Sheffield Wednesday 2 Carlisle United 0: No FA Cup stardust fell with the snow at Hillsborough last night. Carlisle United tried but failed to keep their interest in the competition alive on a wintry evening, so now it is the league alone where their season’s fortunes will settle.

The fairytale would have seen Keith Curle’s side take a Championship scalp and make progress estimated to be worth £100,000. Hard reality, though, came with goals from Marco Matias and Atdhe Nuhiu, and so a League Two campaign must now be revived without the extra cash or impetus that victory might have brought.

It is not that United were without chances last night. One, inexplicably miscued by Richie Bennett whilst at 0-0, could have teed up a tantalising third round replay. But underdogs do not get by on ifs and maybes.

Such glimpses of goal have to be accepted - as they were from players two tiers up. Matias finished emphatically when dinked through by Nuhiu before the half-hour, and the pair swapped roles midway into the second half after Gary Liddle gave Wednesday a needless gift.

Whatever opportunities existed to shock a far from first-choice Owls line-up pretty much vanished with the latter. Carlisle had made gutsy progress in the cup this season but a two-goal deficit was too much for them here.

Overall they did not have the quality, or the flow, to risk an upset when the game was in the balance. It did not help that they were down on numbers themselves - Clint Hill was absent, and Sam Cosgrove also unavailable, leaving Curle to name only five subs - but there was enough seniority in the away side to have given Jos Luhukay’s men a greater scare.

It didn’t happen, and so Stevenage away in the league is where the focus goes next, along with United’s remaining attempts to get themselves out of mid-table and in the right direction without this potentially lucrative distraction.

Their latest two absentees ("personal reasons," said Curle, although Cosgrove was at the game, suggesting he may in fact have been injured) saw Mark Ellis thrown a starting shirt for the first time since last September, in place of Hill. Luke Joyce, in midfield, was a more predictable inclusion, while Bennett's job was to fill Cosgrove’s target-man void. Wednesday, meanwhile, had a green look in places, Luhukay making eight changes, among them Connor O’Grady making his first Hillsborough start, and Frederik Nielsen his senior debut.

Luhukay, for whom this was a first home game since taking charge, kept some of his bigger guns back on the bench in case the fringe men couldn’t get the job done. Carlisle’s task, with their altered side, was to stay solid and try to raise some anxiety at a ground that hasn’t seen many victories lately.

The snow that fell as the teams appeared grew heavier as the first half unfolded. United were not, to start with, as defensive as their line-up might have suggested. Against a home team so significantly changed, Curle’s side looked keen to find a couple of early gaps.

On the break, they earned a second-minute corner that was poorly cleared. When Mike Jones drove it back into the box, Ellis turned it towards goal and Cameron Dawson saved.

It was a bright enough start, and United saw a decent share of the ball from here, making a couple more forays. Wednesday did not seem in tune with each other, especially in attack, and although they threatened to get beyond Carlisle’s defensive line at times, their efforts lacked precision.

Jack Hunt, from the right, flashed a cross through the danger zone after Matias had made inroads. George Boyd, floating behind the frontmen, eluded defenders once or twice and almost sneaked onto a ball in the box with a diagonal run.

It was not, though, one-way by any means. United offered moments of hope in the white conditions. With one, a Danny Grainger corner nearly broke for Bennett, and an even better opening was worked by Jamie Devitt and Reggie Lambe, who slipped the ball in from the right to Bennett, in great space - yet the striker somehow failed to make clean contact as defenders closed in.

When Wednesday found an opening of such temptation, they made much better of it. On 28 minutes, a Dawson clearance was flicked on, Nuhiu picked it up and lobbed Matias into space, and the Portuguese ran through to beat Jack Bonham with a confident finish, high into the net.

This almost brought an instant response from United, but Bennett was offside when attacking Jones’ cross. If anything, though, it restored more confidence and control to Wednesday’s game, and their increased adventure almost saw them grab another before half-time.

First, a neat one-touch move - the best of the tie so far - resulted in Matias having a shot from the right saved by Bonham. Then, as the away fans were entertained by lumps of snow falling from a stand roof, one pelting a steward, Boyd met Matias’ low cross but failed to beat Carlisle’s keeper.

Jacob Butterfield, next, fired over the bar, and United’s best bet from here was to hope they could survive these raids and find some way of increasing their own threat, which was now occasional at best.

It barely came as they clung onto the contest from the start of the second half, Wednesday taking time to threaten seriously for another goal. Carlisle’s problem, even as they built more periods of possession, was that they were not able to test Dawson anywhere near enough, other than a handful of crosses which the home keeper was able to grasp from the air.

One patient spell of passing sent Bennett down the line to win a corner, but nothing came from it, while the striker’s other line-leading attempts did not show the quality that could have got Carlisle where they needed to be. For Wednesday, Boyd tried a tame long-ranger, then they looked more dangerous when breaking quickly from a Blues free-kick before Hunt was dispossessed in the box.

Curle changed tack, sending on Hallam Hope for Bennett, and next John O’Sullivan for Brown. In between, a cross had narrowly eluded Matias after Wednesday were sharper to the ball. In this period Carlisle needed to keep their error count down in order to retain any hopes of a turnaround, but instead the opposite happened, and there is little you can say to absolve Liddle of the mistake that let in the Owls on 65 minutes.

The outcome was a painful example of what happens when you give assistance to higher-league hosts. Liddle’s pass was intercepted by Matias, and seconds later Nuhiu was dropping the shoulder in the box and curling it low past Bonham.

It was the moment Luhukay’s side required to find some comfort. United, with Shaun Miller also on, tried to force themselves back onto the team in blue and white and in the direction of their vocal travelling supporters, but to no avail.

Grainger volleyed over, and the willing Devitt failed to curl one past Dawson. The keeper did well to keep out a Miller missile late on and the sub shot wide again in a closing flurry, but as the blizzard blew back across Hillsborough, Carlisle’s cup hopes drifted rather tamely away.