Our afternoon at Chipstead was compounded by two missed penalties as we completed our Christmas schedule with defeat, writes James Barrett.
Team news: Jahmahl King, Ricardo Panton and Brendan Murphy-McVey were all reinstated to the starting line-up, as Kingsley Aikhionbare and Jordan Hibbert dropped to the bench and Bobby Price missed out through injury. Former Robins Luke Colquhoun, David Graves and Jason Henry lined up for Chipstead.
Our hosts made the better start to this one and Raheem Sterling-Parker, whom scored two goals against us in the reverse fixture in August, saw a cross in the second minute practically blocked on the line by Kalvin Morath-Gibbs.
But the winger departed the field with a knock shortly afterwards only for his replacement, Ollie Twum, to skew an angled shot past Joe Tupper's left-hand post with his first meaningful touch.
We were still trying to get a foothold in the game as our passes looking to exploit the pace of Mickel Miller and Ricky Korboa were being dealt with by the home defence, although the former almost burst in on 14 minutes only for a combination of Colquhoun and Graves to deny him.
But we were given the chance to open the scoring from the spot on 18 minutes following a corner delivery into our hosts' box. Morath-Gibbs couldn't quite force the ball on target and it was cleared, but Korboa surged forward past two opponents before Tommy Smith felled him inside the area. Tommy Bradford stepped up but his effort from 12 yards pinged Colquhoun's right-hand post.
Chipstead's striker Karl Parker almost made us pay just two minutes later as he slid in to win a hesitant pass between King and Tupper but our keeper recovered to palm Parker's angled effort around the near post.
But a long ball over the top on 23 minutes saw Parker isolate Morath-Gibbs and the forward cut inside our man before unleashing a powerful shot that gave Tupper no chance as it rose in under the crossbar.
That jolted us into action and we became the dominant team for the next 15 minutes, keeping possession and making the home defenders work hard, but the closest we came to scoring was when Miller almost slid in a wicked Bradford cross at Chipstead's back post.
And we fell foul to another long ball from deep inside our hosts' half on 37 minutes as Morath-Gibbs lost his footing as he contested the ball with Callum Maclean. The forward squared for Parker whom had a shot blocked by King but the unmarked Twum simply side-footed the loose ball in to make it 2-0.
We almost reduced the arrears before the break as Miller took a pass around the advancing Colquhoun in their box before stretching to pull the ball back into the mix from the byline. Peter Adeniyi took aim first-time from 15 yards but Smith did brilliantly to read the ball's flight and block a certain goal on his own line.
HALF-TIME: 2 - 0
Aikhionbare and Ronald Sobowale were introduced at the start of the second-half but we were grateful to Tupper on 50 minutes for staying big and denying Henry after our former forward had burst through clear on a through ball.
The pace of the game was now high and, while Sobowale and Twum both put decent efforts off target, we got ourselves back into the contest on the hour mark.
Some neat work down the right eventually saw Sekou Kaba tease a cross in from a more central position and Bradford ghosted in to guide the ball past Colquhoun for his 20th goal of the season.
We tried to push on and press our ascendancy but the wind was taken out of our sails on 69 minutes as Adeniyi was caught in possession on halfway and Matt Warren galloped down the left side of midfield. He eventually looked up and tried to play a cross to the unmarked Twum from just inside our area but Warren caught the ball on the stretch and its flight deceived Tupper as it ended up creeping inside the far post.
It was a bitter pill to swallow but we responded with Colquhoun getting behind a 20 yard effort from Morath-Gibbs whom had joined in with an attack.
Tupper did well to deny Twum a second on 74 minutes and the hosts then had a goal chalked off as Rob Hastings stabbed home from an offside position.
We had a fair shout for another penalty on 81 minutes after Colquhoun clawed away a hanging cross and Warren seemed to use his arm during his clearance, but we did receive another spot-kick shortly afterwards as the referee adjudged that Aikhionbare, whom had taken down a Paris Hamilton-Downes cross, had been fouled inside the box.
This time Adeniyi stepped up but Colquhoun got down to save his low shot and Miller put the loose ball wide of the target during the follow-up.
And our afternoon was summed up in added time when Kaba neatly took down another Hamilton-Downes cross inside Chipstead's box but then he shanked his effort way across both Colquhoun and the goal.
Photos from this game will be available soon.
Next up: Sittingbourne come to Colston Avenue on Saturday 7th January before Dorking Wanderers arrive on Monday 9th January.
Carshalton Athletic: Tupper; Panton, King (Aikhionbare - 46), Morath-Gibbs, Hamilton-Downes (c); Murphy-McVey, Adeniyi, Kaba; Korboa (Sobowale - 47), Bradford, Miller
Unused subs: Phillips, Healy, Hibbert
Goal: Bradford (60)
Assist: Kaba
Booked: Sobowale
Chipstead: Colquhoun, Felix, O'Flaherty, Graves (c), Smith, Warren, Henry, Cumber, Parker (Hastings - 68), Maclean, Sterling-Parker (Twum - 7)
Unused subs: Francis, Betancourt, Simpson
Goals: Parker (23), Twum (37), Warren (69)
Booked: Smith, Maclean
Attendance: 107