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Simon Hackney, Chris Billy, Chris Lumsdon and Raphael Nade were strung across the midfield with Derek Holmes and Karl Hawley continuing their partnership upfront.
County also had to change their side due to injuries, Frenchman Ludovic Dje coming in to take the place of dangerous striker Tesfaye Bramble and Harpal Singh replacing Michael Raynes on the left-hand side.
United started very brightly from the off against a Stockport side who, conversely, looked edgy and nervous from the opening whistle. After conceding 26 goals in their first 15 games County had every right to be fearful at the back and their woeful defending all afternoon would only compound that.
After six minutes Hawley laid the ball off well to Hackney from an Arnison throw-in but the youngster could only screw his shot wide of the target.
Two minutes later Jermaine Easter had a chance for the Hatters after good work at a corner by Matt Hamshaw and the on-loan Gavin Strachan. The ball came to ex-Hartlepool striker Easter but his shot sailed high and wide from the edge of the box as the United defence raced out to block his effort.
On 12 minutes United took the lead but none of us could have dreamed that the goal would be the first of six Carlisle ones in the game. A great tackle by Lumsdon took the ball away from Hamshaw and up to Holmes who played it into Hawley on the edge of the County box.
Carlisle’s top scorer was allowed far too much time to get the ball under control as he eventually fired home a lovely low right-footed drive into the bottom corner to put the Blues 1-0 up.
Shortly afterwards Simon Grand was booked for the Cumbrians. The ex-Rochdale centre-half playing out of position at left-back let Hamshaw past him too easily and had to resort to pulling the shirt of the County midfielder in order to stop him.
It was the first of five bookings in the match handed out by referee Carl Boyeson who officiated quite well but seemed a bit reticent to book anybody for deliberate handball when he could have done so on a couple of occasions.
Grand was involved again two minutes later as he challenged with County "goalkeeper" Carl Ikeme for an Arnison ball in. Grand came off worse in the challenge as he limped back to his left-back berth after Ikeme changed the habit of a lifetime and caught the ball cleanly.
Grandy never looked like shaking the injury off and it was only three minutes later that he signalled to the United bench that his afternoon was over. Danny Livesey came on for him and went straight to centre-half with the versatile Murphy reverting to the left-back role. It must have come as a big disappointment to the young defender to have to go off injured after only 20 minutes when he has waited so patiently for a first-team start.
Just before Grand had been substituted County missed an excellent chance to level matters. Ross Greenwood swung a good ball in from the right which Dje rose to meet eight yards out but the giant striker could only head well over.
On 21 minutes it was Singh’s turn to enter the referee’s notebook as he went through the back of Lumsdon and deservedly received a yellow card.
The Blues were looking dangerous every time they went forward with Stockport unable to either keep hold of the ball or get out of their own half. Lumsdon swung in two successive corners which the County defence looked like folding under but the only chance to come from them was a snap-shot from the edge of the box by Hackney which went wide.
The next 11 minutes were the kind of moments every Cumbrian dreams of seeing at Brunton Park as Carlisle powered their way into a 4-0 lead at the break which could easily have been 5-0 or 6-0.
After 34 minutes the Blues hit the post in a moment some United fans felt might be the turning point of the game as Carlisle wasted a great opportunity to double their lead. Little did we know that it would only turn out to be the difference between six and seven.
Hawley, holding the ball up as well as he always does, played a lovely ball through for the onrushing Lumsdon to take in his stride. The United midfielder steadied himself and hit a low drive across Ikeme’s goal but he was very unlucky to see it come pinging back out off the base of the woodwork.
That incident signalled the start a spell of United possession and play that must have had the 389 travelling County fans choking on their half-time pie.
On 36 minutes the Blues finally did double their lead. Hackney held the ball up down the left-wing and crossed the ball in for Hawley, at the near-post, to flick-on to Holmes at the back post. The one-time Bournemouth striker was standing all alone four yards out, with Ikeme in no-mans land, and was left with the simple task of heading into an empty net to make it 2-0.
Just two minutes later County flapper Ikeme made the scoreline 3-0 to Carlisle. Arnison crossed a high ball in from the right which Ikeme should have come out to easily collect on his six-yard line. Instead of doing that though the on-loan keeper panicked under pressure from Hawley and decided to punch the ball. His flailing fist, however, only succeeded in sending the ball backwards over his own head and into the net to give the Blues two goals in two minutes.
It was three goals in five minutes though just 180 seconds later as Holmes put United 4-0 up in the 41st minute. Nade put a good ball in from the right which the Scot took on his thigh as the ball bounced up, as it then dropped down to his foot he smashed it straight away on the volley past Ikeme and put the majority of 5664 spectators into dreamland.
United could have had more before the half-time whistle with both Hackney and Arnison trying to get their name on the scoresheet with long range efforts that whistled wide. It was an amazing period of football and the Blues deserved every one of the cheers they got as they went down the tunnel at half-time.
Stockport manager Chris Turner immediately let his thoughts be known on the previous 45 minutes by making a triple substitution after the break. The ex-Hartlepool boss brought on Rob Clare, Danny Boshell and Michael Malcolm to replace Dje, Danny Griffin and Ashley Williams but the changes made little difference.
Lumsdon was booked for United in the 46th minute for a crude challenge on Strachan but like the majority of Stockport possession the resultant free-kick from just outside the Carlisle box was wasted.
Five minutes later Hawley turned well in the area after great work by Hackney but his shot was sliced well wide and in the 54th minute Lumsdon tried a 20-yard piledriver but it was always rising and flew over Ikeme’s bar.
In the 58th minute Stockport substitute Clare was the latest player to receive a yellow card after he sliced right through the back of Hawley’s legs just inside the centre-circle.
