Match report - Corinthian Casuals (a)

A professional performance saw us edge out promotion rivals Corinthian Casuals and pick up three valuable points, writes James Barrett.

Team news: Kalvin Morath-Gibbs, Peter Adeniyi and Sekou Kaba all returned to the starting line-up, while Kingsley Aikhionbare came back into the squad on the bench.

And we made a blistering start as Omar Folkes played Mickel Miller in on four minutes and he forced a corner via a firm save by Bracken.

Tommy Bradford's first delivery was cleared but Paris Hamilton-Downes nodded down his  second cross which Kalvin Morath-Gibbs touched and turned on before rifling home from eight yards.

That settled us down and we began to display our trademark possession football but our final passes were just failing to land, while Casuals gave away niggly fouls or played wasteful balls.

And we doubled our lead on 16 minutes after Miller got across Juevan Spencer as he galloped towards goal and the defender eventually bundled him over - both a straight red card and spot-kick were awarded, which Hamilton-Downes smashed home his third of the season.

Going down to 10 men meant Casuals reverted to playing quite deep and so we were content to retain possession at the back, although our pressing game was strong when required at different times.

We went looking for a third on 26 minutes as Rio Davidson-Phipps swapped passes with Miller to get into Casuals' box but he had to check back. The ball eventually found its way to Peter Adeniyi whom spotted a darting run by Bradford but the linesman's flag halted his progress.

Despite not having much to do, Joe Tupper was alert on 34 minutes as he clawed away a rare cross into our box under pressure.

Miller took down a lovely searching cross-field pass four minutes later and worked some space inside our host's area but Bracken comfortably held his weak effort.

The pair clashed again on 38 minutes as Miller hunted down a ball into the Casuals box before hurdling the home keeper whom had slid out to claim it. Bracken sensed an opportunity to 'even things up' and proceeded to act like Miller had stamped on his knee, but the only thing he was really in danger of straining were his eyeballs as he watched the referee's reaction like a hawk - even the yellow card dished out to our innocent number 9 seemed excessive.

And, when Casuals squeezed in a final cross in just before the break, young Ryan Healy did well to deny Josh Uzun a free shot at the back post.

HALF-TIME: 0 - 2

The second-half started briskly with Morath-Gibbs making two clearing headers, while Folkes would've nodded a Bradford cross in but for Bracken's claiming hands.

Casuals created three good chances during the second 45, the first of which saw Jack Strange see a header on a free kick deflected over our bar from close range.

The second saw Tupper parry an effort by Ben Cheklit just after the hour and we broke at pace until Miller had a shot blocked on the edge and, as he worked space on the loose ball, then he was denied by a sprawling Bracken.

Casuals threatened to close the deficit again on 67 minutes as defender Warren Morgan burst clean through, after a one-two with Shaun Okojie, but Tupper spectacularly tipped the ferocious shot over the bar.

But, after weathering that little storm, we got back to retaining the ball for long periods, happy to make Casuals chase shadows and probe forward when we wanted to.

We worked a couple of good openings in the last 10 minutes, only for Bradford and Adeniyi to be denied by separate offside flags, but we saw the game out to a comfortable conclusion.

More photos from the game are available here.

Next up: We welcome Horsham to Colston Avenue on Saturday 4th February before we head to Ramsgate on Saturday 11th February.

Carshalton Athletic: Tupper; Davidson-Phipps, Morath-Gibbs, Hamilton-Downes (c), Hibbert; Bradford, Healy, Adeniyi, Kaba (Phillips - 62), Miller; Folkes (Aikhionbare - 87)
Unused subs: Bongo, Sobowale, Kozakis
Goals: Morath-Gibbs (5), Hamilton-Downes (16 p)
Assists: Hamilton-Downes, Miller
Booked: Miller, Davidson-Phipps

Corinthian Casuals: Bracken, Spencer, Morgan, Dudley, Strange, Eskim (Johnson - 87), Cheklit, Bettache, Okojie (Byatt - 80), Gallagher, Uzun (Hodges - 60)
Unused subs: Murray, Clarke
Booked: Morgan, Dudley
Sent off: Spencer

Attendance: 185
Our Man of the Match: Kalvin Morath-Gibbs