Portsmouth fell to a 4-2 defeat at Brunton Park yesterday with the scoreline masking what was, in truth, a poor performance from the visitors.
Carlisle took advantage of a disjointed first half showing from Pompey with Jon Harley and Izale McLeod having particularly bad games.
The former made a mistake for the opener, as he lost the ball to Jon-Paul McGovern who crossed for an unmarked Jake Jervis who had all the time in the world to head in the opening goal on his debut.
The hosts took control of the game due to Pompey rushing their passing, which saw the ball given away cheaply far too many times. The defence were also disorganised with many last-ditch challenges denying Carlisle a second goal.
A bad first half from Pompey's perspective was summed up by McLeod's air shot after he was put through by Luke Rodgers in what was their best chance of the half.
Unfortunately any hopes of a second half improvement were quickly diminished as Danny Livesey headed in a corner in the 48th minute.
McLeod had a great chance to half the deficit straight from the restart as he was played in on goal again but he frustratingly struck his shot straight at Adam Collin.
The game lulled as Carlisle continued to pressure the disorganised Pompey defence yet couldn't find the quality to finish them off. Eventually, Michael Appleton's men began to start playing and almost scored when Jordan Obita's fierce 30 yard shot cannoned off the crossbar.
But any hopes of a late comeback looked to have been dashed for good when Kevin Long was sent off for a second bookable offence with both yellow cards coming for clumsy challenges.
However, Ashley Harris headed in Liam Walker's cross in the 89th minute to give the fans who had made the long journey from Portsmouth some hope.
But that hope looked to have been destroyed when Pompey left themselves open and Jervis was put through in acres of space. His shot was saved by Mikkel Andersen but James Berrett was in the box to put away the rebound.
Amazingly, Pompey still didn't lie down and in the second minute of stoppage time grabbed another goal as Carlisle failed to deal with a long ball and Connor Clifford struck the ball past Collin from the edge of the box.
As the ten men of Pompey piled forward in search of a last-gasp equaliser, the Cumbrians really did ensure they won the game as a counter-attack led to McGovern having all the time in the world to shoot and the loose ball fell to Paddy Madden who scored from all of two yards.
The result was a fair one and no Pompey fan who made the trek would tell you that we deserved anything yesterday due to a poor performance in the first hour of the game.
We didn't really start playing until Harris and Obita were moved to play up front and they both looked dangerous. However, defending from set-pieces was our downfall once again and it seems we struggle to deal with the aerial threat of teams as two more headers found the back of the net.
I think we need to remember just how big a scalp Portsmouth is in League One. The behaviour of some of Carlisle's more "mentally challenged" fans would suggest just that, as they liked to remind us what the score was by shaping their hands into "2-0" although that's where it ended. I'm guessing they couldn't count to three...
But the way some of their fans celebrated when the fourth went in was if they had just won the FA Cup. I doubt this will be the only time this happens but I guess that's what happens when a club such as ours falls from grace so quickly.
Hopefully Appleton will be able to sign a few more players this wek, especially a centre back or two now Long is suspended for the visit of Oldham.
But the most important thing this week is that Trevor Birch accepts the right bid for Portsmouth Football Club to ensure it has a chance of a bright future, rather than an inevitable demise under Portpin's ownership.
Pompey Player Ratings
Mikkel Andersen: 6 - Let down by his defence.
Adam Webster: N/A - Off with injury.
Kevin Long: 5 - Made some good challenges but too clumsy.
Paul Connolly: 5 - Struggled with Jervis.
Jon Harkey: 4 - All at sea.
Mustapha Dumbuya: 5 - Struggled when he had to fill in at right back.
Liam Walker: 6 - Some flashes of quality.
Brian Howard: 5 - Passing was too rushed.
Jack Compton: 6 - Posed Carlisle a few problems.
Luke Rodgers: 6 - Worked hard and created chances.
Izale McLeod: 4 - Missed most of Pompey's chances.
Substitutes
Simon Eastwood
Jordan Obita (Webster 35): 7 - Looked a threat both on the wing and up front.
Connor Clifford (McLeod 77): N/A - Well taken goal.
Ashley Harris (Rodgers 77): N/A - Did more in cameo than McLeod did all game. Possible starter next Saturday, perhaps?