It was a good workout as we ran out 2-0 winners over local rivals Kingstonian on a warm Saturday afternoon.
A goal in each half, coupled with several fine saves by goalkeeper Jack Minchin, saw us move on from Monday's performance in a positive manner.
Boss Peter Adeniyi gave Bobby Price, Ricardo Panton and Kalvin Morath-Gibbs their first run outs of this pre-season, while Josh Phillips was also named among the substitutes. Former Robins Tommy Williams (as manager), Pelayo Pico Gomez and Saidou Khan were all in the visiting party.
Both sides created early chances; Daniel Thompson held up a long ball and gave Ricky Korboa the chance to see an effort blocked by a defender's leg, while Jack Dixon thrashed a shot wide for the visitors.
Each keeper did well to claim crosses under pressure and Rob Tolfrey had to be at his most dogged to stop the surging Ricardo Panton from making something of a long cross field ball on 10 minutes.
Jack Minchin's first save of the afternoon came six minutes later as he got down to smother George Wells' low drive. We broke from that and Bobby Price was played in behind the Ks defence but Thompson's header on the cross was wayward.
We continued to dominate possession and some neat passing saw us keep the Ks defence on their toes, but Korboa blazed over the best chance created on 25 minutes.
Price bravely put Ryan Moss under pressure as a cross came into our box, receiving a whack on the head for his trouble, and we broke from the resultant corner to open the scoring. Korboa put Tommy Bradford through on goal and, as our forward bore down on goal, Tolfrey got down to block his low shot from inside the box. However Thompson, who'd followed the action, was on hand to knock the ball into an empty net from six yards.
Minchin did well to deny Moss five minutes later as the striker wrapped a half volley around a poor defensive clearance inside our area and we broke again to cause Ks some trouble but, although Price did well to draw out Tolfrey before unselfishly squaring to Thompson, our goalscorer was denied his second by a well-timed recovering tackle by Aaron Goode.
Bradford and Panton both saw efforts narrowly clear the Ks goal just before the break, while Morath-Gibbs stood his ground to deny Pico Gomez a potential goal upon his return to Colston Avenue.
HALF-TIME: 1 - 0
Bradford again almost scored three minutes after the restart but his shot was a whisker the wrong side of the far post, but we did double our advantage on 51 minutes.
Matt Males played an inch-perfect ball over the top for Korboa to run clear on to and, as Tolfrey remained big and narrowed the angle, he curled the ball low with the outside of his foot and inside the far post.
Kigstonian responded by rattling our crossbar from distance and then making nine changes, while we introduced Jarrell Gray, Femi and Nii Ayah at the back.
Panton superbly slid in to deny Sadik Baslarabe a clear shot on our goal on 64 minutes and Leo Burgess saw his header on the resultant corner bounce off the top off of our crossbar.
We made some more substitutions but our reinvigorated visitors continued to press forward only to find Minchin in inspired form - he first kept out a firm Balarase header with a strong right hand, before diving low to clutch a shot by Emmanuel Akinokou.
Esteban Salgado, who looked lively after coming on, jinked past a couple of challenges on 81 minutes before slipping Josh Phillips in on goal. The angle didn't favour the young forward but his shot still beat Tolfrey before rolling agonisingly across goal.
We kept our clean sheet thanks in no small part to Minchin whom made two more good blocks as the game entered added time, while Tolfrey stayed big to block out Phillips whom had stolen in on a through ball and stabbed the ball goalwards.
Next up: We travel to the home of Hendon on Saturday 23rd July to play the hosts in the first of a two-day tournament (kick-off 1pm).
Carshalton Athletic: Minchin; Price (Gray - 55), King (Femi - 55), Morath-Gibbs (Ayah - 55), Panton; Bradford (Franklyn - 66), Males (Healy - 66), Murphy-McVey (Salgado - 66), Kaba, Korboa (O'Toole - 66); Thompson (Phillips - 66)
Unused subs: Aikhionbare, Del Alcasal, Adeniyi
Goals: Thompson (32), Korboa (51)
Kingstonian: Tolfrey; Goode (Stripp - 55), Page (Dixon - 81), Hustwick (Ratteray - 55), Wells (Skelton - 55); Derry (Burgess -55), Dixon (Newman - 55), Nicholson (Khan - 55), Turner (Balarabe - 55); Pico Gomez (Akinakou - 55), Moss (Etheridge - 55)
Written by James Barrett.
Written by James Barrett.