The current Cardiff squad has been assembled with an outlay of two and a half million pounds which is in stark contrast to the meagre ten thousand pounds invested in Carlisle.

Sam Hammam's millions will no doubt take Cardiff back to the days of former glories and on the evidence of this one sided game they have got the nucleus of a side to do just that.

It was uphill for the Cumbrians within ninety seconds of the start when former Magpie Paul Brayson got his first and all over as a contest after 14 minutes when he got his second.

Man of the match Jason Bowen then capped a superb display by bagging a brace himself to complete the rout which could and should have been a lot more.

The Cumbrians battled throughout the game but could never counter the gulf in class between the two sides.

Manager Ian Atkins put the game down to one of those days and said after the game: "The gulf was massive today. You have got to hold your hands up and say they were by far the better side. It didn't help going a goal down inside two minutes. We've had a lot of games of late and I gave the lads a couple of days off. It was a mistake from my point of view because we didn't work on the organisation like throw ins and things like that. If you don't work on them constantly the players forget. They were a million times better than us but at times we did make it too easy for Cardiff. We stopped doing the things we are good at which is competing, putting balls in good areas and being good defenders. When you look at all the goals they could have been prevented and it disappointed me on that score."

The Cumbrians never coped with the long throws of Cardiff captain Andy Legg and the opening goal gave ample warning when Leo Fortune West flicked on for Brayson to prod home.

With twelve minutes gone Mark Winstanley cleared off the line from Fortune West and two minutes later Brayson popped up again to curl a lovely right foot shot beyond Matty Glennon for the Bluebirds second goal.

Cardiff allowed Carlisle a little more possession after the second goal and Dobie was unlucky after 25 minutes to see a goalbound header ricochet off Cardiff keeper Mark Walton onto a defender and away to safety.

Dobie then couldn't find enough height on his lob to beat Walton before Cardiff took over again with Winstanley again on hand to clear when Glennon failed to hold the ball from Legg's cross.

With a minute to go to the break Brayson played Bowen through on the half way line and the little midfielders pace left Birch standing before rounding Glennon to notch the third goal.

The second half was almost one way traffic with Glennon saving from Daniel Gabbidon and Brayson before Bowen completed the rout on 57 minutes, latching on to a loose ball in the box to slot passed a helpless Glennon.

Glennon then made further saves from Josh Low and Brayson and was helpless to see shots from Legg and Young go narrowly wide.

Carlisle did manage to pull a goal back in the last minute when substitutes Jon Cullen and Steve Halliday combined to allow Halliday a right foot shot into the corner of the net.

Carlisle now have a home game against fellow strugglers Torquay on Friday night followed on the Tuesday with a trip to Halifax. These two games are likely to have a significant bearing on the Cumbrians football league future.

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