Sutton United 4 Carlisle United 0: Carlisle United’s best defender at Sutton was a little-known free agent called Simon Mather. As the home side streaked clear in pursuit of a fifth goal, he stopped them in their tracks with a clean and clinical interception.

Mather, alas, was the ref. His final whistle was a moment of compassionate mercy. A few seconds more and 4-0 would have been 5-0 – an outcome that would still have flattered only one of these two Uniteds (clue: not Sutton).

That is how bad it was. The performance was abject, the football dire, the punishment only appropriate to a degree. This we know. Now it’s a case of asking what happens next.

There did not seem mutiny from hundreds against Chris Beech and the team at full-time at Gander Green Lane, even if disgruntlement from some was plain. The online audience gave a more contemptuous verdict, but nobody in power at United should need their hands held by public opinion either way.

They have their own eyes, brains and, you’d hope, set of principles. They saw how bereft this was, as did Beech. The questions are obvious and land like darts: are these players good enough, in which case are they badly coached, organised or motivated? Are they, in fact, less impressive than we like to think, in which case who could spin gold from what’s there?

Is Beech able to find a shovel big enough to dig out of this and restore better performances? Have their summer dealings been a risk too far? Will those at the top table stir from their silence and “succession meetings” to recognise that this – this – is what their Blues look like?

The truth, as it looks from this perspective, is that this isn’t going to get vastly better any time soon. United are a team without credible goalscoring threat and, on Saturday, also had a brittle middle and rear.

At their best they might edge tight games, or draw them. At their worst, this: a heaviest league defeat since the 5-0 loss at Cambridge in 2014 that brought Graham Kavanagh’s flawed tenure to an abrupt end.

It would be quite some fall if that is where Beech is heading, having taken Carlisle to the top of the league in January. At best the patience for improvement is now reduced. The head coach, at full-time, offered an apology and a pledge that he would not shy from what is needed.

Oh to be Sutton on a day like this, buoyed by their recent promotion and, here, making absolute merry against a limping visitor. Carlisle, having spent preceding days talking about starting games better, negotiated their way through two whole minutes this time before David Ajiboye tormented them down the right and a combination of Corey Whelan and Donovan Wilson turned the ball home.

There was lots of ungainly, aerial stuff from here, Carlisle often taking the painstaking diagonal route from defence in the hope someone could build from second balls. It seldom happened. Sutton smuggled more chances out of their livelier attacking, Ajiboye their most dynamic danger and Richie Bennett missing a free header as Carlisle failed (another theme, here) to shut down a set-piece.

In the fleeting moments they played and spread possession, United carved half-chances, Dean Bouzanis saving from Jon Mellish with their best. Sutton then opened something up from the left, Wilson squaring for Alistair Smith to slide number two past Magnus Norman.

Carlisle’s body language at this point was on mute. Joe Kizzi blew another free header for Sutton. At half-time the travelling fans booed Beech’s players off. After the break, Bouzanis saved from Mellish before Sutton’s counter-attacking became sharper, Ajiboye and Wilson denied valiantly by Norman.

At which point: enter Manny Mampala, who managed 18 minutes before two yellow-card challenges earned him (a little harshly, it seemed) the first red card of his professional career. By then, Smith had steered in a third after sub Isaac Olaofe had evaded Whelan.

Ajiboye later added a merited fourth, Sutton were then denied a strong penalty shout, Norman’s next catch brought ironic cheers from the away end, Brad Young had a Carlisle consolation disallowed, and David Holdsworth, the director of football, left his seat before Mr Mather could benevolently cut short that last home attack.

Where was he going? To the bar, for something of high percentage ABV? To a darkened room? To his telephone contacts book? To the place where the secret book of solutions is buried?

Let he and others share their take on this soon. For if this is not just where Carlisle United are but where their circumstances say they ought to be, we had better be told now, to spare us all wasting any more hope.