Ryman Division One South
Tuesday 9th September 2014
Attendance 165
By Darren Pasley
Pictures: Stuart Tree
Corinthian-Casuals moved to the summit of the Ryman South table with their first clean sheet of the season on their travels.
Jordan Vidal and Steve Goddard returned to the starting line up as Matt Howard’s men looked to extend their winning run in the league to four matches.
The opening exchanges in truth were sloppy with both sides giving the ball away despite the Colston Avenue pitch being in great early season condition.
The home side looked the more lively but it wasn’t till the 17th minute that the games first meaningful effort on target was registered. Adriano Moraes up from full back hit an effort from the edge of the box that deflected off Wright and over. From the resulting corner taken by Greene, skipper Tony Sinclair saw his goalbound volley hit Dudley as the Robins pressed for the opener.
Casuals had their first effort after 21 minutes when Lee Hall hit a speculative effort from distance but despite having power the shot lacked the direction to trouble Jack Eden in the home net.
Carshalton were looking increasingly threatening with the attacking trio of Aikhionbare, Thomas and Miller all interchanging and causing problems with their movement up top. Despite this however the visitors took the lead in 25th minute.
With a throw only heading its way back out to the left hand side Dave Hodges crossed superbly for Joe Hicks to rise above the attentions of two defenders and head home superbly into the top corner. It was another great goal for the skipper on the back of his volley against Redhill three days earlier.
The hosts continued to posses a menace inside the visitors box and Bracken was called into serious action for the first time as he got down low to tip Kingsley Aikhionbare’s low effort past the post. From the corner the ball fell to Jamal Alexander who had a drive tipped over by Casuals number one.
On 33 minutes Eden was forced into his first save of the night when Bettache attempted a dipping volley from just outside the box, which was well held.
Dwayne Marshall had the best chance for an equaliser 3 minutes before the break but from Nicky Greene’s free kick he headed wide of the near post.
After the break it was Casuals who made the early running and on 49 minutes they should have doubled the lead. A free kick from halfway was headed clear and with Hodges looping the ball back into the box, Jamie Byatt unexpectedly found himself onside in acres of space 12 yards from goal. Perhaps surprised, he rushed his effort and hooked a shot wide.
Marshall in a carbon copy of his first half effort went close again this time heading over although the assistants flag was raised from a free kick.
It was a frustrating period for both sides, which followed. The final ball lacking the quality at both ends of the pitch.
In spite of this it was the visitors who fashioned the serious chances. The hardworking Byatt on 66 minutes found himself down the left 12 yards from goal after good work from the battling Goddard. This time though he snatched at his shot and it spun wide of the near post.
Bettache on 74 minutes who had come more into the game in the second period showed a good turn of pace to ride two challenges and feeding Wilson-Dennis. However the striker who in the past had a spell at Colston Avenue took an age to get set and Sinclair had time to recover and deny the strike.
At the other end the home side seemingly having run out of ideas threw on a number of replacements and Tommy Bradford showed promise with direct running. Any foray into the opposition box though was dealt with by the excellent Dudley and Hicks. Apart from a wild effort by Sean O’Toole in the allotted injury time there were no further efforts on Brackens goal and Casuals had reached the top of the table albeit on a temporary basis
Thanks to Steve Wigg the goal can be viewed here