Corinthian-Casuals 2 - 0 Carshalton Athletic
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 5th April 2016
Attendance: 160
Report by Cameron Smith. Pics by Stuart Tree
Two goals in two minutes from the in-form Shaun Okojie gave ten-men Corinthian-Casuals hope in landing a place in the play-offs after a hard-earned 2-0 victory over Carshalton Athletic in a lively encounter at King George’s.
A memorable late winner against East Grinstead on Saturday was still fresh in the minds of the Casuals supporters as the race for the play-offs heated up. The absence of Danny Dudley was a massive blow to James Bracken’s side. However, after a clean sheet against the Wasps, Ben King was injected with new-found confidence in the unfamiliar position. Meanwhile, Juevan Spencer was replaced in midfield by Brandon Johnson. Emil Salama, who made an impressive impact from the substitutes bench on Saturday, started on the right wing ahead of Josh Uzun.
Carshalton were in 10th place, three spots behind Casuals. They were maintaining a four game unbeaten run, where they most notably beat Hastings United 3-1.
From the start, Casuals had control of the game. Jamie Byatt had a chance to score inside the first twenty seconds but the ball was cleared on the goal-line. Warren Morgan took advantage of a lapse in concentration from the visitors with a marauding run before being unfairly upended by Captain Tony Sinclair in the area. As the referee pointed to the spot, Shaun Okojie strolled towards the ball, eyeing up the goalkeeper. The striker had ice flowing through his veins as he sent keeper Luke Colquhoun the wrong way and scored in the fourth minute.
Perhaps still affected conceding early, Colquhoun received the ball in the six yard box and without thinking, passed it out wide to a marked full-back. Salama was on his toes and intercepted the ball before squaring it to Okojie in the centre. The target-man made no mistake as he slotted past the devastated Robin’s keeper and celebrated.
Carshalton lacked attacking inspiration and most of the possession fell in the hosts favour until the stroke of half-time. As midfield engine Niall Wright was heavily involved in a squabble on the half-way line, the referee Andrew Williams awarded Casuals a free-kick. After the pushing and shoving died down, Williams, to the shock of King George’s, showed a straight red card to Wright and only a yellow for agitator Tommy Bradford. The bizarre decision took an even stranger turn when the original judgement of a Casuals free-kick was over-ruled and it became a set-piece for the away side. Expressions of confusion, disbelief and anger rippled through the shell-shocked crowd. The first-half ended with mixed emotions as Casuals faced an up-hill task of protecting their 2-0 lead with ten men.
Anxiously, Casuals fans watched on as Danny Bracken made a great stop to deny the speedy Ricky Korboa, who skipped past the Morgan with ease. Byatt knocked down a long-ball for Okojie to turn and shoot just wide of the post.
There was an unpleasant moment after Carshalton’s Colquhoun dropped the ball at the near post from a corner, resulting an exchange with fans behind the goal. This led to the keeper seemingly taking matters into his own hands before calm was restored.
A lengthy stoppage; it looked less likely that Carshalton would conjure two goals, especially when Korboa was dismissed for a second yellow with ten, tense minutes to go. That was the case as Casuals deservedly took home all three points.
Remaining in tenth place, it looks like Carshalton will have to settle for a mid-table spot. Play-off rivals Hastings edged East Grinstead while Molesey were held at Tooting and Herne Bay lost against Ramsgate. One point from the play-off spots, Corinth sit in seventh place with two consecutive trips to Walton on the cards.
After the match, Manager James Bracken gave his thoughts.
“Was it a feisty game? Well, I can’t remember us committing a bad foul in the whole game. We’ve had one sent off just before half time for something I honestly can’t see and neither can anyone else in the ground.
“It changed the game even though we were two-nil up by that point. Our game plan certainly worked and counter-acted everything they were trying to achieve, which is why we scored two early goals.
“Second half, I thought we were fantastic.
“There’s different ways to play football. Not one way – and that’s a mistake a lot of people make – they think there’s one way to play football and win. There isn’t. If you know all of the different ways to play and you can apply them at the right times, you’ll always get the upper hand. That’s what we’ve done tonight.
“I don’t know what the laws are when the keeper leaves the field of play and confronts fans and puts his hands up, but if he does that on the pitch to a player, he walks. I don’t see why he should be able to do that to our fans who were again, fantastic tonight.
“Four wins down and three to go. That’s the way we’re looking at it.
“Going into Saturday we’re very focussed. We’ve had pressure for the last four games because I’ve told them that we have to win them all and we’ve won four out of four. So there’s no more pressure now.
“There’s pressure on one or two teams around us who should have a look at what we’re doing and realise we were six points adrift and now we’re a point outside the playoffs with three games to go. So maybe they’ll feel a bit of pressure.”
