The tone was set after just three minutes when star man Mark Yeates ran rings around the Carlisle defence. His cross was parried by keeper Ben Alnwick and the onrushing David Perkins rammed the loose ball into the net.
Carlisle never really recovered from this early blow and the U's were two up in the 14th minute thanks to a long-range shot from Yeates, which swerved viciously past Alnwick and may have even taken a deflection The U's club record signing Steven Gillespie limped off with a hamstring injury in the build up to the second goal, but his withdrawal failed to dampen the spirits of a rampant home team.
A terrible clearance from Alnwick and a mix up between Graham Kavanagh and Darren Campion enabled Yeates to slot home his second and Colchester's third just after the half-hour mark. It was game set and match for the Essex hosts and the only surprise was that it took them until the 89th minute to add a fourth goal.
Substitute Scott Vernon teed the ball up for Dean Hammond, who gleefully smashed home his first goal for the club since his move from Brighton in January. There was still time for Colchester to add a fifth goal in the last minute of normal time. Substitute Akanni-Sunday Wasiu scampered onto Kemal Izzet's through ball and beat Alnwick to complete the rout.
Carlisle's only real goal threat came midway through the second half when Kavanagh's goalbound free-kick was superbly saved by home keeper Dean Gerken. The horribly out-of-form Cumbrians had now picked up just one point from a possible 24.