Forest Green Rovers 1 Carlisle United 4: Maybe it’s the Quorn; maybe it’s the Gloucestershire air. Whatever it is that motivates Nathan Thomas against Forest Green Rovers, get a large supply of it and send it north as soon as possible.

In three visits to the vegan-friendly New Lawn, Thomas has gorged himself with six goals. Three of them came tonight, the first hat-trick by a Carlisle player for more than three years, a stunning statement on what ought to be a decisive night in their quest for League Two safety.

They were certainly safe here; very safe indeed. Thomas turned one in from close range, delivered a quite brilliant second and closed the argument with a clinical penalty. Joshua Kayode joined in this remarkable glut of scoring and given Carlisle’s superiority in front of goal, this must surely be the evening they start looking up, not down.

It has taken long and at times unconvincing steps to get this far in 2019/20 but United, reshaped by Chris Beech this month, are now 10 points clear of danger, and looked like a proper team here. Their forwards, the impressive full debutant Kayode and the relentless Lewis Alessandra, worked superbly, giving their team-mates the ideal platform when the game opened up against a former promotion contender now nervously uncertain in their work.

Then there was Thomas, unfurling the full range of his attacking talents. This was quite some flourish – and some reward for the 97 hardy supporters who ventured to Nailsworth.

They saw Carlisle with strength and intent which was often missing in the first half of the campaign. First impressions of Kayode as a starting player were very positive, and the sort of faith and belief Beech needs as a new boss will also come in greater quantities as a result of these emphatic efforts.

The signings of Kayode, Alessandra and Nick Anderton in defence all looked like positive business, in fact, on this cold Tuesday night. Rotherham loanee Kayode offered size, willing, hungry running, an awkward presence and, at key times, a little calm. United will not die wondering while Alessandra is on the pitch, meanwhile, and Anderton’s strength at left-back looks like an important League Two tool.

As for Thomas, what can be said? However many frustrating days there have been this term, this was outstanding payback. His quality was tucked in behind that industrious front pair, defenders drawn to those men and the Sheffield United loanee gleefully accepting opportunities from the left.

Even those with the most optimistic outlook cannot have expected it to go this well. Yes, Forest Green’s form had dipped, and United had shown up well against them in three previous games, but they remained on the fringe of the play-off places, trying to sustain a challenge.

Mark Cooper, though, perhaps knew what was coming, given the home manager did not appear in his technical area at all in the first half. The opening period saw his side try to play their way back into form and get at Carlisle from different angles, without success.

From their initial pressure, a corner found Liam Kitching unmarked, but Carlisle scrambled clear. Rob Hall and Aaron Collins then fired wide after positive interplay and at this stage the hosts must have felt they could find the necessary gaps.

Not so. There was invention in these ideas but not the sort of decisive last pass or finishing that Carlisle and Thomas then summoned in a striking three-minute spell. The opener came a while after Kayode had been pushed into an advertising hoarding by Farrend Rawson as they chased the ball down the United left.

Welcome to League Two, perhaps – but the reply was robust. After keeper Conrad Logan denied Gethin Jones with his feet, Kayode hunted down the ball again on the right of the box, and Jones's overlap to meet a Jack Bridge pass was followed by a cross which Thomas turned in.

That was pleasing enough; what came next was a real treat for the eyes, as Thomas picked up another Forest Green error, broke forward, then shot early – and brilliantly. The ball left his boot sweeter than a Tiger Woods drive, it swerved, soared and faded unstoppably into the top right corner, and that genius moment on its own felt like it could also have positive ramifications for Carlisle’s survival push.

It meant, as well as delivering a rabbit-punch to the home side, that United had a second two-goal lead in successive league games having previously gone without since April. Adam Collin tipped over a Hall shot in response, but a sense of anxiety was otherwise spreading around this chilly ground with Carlisle now surely one goal away from vanishing over the horizon.

Given Forest Green’s loss of defensive poise on the ball, Beech’s side were ready for that opportunity, snatching the ball back and continually pressing well. Further efforts, involving Elliot Watt and Alessandra, bothered Cooper’s side some more, and boos greeted the home side’s next slip, from Matt Mills, Kayode taking it forward and Rawson getting back to block.

Imagine how those Forest Green fans felt, then, when United landed two more blows soon into the second half. The first came about 15 seconds in, Alessandra chasing a deft Watt ball over the top and earning a possibly generous penalty as a defender’s momentum took him down.

Thomas dispatched it to the right of the goal, becoming Carlisle’s first treble-shooter since Charlie Wyke against Mansfield in November 2016 – and then, ravenously, they came for more. Alessandra chipped against the post, a corner was earned, and from the resulting chaos, Kayode found the space to drill home his first Football League goal.

“We want Cooper out,” the home fans sang; scathing lyrics which confirmed United’s dominance. It was desperate for Forest Green but Carlisle have known enough woes of their own this term to feel much sympathy. Thomas was denied a fourth by Logan when through, and the faintest of replies came when Aaron Hayden fouled Josh Marsh and Carl Winchester drilled in the penalty.

It was clear enough that the home side did not have a serious fightback in them, for all their late toil, some obdurate Collin saves and a last-gasp Matt Stevens sitter. Before then, Kayode’s line-leading and channel running had given Bridge another chance to cross from the right – an area where he appeared comfortable, in his midfield duties – and as Thomas was pulled down it seemed another spot-kick was inevitable.

It wasn’t, not this time. But Carlisle’s resounding victory was.

Forest Green: Logan, Shephard (Bernard 17), Mills, Rawson, Kitching, Adams, Kitching, Bailey, Winchester, Hall (Stevens 56), March, Collins (Frear 46). Not used: L Thomas, Williams, Dawson, Aitchison.

Goal: Winchester 58pen

Booked: Adams

United: Collin, G Jones, Anderton, Webster, Hayden (Hunt 60), M Jones, Watt, Bridge, N Thomas, Alessandra (Scougall 73), Kayode (Loft 81). Not used: Gray, Iredale, Charters, Sagaf.

Goals: Thomas 23, 26, 46pen; Kayode 49

Booked: Hayden, Anderton, Watt.

Ref: Brett Huxtable.

Crowd: 1,540 (97 Carlisle fans)