Carshalton Athletic 0 - 0 Corinthian-Casuals
Bostik League South
Tuesday 26th December 2017
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pics here)
Corinthian-Casuals and Carshalton Athletic both drew blanks in a high quality Boxing Day clash at Colston Avenue, to leave both sides still just outside the automatic promotion places.
Casuals and Carshalton came into the match 3rd and 4th in the table respectively. Looking to avenge the 4-2 loss to the Robins on the August Bank Holiday, Manager James Bracken still had a number of players missing but drafted in fan favourite Terry Murray at Centre Back much to the delight of the travelling support. Harry Ottaway and Nathan Daly were the notable absentees from the 3-2 win at the weekend with Reyon Dillon leading the charge up front.
As to be expected from two sides who like to play attractive football, both sides were happy to zip the ball around on the artificial surface – a welcome change to some of the poor pitches at this time of the year. Despite the slick football, neither side were committed to pushing forward and the opening exchanges were a little cagey. Casuals threatened with their first chance coming courtesy of Ben Cheklit’s free kick, only parried by Billy Bishop who was able to gather at the second time of asking.
At the other end, Danny Bracken made a fine save after Carshalton broke down Casuals defence and Mikel Miller blasted at the stopper from the edge of the box.
Casuals best chance fell to Reyon Dillon with the first half closing when Gabriel Odunaike unselfishly squared the ball to the big striker but his shot was just the wrong side of the post and only troubled the outside of the netting.
The second half belonged to the Robins, certainly in possession and territory. Bracken once again made two fine stops to ensure parity in the scoreline, one a brilliant scoop around the post from Ricky Korboa. Casuals attacks were more fleeting though Dillon would feel he should’ve put the Casuals in front when Max Oldham’s cross fizzed along the goalmouth and only needed the faintest of touches to find the target.
Max Oldham caused the most fear for the Robins back line and he was felled by Dudley just on the edge of the penalty area. Step-up Josh Uzun who narrowly flashed his free kick wide.
Carshalton could’ve won it at the end when possession was loosely given away and allowed Ricky Korboa to run through with only Bracken to beat. However, the resulting wild shot flashed over the bar and into the distance.
In a game devoid of any real bad challenges, it was inexplicable as to how both sides shared nine bookings but despite the best efforts of the referee to take centre stage, both Carshalton and Casuals were able to put on an entertaining afternoon’s football for the 424 in attendance.
James Bracken commented after the game, "I don’t ever accept coming into a game looking for a draw, but sometimes, after the match has finished, sometimes you can say a draw is a good and fair result. It’s a point gained rather than two lost today."
"It was a good game of football. It was a good advert for this league. Carshalton like to play, we set up a certain way to counter it. We had our chances as did they. Certainly right at the death, we’ve made a couple of poor errors through players tiring. One of them, it’s his second game and the other his first for two months. Understandably a little bit of tiredness crept in at the end.
"Other than that, the chances were few and far between.
"A point keeps them behind us. This isn’t an easy place to come and Carshalton played very well today. I’ve seen them a few times this season and that’s as good as I’ve seen them move the ball around in the second half as I’ve seen this year. But we’ve more than kept with it. We’ve had our own attacks, not through controlled possession as they have but still created one or two chances.
"We’re starting to get there. That’s one defeat in the last six and a clean sheet away at Carshalton. I believe we’ve turned the corner and now out of what was our blip. We need to push on and pick up a consecutive run of three points."
Bostik League South
Tuesday 26th December 2017
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pics here)
Corinthian-Casuals and Carshalton Athletic both drew blanks in a high quality Boxing Day clash at Colston Avenue, to leave both sides still just outside the automatic promotion places.
Casuals and Carshalton came into the match 3rd and 4th in the table respectively. Looking to avenge the 4-2 loss to the Robins on the August Bank Holiday, Manager James Bracken still had a number of players missing but drafted in fan favourite Terry Murray at Centre Back much to the delight of the travelling support. Harry Ottaway and Nathan Daly were the notable absentees from the 3-2 win at the weekend with Reyon Dillon leading the charge up front.
As to be expected from two sides who like to play attractive football, both sides were happy to zip the ball around on the artificial surface – a welcome change to some of the poor pitches at this time of the year. Despite the slick football, neither side were committed to pushing forward and the opening exchanges were a little cagey. Casuals threatened with their first chance coming courtesy of Ben Cheklit’s free kick, only parried by Billy Bishop who was able to gather at the second time of asking.
At the other end, Danny Bracken made a fine save after Carshalton broke down Casuals defence and Mikel Miller blasted at the stopper from the edge of the box.
Casuals best chance fell to Reyon Dillon with the first half closing when Gabriel Odunaike unselfishly squared the ball to the big striker but his shot was just the wrong side of the post and only troubled the outside of the netting.
The second half belonged to the Robins, certainly in possession and territory. Bracken once again made two fine stops to ensure parity in the scoreline, one a brilliant scoop around the post from Ricky Korboa. Casuals attacks were more fleeting though Dillon would feel he should’ve put the Casuals in front when Max Oldham’s cross fizzed along the goalmouth and only needed the faintest of touches to find the target.
Max Oldham caused the most fear for the Robins back line and he was felled by Dudley just on the edge of the penalty area. Step-up Josh Uzun who narrowly flashed his free kick wide.
Carshalton could’ve won it at the end when possession was loosely given away and allowed Ricky Korboa to run through with only Bracken to beat. However, the resulting wild shot flashed over the bar and into the distance.
In a game devoid of any real bad challenges, it was inexplicable as to how both sides shared nine bookings but despite the best efforts of the referee to take centre stage, both Carshalton and Casuals were able to put on an entertaining afternoon’s football for the 424 in attendance.
James Bracken commented after the game, "I don’t ever accept coming into a game looking for a draw, but sometimes, after the match has finished, sometimes you can say a draw is a good and fair result. It’s a point gained rather than two lost today."
"It was a good game of football. It was a good advert for this league. Carshalton like to play, we set up a certain way to counter it. We had our chances as did they. Certainly right at the death, we’ve made a couple of poor errors through players tiring. One of them, it’s his second game and the other his first for two months. Understandably a little bit of tiredness crept in at the end.
"Other than that, the chances were few and far between.
"A point keeps them behind us. This isn’t an easy place to come and Carshalton played very well today. I’ve seen them a few times this season and that’s as good as I’ve seen them move the ball around in the second half as I’ve seen this year. But we’ve more than kept with it. We’ve had our own attacks, not through controlled possession as they have but still created one or two chances.
"We’re starting to get there. That’s one defeat in the last six and a clean sheet away at Carshalton. I believe we’ve turned the corner and now out of what was our blip. We need to push on and pick up a consecutive run of three points."
RSS Feed