The Hendon Invitational Cup kicked off with a high tempo opener as we, despite eventually losing, held our own against a strong Hendon side, writes James Barrett.
Boss Peter Adeniyi gave himself, Femi, Kingsley Aikhionbare, Mickel Miller and Sean O’Toole a first full start of pre-season, with the latter also given the opportunity to lead the team out.
The game swung for end-to-end from the very beginning as our hosts broke from a Femi cross, following good approach work by Adeniyi and Aikhionbare, and Karl Oliyide bore down on our goal until Kalvin Morath-Gibbs slid in to deny him a shot inside our box.
Oliyide then read a poor pass from Jamahl King out of our defence to rob Adeniyi but the striker took his shot early and it flew wide of Jack Minchin’s right-hand post.
We then began to dominate possession thanks to the work rate of both Aikhionbare and Sekou Kaba through the middle and the pace of Ricky Korkoa, Ricardo Panton and Miller whom had a fair case for a penalty waved away on 18 minutes.
Hendon almost opened the scoring four minutes later as Oliyide found himself through on our goal yet again. Minchin did enough to deny him space for a shot so he squared the ball to Mayo Balogun whom then saw Femi block his shot in front of an empty net.
The next real goalmouth opportunity came on 27 minutes as we won a corner. Kaba rose highest to head the ball past goalkeeper Tyler McCarthy but a body in green diverted the ball’s flight and the midfielder was denied a cert goal.
The deadlock was broken six minutes later as a poor clearance by Minchin was knocked into the path of Spencer McCall and the midfielder coolly slotted past our advancing keeper.
We almost hit back straightaway as Miller won a free kick 20 yards from Hendon’s goal but his resultant attempt on goal was a whisker away from dropping inside the top far corner.
Then Korboa displayed quick feet to beat his marker and play Aikhionbare through on goal. The young striker held off Dave Diedhiou but his angled drive was deflected over by the outstretched foot of McCarthy.
The home keeper then kept his side ahead in added time after Miller did well to take a high ball down on the run inside the area, but McCarthy rushed out to block our man’s cross-shot.
HALF-TIME: 1 – 0
Hendon came out looking to extend their lead early but Arthur Lee put a header on a corner just over before Keagan Cole thumped a first-time shot from 18 yards against our crossbar.
Kaba was cruelly denied a goal again on 54 minutes as he met another corner delivery with his head but Dave Diedhiou instinctively deflected the ball away from bulging the net with his own.
And we fell further behind just two minutes later as the lively Oliyide smashed home a right wing cross beyond the despairing dive of Minchin.
Our heads didn’t drop however and we continued to look neat and tidy in possession – we almost reduced the deficit on the hour after Korboa showed great vision to get Adeniyi in on goal from inside his own half. Our player/manager kept his composure as McCarthy came out but unfortunately his measured shot cannoned back off the post.
Following good work between Panton and Miller down the left, Morath-Gibbs managed to knock a deep cross in which O’Toole took down well. His subsequent shot was blocked but Miller kept the pressure on only for Adeyini to head his cross over the crossbar at the back post.
The hot conditions triggered many substitutions by both sides during the last 25 minutes but no-one threatened to add to the scoreline despite both teams getting forward when they could.
Next up: We face Slough Town in the Hendon Invitational Cup runners-up game on Sunday 24th July (kick-off 1pm), then Met Police visit Colston Avenue on Saturday 30th July (kick-off 3pm).
Carshalton Athletic: Minchin; Femi, King, Morath-Gibbs (Franklyn – 86), Panton (Okuguni – 86); Korboa (Healy – 75), Kaba (del Alcasal – 75), Adeniyi (Kaiser – 75), Miller (Salgado – 72), O’Toole (Ayah – 67); Aikhionbare (Thompson – 75)
Hendon starting XI: McCarthy, Tingey, Lee, Maclaren, Diedhiou, Cole, Vassell, McCall, Ibe, Oliyide, Balogun
Subs: A da Costa, Kuehn, Robins, Achille, Cousins, K da Costa, Bettache
Goals: McCall (31), Oliyide (56)