Sunderland 3 Carlisle United 1: The media vantage point at Sunderland’s vast Stadium of Light is so high as to make the players appear as small as…well, this being the Checkatrade Trophy, let’s see. Pawns?

As ever, this warped competition is best watched from a distance. The further you remove yourself from the actual football, the better to see the wider view.

And so, to beat this old drum again, this cannot be just about the action, however entertaining last night’s 3-1 encounter might have been to some; however reasonable - by Checkatrade terms - the group stage crowd of 8,112 was.

There was a game, yes, and though United scored through Ashley Nadesan in their best spell, Sunderland had comfortably the better of it. Yet the occasion also has to be seen in its place, as part of a landscape, where Premier League clubs generate more professional footballers than they know what to do with, and then ask smaller clubs to solve problems not of their own making.

That’s what this lower-league trophy is now: not for the lower leagues, other than as a nice little earner. It is about “minutes”, about “men’s football” for all those under-played, under-21 hordes, and by the way, here’s a few quid to grease the wheels.

Every Game Matters is the EFL’s new slogan, applied to Checkatrade ties relatively few are bothered about. Presumably they only picked that catchline because SkyBet had got in earlier with a more appropriate one: It Matters More When There’s Money On It.

The chance of Wembley still exists, of course, and nobody in United’s (or League One Sunderland’s) position would turn that down. The Black Cats might well fancy it more after this win, while Carlisle’s hopes are in the balance. Yet considering a chunk of the competitors - the B Teamers - don’t, at heart, care too much about getting there, is that prize not diluted too?

It is, then, a cup both enriched and devalued: a symbol of our football times. Carlisle took 330 fans to the Stadium of Light, a figure that will no doubt put a broad smile on EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey’s face.

Untainted by B Teams, unaffected by boycotts, that number would surely have been greater. It remains, undeniably, a divisive experiment and, worse, a direct attack on attendances which would not be tolerated higher up.

As for the action, a full debut for Liam McCarron, 17, was in its own right a thrilling moment for that young player, who has shot up the ranks and deserved this kind of chance. It threatened to be some moment, too, when in just the second minute the teenager combined with Nadesan and got in to the left, his shot pushed into the side-netting.

A Sunderland side with 14 senior players unavailable and featuring six changes then took the lead. Aiden McGeady, whose quality on the left was a highlight of the opening stages, crossed and Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka’s header beat Adam Collin’s attempted save too easily.

The hosts threatened to do more before Carlisle found a better range, McGeady seeing a shot deflected wide and George Honeyman almost breaking through. Carlisle then grew more comfortable on the ball, Macaulay Gillesphey curling a free-kick wide after some smart Jerry Yates play, and then the equaliser, dispatched low by Nadesan after he outpaced Jack Baldwin in the Sunderland defence.

It was an open game, United passing comfortably in spells and McCarron’s pace a coiled spring, waiting for space and service it didn’t always receive. At the other end, though, Sunderland stretched them again, Gary Miller and Tom Parkes intercepting dangerous crosses, Collin saving at his near post after Adam Matthews’ run, and then their second goal, arrowed home by Ethan Robson from 25 yards.

Adam Campbell nearly equalised straight away but shot across goal and wide. Chris Maguire then turned for Sunderland and bulleted one past the post. Robson then limped off injured moments before the break.

Carlisle, seeking a second equaliser, went close early in the second half when Parkes’ header from a Campbell corner was deflected over. Some carelessness in possession from Sunderland offered the Blues further opportunities to build, Jerry Yates persistent in his attempts to turn and test the opposition.

It did not, though, produce any real momentum and at the other end the screw was duly turned. McGeady couldn’t convert what almost turned into a great chance as Sunderland worked their way in to the right. Mike Jones then replaced McCarron, the youngster applauded off after a first full outing that lasted 56 minutes, and a few minutes later Collin saved superbly from a Mbunga-Kimpioka header.

Sunderland’s pressure did then tell when Honeyman was found onside by Matthews, in acres, and he tucked the chance home.

From here, there were further periods when Jack Ross’ team could have extended their margin, and steady spells when they controlled possession and frustrated the Blues. United were barely threatening themselves now and the game largely petered out, defeat inevitable the longer it went on, substitute debuts for youngsters Jack Egan and Sam Adewusi featuring in the last 10 minutes.

And so, after all this, what comes next in Group A, if we are able to contain ourselves for that long? Only the tantalising question that has been on the lips of all in Cumbria since United’s sacred forefathers of Shaddongate United ever put heavy boots to a heavy ball in the 1890s: will Stoke’s Under-21s be able to do it on a cold November night at Brunton Park?

TEAMS

United: Collin, Miller, Gillesphe, Parkes, Liddle, Slater, Glendon (Adewusi 86), McCarron (Jones 56) Yates, Campbell, Nadesan (Egan 79). Not used: Gray, Etuhu, Brown.

Goal: Nadesan 21

Sunderland: Ruiter, James, Matthews, Baldwin, Ozturk, McGeouch, Robson (O’Nien 45), Honeyman, Maguire, McGeady (Diamond 79), Mbunga-Kimpioka (Connelly 86). Not used: Patterson, Hackett, Taylor, Gamble.

Goals: Mbunga-Kimpioka 3, Robson 34, Honeyman 63.

Booked: O’Nien

Ref: Ben Toner

Crowd: 8,112 (330 Carlisle fans)