Atkinson, Ellis, Wyke, Penn, McKee, Brough.