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 5th April 2016
Attendance: 160
Report by Cameron Smith. Pics by Stuart Tree
Two goals in two minutes from the in-form Shaun Okojie gave ten-men Corinthian-Casuals hope in landing a place in the play-offs after a hard-earned 2-0 victory over Carshalton Athletic in a lively encounter at King George’s.
A memorable late winner against East Grinstead on Saturday was still fresh in the minds of the Casuals supporters as the race for the play-offs heated up. The absence of Danny Dudley was a massive blow to James Bracken’s side. However, after a clean sheet against the Wasps, Ben King was injected with new-found confidence in the unfamiliar position. Meanwhile, Juevan Spencer was replaced in midfield by Brandon Johnson. Emil Salama, who made an impressive impact from the substitutes bench on Saturday, started on the right wing ahead of Josh Uzun.
Carshalton were in 10th place, three spots behind Casuals. They were maintaining a four game unbeaten run, where they most notably beat Hastings United 3-1.
From the start, Casuals had control of the game. Jamie Byatt had a chance to score inside the first twenty seconds but the ball was cleared on the goal-line. Warren Morgan took advantage of a lapse in concentration from the visitors with a marauding run before being unfairly upended by Captain Tony Sinclair in the area. As the referee pointed to the spot, Shaun Okojie strolled towards the ball, eyeing up the goalkeeper. The striker had ice flowing through his veins as he sent keeper Luke Colquhoun the wrong way and scored in the fourth minute.
Perhaps still affected conceding early, Colquhoun received the ball in the six yard box and without thinking, passed it out wide to a marked full-back. Salama was on his toes and intercepted the ball before squaring it to Okojie in the centre. The target-man made no mistake as he slotted past the devastated Robin’s keeper and celebrated.
Carshalton lacked attacking inspiration and most of the possession fell in the hosts favour until the stroke of half-time. As midfield engine Niall Wright was heavily involved in a squabble on the half-way line, the referee Andrew Williams awarded Casuals a free-kick. After the pushing and shoving died down, Williams, to the shock of King George’s, showed a straight red card to Wright and only a yellow for agitator Tommy Bradford. The bizarre decision took an even stranger turn when the original judgement of a Casuals free-kick was over-ruled and it became a set-piece for the away side. Expressions of confusion, disbelief and anger rippled through the shell-shocked crowd. The first-half ended with mixed emotions as Casuals faced an up-hill task of protecting their 2-0 lead with ten men.
Anxiously, Casuals fans watched on as Danny Bracken made a great stop to deny the speedy Ricky Korboa, who skipped past the Morgan with ease. Byatt knocked down a long-ball for Okojie to turn and shoot just wide of the post.
There was an unpleasant moment after Carshalton’s Colquhoun dropped the ball at the near post from a corner, resulting an exchange with fans behind the goal. This led to the keeper seemingly taking matters into his own hands before calm was restored.
A lengthy stoppage; it looked less likely that Carshalton would conjure two goals, especially when Korboa was dismissed for a second yellow with ten, tense minutes to go. That was the case as Casuals deservedly took home all three points.
Remaining in tenth place, it looks like Carshalton will have to settle for a mid-table spot. Play-off rivals Hastings edged East Grinstead while Molesey were held at Tooting and Herne Bay lost against Ramsgate. One point from the play-off spots, Corinth sit in seventh place with two consecutive trips to Walton on the cards.
After the match, Manager James Bracken gave his thoughts.
“Was it a feisty game? Well, I can’t remember us committing a bad foul in the whole game. We’ve had one sent off just before half time for something I honestly can’t see and neither can anyone else in the ground.
“It changed the game even though we were two-nil up by that point. Our game plan certainly worked and counter-acted everything they were trying to achieve, which is why we scored two early goals.
“Second half, I thought we were fantastic.
“There’s different ways to play football. Not one way – and that’s a mistake a lot of people make – they think there’s one way to play football and win. There isn’t. If you know all of the different ways to play and you can apply them at the right times, you’ll always get the upper hand. That’s what we’ve done tonight.
“I don’t know what the laws are when the keeper leaves the field of play and confronts fans and puts his hands up, but if he does that on the pitch to a player, he walks. I don’t see why he should be able to do that to our fans who were again, fantastic tonight.
“Four wins down and three to go. That’s the way we’re looking at it.
“Going into Saturday we’re very focussed. We’ve had pressure for the last four games because I’ve told them that we have to win them all and we’ve won four out of four. So there’s no more pressure now.
“There’s pressure on one or two teams around us who should have a look at what we’re doing and realise we were six points adrift and now we’re a point outside the playoffs with three games to go. So maybe they’ll feel a bit of pressure.”
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