The sound of the resounding boos, that greeted their exit from the pitch at full time, will hopefully bring them back down to earth and remind them they are in deep trouble in the midst of a relegation battle.

Some recent performances have been compelling, others have merely flattered to deceive and some have plunged the Carlisle fans into depression. But this debacle plumbed new depths as the Cumbrians were mauled by a rampant Tigers, who could not have envisaged how easy the acquisition of these three points would be.

Carlisle found to their cost that merely turning up does not win the points as they played second fiddle to everything Hull orchestrated.

Manager Roddy Collins was left with more questions than answers. “Things went wrong right from the kick off”, he said. “Maybe it’s a hangover from Tuesday night. I just can’t put my finger on it. We’ve been playing well, we’ve looked solid, the confidence has been there and we’ve looked fresh in training this week. I’ve told the players they can’t pick their games. We could find ourselves going to Boston next week to pick up the pieces and that’s not what we want. I’m disappointed in a lot of the players because the just didn’t cope with the situation. I thought we had a bad night against Lincoln and didn’t think it would happen again, but this was reminiscent.”

Hull waited 20 minutes to score their first when teenager Jon Walters turned on the edge of the box to hit a spectacular shot into the top corner.

Brendan McGill created a great opening for himself to level the scores a minute later but screwed his shot wide after cutting in from the right.

Walters headed narrowly wide from a Mark Joseph cross and Richard Appleby was unlucky to see his shot ricochet off Paul Raven for a corner.

But Hull were not to be denied as they extended their lead on 38 minutes. Appleby broke clear on the left before crossing to the far post where Stuart Elliott headed home unchallenged.

The Cumbrian’s embarrassment deepened in first half injury time when Walters sent Jamie Forrester clear, to run half the length of the pitch before lifting the ball over the advancing Glennon for the third goal.

Any hopes of a miraculous second half recovery were dashed three minutes into the half when Elliott grabbed his second. The irrepressible Walters played in Forrester whose shot was parried away by Glennon straight to Elliott who had the simple task of firing home from eight yards.

Hull’s momentum faltered momentarily, Adam Rundle heading straight at Alan Fettis and Richie Foran missing a clear heading opportunity at the far after Hudson and Rundle combined well down the left.

But the lead was further extended on 67 minutes. Walters ran onto Joseph’s ball from his own half leaving the Carlisle defenders in his wake to clinically finish past Glennon.

Dudfield then hit a post for Hull before the Cumbrians pulled a consolation goal back in injury time when Craig Farrell’s free kick managed to creep through the Tigers’ defensive wall.