Burnley 5 Carlisle United 0: A young Carlisle United side went down to a heavy defeat in the Central League Cup despite hosts Burnley having two players sent off.

The Blues’ second game in this reserve competition saw a side almost entirely made up of under-18 players defeated by the Clarets’ under-21s.

Joe Westley headed the hosts into a 1-0 half-time lead before Tommy McDermott, Tom Tweedy (two) and Joe Bauress struck in the second half.

The home side dealt a ruthless lesson to the United XI, in a game watched by Burnley’s Cumbrian England Under-21 goalkeeper James Trafford, who paid a visit to the touchline to see his current and former clubs in action.

Carlisle’s side was overseen by under-18 manager Mark Birch along with coach Jamie Devitt, with academy manager Steven Rudd also at Burnley’s Barnfield Training Centre.

United, who lost 5-0 in their Central League Cup opener at home to Blackburn Rovers in September, included third-year scholar Aran Fitzpatrick in their XI.

United's Simon Rigby battles for the ballUnited's Simon Rigby battles for the ball (Image: Kevin Hayden)

He was the most senior face as youth team players made up the rest of the side, including three who have made first-team debuts this season – Freddie O’Donoghue, Hayden Atkinson and Dan Hopper – with the Blues opting not to involve any members of their current first-team squad.

Carlisle made a positive start with Simon Rigby almost setting up Hopper, before seeing a shot deflected wide.

Westley went close for the hosts before Atkinson’s excellent sliding tackle denied the dangerous Joe Bevan.

But on 28 minutes Burnley struck, Bevan drifting in from the right and his cross finding Westley unmarked as the striker – the son of former Stevenage and Preston North End boss Graham Westley – heading past Blues keeper Casey Sillitoe.

The Cumbrians then carved out their best chance ten minutes before the break after winning the ball back in the Burnley half as Hopper drove at the defence before feeding Jonah Lowes, but he shot wide from a good position.

United reached the hour mark still 1-0 down, Hopper having by then had a shot saved and Atkinson denying Brandon Ly at the other end and the Cumbrians appearing to be giving the home side a good contest.

But then Burnley punished the Blues with three goals in the space of eight minutes.

First, a corned was worked from the left before McDermott found space outside the box before firing impressively past Sillitoe.

Six minutes later, United failed to deal with a ball in the right channel and sub Tweedy, who had been on the pitch for just four minutes, ran through to score.

Tweedy then got his second two minutes later before Burnley were reduced to ten men when Ly was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Fitzpatrick, who went close from the resulting United free-kick.

It was 5-0 on 77 minutes when another sub, Joe Ashton, beat Jack Porter to a long ball down the left before supplying Bauress to curl home.

Trent Chapman on the ball for the young BluesTrent Chapman on the ball for the young Blues (Image: Kevin Hayden)

That was the end of the scoring but not the incident as Andy Farrell’s Burnley had another player dismissed by referee Ryan Aldred.

This time it was McDermott, whose foul on Lowes earned him a second yellow with seven minutes remaining.

The red cards, and several other bookings shown during the contest, attracted disagreement from both benches.

Burnley’s nine men then held off United’s remaining threat, Fitzpatrick failing to play O’Donoghue in and sub Amaru Smith denied after a promising run as Carlisle went down to defeat.

The Blues still have Barrow and Morecambe to face in this season’s Central League Cup group stage, while Burnley are the defending cup holders, their under-21s now unbeaten in eight consecutive games this campaign.

Burnley: Robinson, Balogun, Pye (Ashton 40), Ward (Williams 62), Campbell, Bauress, Bevan (Tweedy 62), Lye, Westley (Ryan 67), McDermott, Masara. Not used: Forshaw.

United: Sillitoe, Chapman (Bell 54), Hopper, Porter, Fitzpatrick, Atkinson, Rigby, Skinner (Hodgson 67), O’Donoghue, Lowes, Lambert (Smith 59). Not used: Randall.