Carlisle United 0-3 Swindon Town verdict: Blues slide closer to disgrace as McKirdy makes merry

Everyone involved, whether playing in it, organising it or shaping the strategy behind it, should feel humiliated today. If this is the best United can come up with on a Saturday afternoon, with their Football League status on the line, the sense of shame should penetrate to the marrow.

What gets under the skin the most, what chilled most folk watching on Saturday, is the feeling that Carlisle, no matter the seriousness of the situation, are just not going to be good enough to sort it out.

This team, the one United have recruited and that Keith Millen sent out against Swindon Town, stinks of relegation so powerfully we are going to need to wear protective equipment soon.

Josh Davison scores Swindon's second

Chris Lumsdon, commentating on BBC Radio Cumbria, compared this to a training game for the visitors. Again: what a degrading thought. What a disgrace.

So we should quickly go past the obvious sub-plot of Harry McKirdy throwing a one-man party on his return to Brunton Park. The Swindon forward had a dream afternoon: scoring one, creating two, celebrating elaborately in front of the home fans and theatrically applauding all sides of the ground when substituted on the hour mark, the visitors 3-0 up.

Harry McKirdy celebrates the opening goal (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Boo him all the way to Wiltshire if you like. But also envy the fact United do not have a fraction of his edge or his quality. Resent the fact that Carlisle are on a much lesser level right now.

This display, after all, saw them raw, disjointed, lacking authority, brittle and aerodynamically designed for the bottom two. Oldham Athletic, in beating Bradford City, saw to it that United would end the day there, and the disturbing truth now is that this team, this wretched collection, have to win more games than teams above them.

Considering they haven’t nicked a single victory in eight games, and right now look clueless in the art of constructing a 90-minute performance, only one conclusion is possible. It’s Wealdstone, Maidenhead, Woking and the rest next season, and a flattening of the mood that could even take the Blues to lower levels.

Dynel Simeu and Morgan Feeney battle in the Swindon box

Millen, afterwards, spoke of the need for “fight” and “anger”, as he has in the recent past. He highlighted a run of form in December and January as evidence Carlisle could still come through this. Increasingly, though, that is looking like the anomaly.

This sterile stuff is the norm. United’s lack of quality or game-smarts is painful to watch. They were just about in this fixture until the 17th minute. Then McKirdy sprinted onto a pass, rasped a shot high past Mark Howard, did his machine-gun celebration in front of angry home fans, and things were set.

Tobi Sho-Silva chases Harry McKirdy

We then had the tragi-comedy of Carlisle trying to fight back. Their early route of diagonal balls to Omari Patrick on the left was gradually snuffed out. Their set-piece offerings, when they came, were a joke.

McKirdy and Jon Mellish

Tobi Sho-Silva, the deadline-day signing from Sutton United's bench, led the line to paltry effect and those around him also operated in the margins. Other than a bad-tempered set-to between Dynel Simeu and Josh Davison, there was little remaining sense these teams were playing the same game.

McKirdy celebrates in front of United's fans

Swindon worked the ball thoughtfully, at the back and between the lines. Davison was an awkward No9 and Louie Barry was a frequent danger alongside. Howard kept Carlisle in it with a save from him before the break, at a stage you were starting to weep at the home side’s own lack of nouse and poise.

Millen made a change at the break, Jordan Gibson for Owen Windsor, but then the sky fell in. McKirdy broke to set up Davison, and then crossed for the unmarked Barry to tap in.

Omari Patrick attacks for United down the left

Three-nil, in a trice. Some United fans stood up and left. They missed nothing that suggested a contest was still alive. The rest of proceedings made not a scratch on the outcome. Indeed, the only remaining times Carlisle made serious incursions into Swindon’s half were when two fans broke from the Warwick Road End and scampered onto the pitch.

A fan invades the pitch in the second half

The second one summed up how we all felt. He ran about a bit, and then gave up. Jamie Devitt, a substitute, guided him sheepishly towards a steward, and off he was led. At full-time, a few people booed, and everyone trudged home.

Sub Jordan Gibson takes on Louis Reed

Before the game, David Holdsworth, the director of football, had said that United's returning players and new signings can forge a team "to be proud of".

McKirdy celebrates after the game

That sound you can hear is a few thousand Cumbrians laughing bitterly into their pint glasses. A sense of reality appears to have left town, and this discredited team and unpopular administration is about to go with it: into the National League, and infamy.

Sub Kristian Dennis takes a tumble

Fifteen games, then, to avert disaster. Just over a couple of months to alleviate the disgrace. At times, over the years, people pointing out the flaws in this regime and journey have been accused of negativity.

One hopes those doing the accusing have the decency to keep quiet today.