Diamonds will wonder how they managed to lose a game so heavily that they dominated for long periods.
Rushden & Diamonds 0 Carlisle United 4
Diamonds will wonder how they managed to lose a game so heavily that they dominated for long periods.
The visitors took the lead completely against the run of play on 18 minutes when Paul Arnison cross looked to be covered by John Ruddy but the on loan goalkeeper dropped the ball allowing Derek Holmes to tap the ball into an empty net.
Straight from the restart Rushden almost equalised. David Bell's long range shot was heading for the top left hand corner until Keiren Westwood produced a fantastic save to turn the ball around the post.
Carlisle extended their lead on the half hour. The visitors were down to ten men with Peter Murphy off the pitch receiving treatment when Karl Hawley miss hit Chris Lumsdon's free kick and the ball deflected off John Dempster before looping over Ruddy and into the net. Birthday boy Hawley's strike was his 15th of the season.
The visitors put the game beyond doubt on 64 minutes with a bizarre goal. Hawley challenged Ruddy for a long clearance and when the ball bounced down the Rushden defence stood still allowing Chris Lumsdon to move in and head the ball into the empty net.
Diamonds created numerous chances into the game but were not able to beat Westwood in the Carlisle goal. Sub Drewe Broughton was wide with a right foot shot while Chris O'Grady saw another long-range effort go narrowly wide. In the dieing moments Carlisle added insult to injury with a fourth goal.
Hawley held the ball up well on the edge of the penalty area before laying the perfect pass to Michael Bridges who cooley slipped the ball passed the advancing Ruddy.