The first team were hosts to Merstham FC at Colston Avenue today.
New boss Peter Adeniyi took the opportunity to give several
new faces a chance to impress, while the visitors had ex-Robins Simon Cooper,
Dean McDonald and Alex Addai among their ranks and former manager Hayden Bird
in the dugout.
We didn’t get off to the best of starts however as Anton
Douglas was given time and space in the 10th minute to cut in from the left.
The midfielder finally unleashed a low drive which beat the despairing dive of
youth team goalkeeper Jack Minchin from the edge of the box.
Our first effort on target came just two minutes later as
Brendan Murphy-McVey got onto a loose ball by the visitor’s D but his curled
effort went into the arms of the grateful Chris Haigh.
Both sides traded attacks as the late evening sun bathed
Colston Avenue in a glorious hue but Merstham looked the more likely until the
27th minute mark.
Firstly Ricky Korboa played a neat one-two with Sekou Kaba
to get free down the left but a defender just got in front of the lurking
Daniel Thompson to clear the low cross away.
Then we drew level thanks to the tenacity of Korboa –
the young midfielder stole the ball off a dithering Cooper before advancing
clean through on goal. He then checked back inside the recovering full back and
bent a neat shot around Haigh from 10 yards.
King slid in to deny Pat Cox a clean sight of goal a few
minutes later, Korboa tested Haigh with a snapshot from 20 yards and McDonald
found himself free on a squared cross from the left on 38 minutes but our
former striker guided a free shot way off target.
Merstham were given the chance to retake the lead after the
referee judged the coming together of Minchin and Samuels as a foul in our six
yard box and Cox steered home the spot-kick.
HALF-TIME: 1 – 2
Adeniyi was introduced at the start of the second-half, as
was Addai whom extended Merstham’s lead when his 50th minute cross looped over
the head of Minchin and fortuitously went in via the inside of the far post.
Thompson flicked on a Murphy-McVey cross five minutes later
and Tommy Bradford found himself unmarked at the back post, but the angle
didn’t favour our man and his shot dragged across the six yard area.
Bradford then had an opportunity to test sub keeper Phil
Wilson with a 20 yard free kick but his firm drive just flew narrowly wide.
Wilson then showed his worth by first denying Thompson with
his legs after our forward did well to beat his marker onto a wicked left wing
delivery by Paris Hamilton-Downes, then by rushing out to parry a shot by Bradford
after our man got in on goal via a one-two with Korboa.
We made a flurry of substitutions, including the
re-appearance of midfielder Sean O’Toole for the first time this calendar year,
but Merstham began to carve out the better chances again; Tom Howard blasted
one over from distance, while Jarrell Gray slid in perfectly to deny Addai a
free run at our goal.
Minchin superbly tipped over a stinging strike from Addai on
78 minutes after the winger’s pace again got him into a decent shooting
position, but the visitors added a fourth before the end as Callum Willock’s
run broke our offside trap and he rounded the young keeper before slotting
home.
Next up: We prepare to welcome Kingstionian to
Colston Avenue on Saturday 16th July (kick-off 3pm).
Carshalton Athletic: Minchin; Gray, King (Adeniyi –
46), Ismail, Hamilton-Downes (c); Murphy-McVey (Salgado – 63), Males (Healy –
63), Bradford (Franklyn – 63), Kaba (Kaiser – 63), Korboa (O’Toole – 63);
Thompson (Aikhionbare – 63)
Unused sub: Pink
Goal: Korboa (29)
Merstham: Haigh (Wilson – 54), Cooper (c), Campbell,
Douglas, Okoye, Samuels (Howard – 46), Bennett (Henriques – 71), Vidal, Cox
(Willock – 54), McDonald (Djamou – 63), Hector (Addai – 46)
Goals: Douglas (10), Cox (42 pen), Addai (50),
Willock (86)
Written by James Barrett.
Written by James Barrett.