​Oldham Haunts Casuals as Terrors Triumph

Corinthian-Casuals 0-2 Tooting & Mitcham
Combined Counties Premier Division South
Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Report: Josh Lamey Images: Harvey Abbott, Andy Nunn, Stuart Tree

The Terrors haunted Corinthian-Casuals on Tuesday night, as Mu Maan’s hosts were condemned to a 2-0 defeat by noisy neighbours, Tooting & Mitcham.

It was a night of familiar faces, welcoming the return of both Michael Onovwigun and Max Oldham, as well as our former prolific poacher Jamie Byatt who now leads the visitors from the dugout. All three once rocked and rolled in the pink-and-chocolate but now returned to their former stomping ground in a fixture where all former allegiances are forgotten.

Courtesy of the season-opening stalemate that was played out between the sides, both desired to set the tempo early on. Alex Cruickshank thought he had scored a timely Terror’s scorcher, but his long-range effort cannoned back off the crossbar. Casuals then had a sighting of their own, as Andre Coker forced Toby McKimm into a shrewd stop from an acute angle.

As the half continued, Casuals began to settle into the game. On the half-hour mark, a corner straight from the training ground saw Diogo da Silva unleash an effort that flashed across the face of goal, drawing agonising gasps from the Corinthian support behind the goal. Then the bar came to the hosts’ aid for the second time moments after, as Shay Brennan’s curler just lacked sufficient dip to find the top corner.

The width of the woodwork was the difference just after the break, this time for Coker and Corinthian-Casuals. A fortunate deflection gave licence for the swashbuckling forward to let fly from range, before bruising the bar for the third time of the night. A game that, on another day, could’ve had countless efforts in the back of the net.

Rafael Barbosa continued an avalanche of Corinthian attacks, and the Brazilian was on the receiving end of an inch-perfect Tommy Smitch switch, working it well to cut inside, but McKimm gratefully grasped Barbosa’s stinger. All angles of the Tooting goal were being bombarded, but still no breakthrough for the hosts.

Instead, it was Byatt’s side who stormed into the lead just past the hour, when Oldham gratefully received Diogo da Silva’s misplaced pass and rifled his effort off the underside of the bar, stunning the 303 in attendance.

The former Casuals winger continued to terrorise his former club’s back line, and a few minutes later a bobbling ball across the face of goal fell kindly into his path, and Oldham did the rest – slotting high beyond the reach of Sanghyun Baek. A quickfire brace on the ground he loves.

The introduction of Raekwon Bailey-Allen from the bench triggered a reaction for the Casuals players, engineering a few late surges into the Tooting area in search of a lifeline. They thought they had one but an effort from Barbosa was stopped at the death, before Smith’s header was bravely diverted off the line. Amidst the frustration, Wilgnner Ewerthon was shown red after a late challenge that saw Corinth finish the game with 10.

Corinthian-Casuals will look to right the wrongs on Saturday as we host Alton in our fifth consecutive home fixture in a row in all competitions.

Corinthian-Casuals: Baek, Ejeta, Smith, Rowe, Bond (Dos Santos 85), Vitinho (Ewerthon 67), Masikini, Da Silva (Sell 71), Coker, Maia (Bailey-Allen 65), Barbosa