On the hour-mark United’s almost constant pressure on the County defence almost produced a fifth goal for the Blues. Holmes laid the ball off to Hackney on the left-wing and the ex-Woodley sports winger beat two men running in and shot past Ikeme only for Mark Robinson to clear the ball off the line. The opportunity to score was still there for Carlisle as the ball came back to Nade but he could only screw his effort horribly wide from six yards out.
Hackney was a thorn in the side of the County defence all afternoon and the Cheshire outfit will be ruing the fact that they passed over the chance to sign him from a club only five miles away from Edgeley Park.
Two minutes later United nearly scored again on a day they really could have had bagged ten goals. Hawley was the first onto a long ball from Arnison over the top of a statuesque Stockport defence but as he rounded Ikeme the angle was far too tight and he could only slice his shot into the Warwick Road End.
On 66 minutes Stockport finally managed an effort on goal as Danny Boshell set up Easter just inside the United box but his curled right-foot shot swung wide of Westwood’s far-post.
Westwood had little work to do throughout the 90 minutes but on a couple of occasions in the first-half his decision making was poor as he failed to come out for passes through when he should have done. Murphy was forced to concede a corner in one instance and in the other Gray hacked the loose ball clear.
In the 68th minute the Stockport defence breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Hackney being replaced by Alan O’Brien, the Newcastle flyer playing the last game of his loan spell unless it is extended early in the coming week. Little did the County players know though that the man coming on was quicker than Hackney, although the on-loan winger does need to add some end product to his searing pace.
Ikeme finally showed that he was able to do some good work in the County nets on 70 minutes as, following good work from Hackney and Murphy, he made a superb close-range save from Hawley, palming the ball away for a corner. The tall keeper, on loan from Wolves until the end of December, had an absolute nightmare of an afternoon as he failed to come for any crosses or corners and continually stayed rooted to his line like a rabbit in the headlights.
With fifteen minutes of the game left United gained a free-kick on the edge of the County box after Nade had been brought down. Lumsdon drilled the ball low and hard towards the far-post but even though it was the side Ikeme was covering he still only managed to get his fingertips on it to flick the ball onto the post and behind for a corner.
Two minutes later it was 5-0 to the Blues as the keeper again found his feet glued to the goal-line when Lumsdon put in a corner conceded by on-loan County defender Joe Dolan. All the Stockport players seemed to stand and watch as Hawley stood two yards out to head in a simple finish to leave both him and Holmes hunting for a third and the matchball.
It wasn’t to be though for the big Scot as he was replaced by United’s final substitute, Glenn Murray, in the 81st minute. Maryport-born Murray got himself straight into the pace of the game against a County side in pieces and it was good work by the striker that set up Hawley for his hat-trick and United’s sixth just a minute later. Young Glenn crossed a low ball in from the right which Hawley ran to the near-post for and got his studs on to send the ball flying past Ikeme and into the back of the net.
There was still time for a booking, a chance apiece and a comedy moment from Nade as some of the Paddock faithful were wondering what they could boo at the final whistle after a 6-0 victory.
On 87 minutes Boshell made an awful challenge on Nade as he slid through the back of the Frenchman’s legs and left him in a crumpled heap on the floor. Boshell was rightly booked while United physiotherapist Neil Dalton gave treatment to Nade on the pitch, fortunately he wasn’t injured after such a rash tackle and the Carlisle winger was able to continue.
A minute later Glenn Murray cut into the box well from the right-hand side and blasted a low shot which Ikeme did well to knock out with his legs for a United corner.
Then as the clock was ticking down in the last minute Nade beat his man on the right but was closed down by the covering Stockport defender on the by-line. Nade managed to beat him too but then inexplicably passed the ball to nowhere over the line and out for a goal-kick, he then turned round with his hands in the air as if to say : "What happened?" It was a moment that encapsulated the Frenchman in a nutshell and had United coach Billy Barr chuckling on the sidelines.
With almost the last kick of the game Stockport nearly scored what couldn’t even have been called a consolation goal after a 6-0 hiding. Malcolm fed the ball into Easter and his sharp right-foot curler just didn’t come back in time as it whistled narrowly wide of Westwood’s far-post from 16 yards out.
The final whistle came seconds later to greet United’s biggest win in the Football League since their 6-0 home defeat of now-Premiership Portsmouth in December 1970.
Post-match quotes :
Stockport manager Chris Turner said:
"It was an embarrassing scoreline and an embarrassing performance, I've never been beaten 6-0 in my coaching life. Individual errors cost us the game and Carlisle could have scored at will in the second half. The players will be back in tomorrow for training."
United player-boss Paul Simpson said:
"We did everything right today and I cannot complain about anything. I'm delighted for Karl Hawley and Derek Holmes, our wingers got the balls into the box on every occasion and it all went our way.
"We've got to enjoy this when we can, it's been a long time since we put six past any team. We went straight for the jugular and made them pay for every mistake they made."
thetashkenttheory :
Well where can you start with a game like that? Some great attacking play by United was equally matched by some appalling goalkeepeing and defending by Stockport.
Carl Ikeme was nothing but a bag of nerves in the County goal and it is difficult to see how he can keep his place in the nets after such a dreadful display.
The delivery from Lumsdon though would have put any defence under pressure as he continuously put the ball in very dangerous areas from free-kicks and corners.
The last goal was probably my favourite one of the lot as it signified something we've been wanting to see from a United striker for ages. A low ball played in to the near-post and it's a Carlisle player taking a gamble to be the first there and knock it in, long may that continue.
Onto Cheltenham away in the FA Cup First Round on Saturday where a repeat of the 3-2 League win and the continuation of the current four match unbeaten run would be nice.