We turned a poor start round to secure three points in a hard fought game on the Kent coast, writes James Barrett.
Team news: Loanee defender Mekhail McLaughlin was handed his debut, while Sean O'Toole and Josh Phillips came in place of Tommy Bradford (injured) and Mickel Miller (suspended). Youngsters Francis Sey and Oliseh Okiglini were named among the substitutes.
The match began energetically as both sides tried to get their wide men on the ball early doors, while a good move involving Bobby Price, Brendan Murphy-McVey and Sean O'Toole resulted in us winning two quick corners that the home side defended well.
Bay midfielder Connor Sanders then channeled his inner Ian Hutchison/Dave Challinor/Rory Delap* and displayed an almighty long throw in the 11th minute - an attribute both he and Joe Nelder made use of throughout - but Alex Kozakis pushed the ball away from within a throng of players and James Turner blasted the loose ball over our bar.
Ricky Korboa and Paris Hamilton-Downes then put in useful crosses that were cleared ahead of teammates, while Murphy-McVey also fired a weak shot at Jack Delo, but our hosts drew first blood on 19 minutes.
We failed to deal with another long throw which flew around 40 yards into our box and Turner teed up Sanders whom beat Kozakis with a low shot from just inside the area.And things got worse just two minutes later as Korboa lost possession in midfield and the ball was switched out wide to Michael Turner whom cut onto his left 20 yards from goal. His shot hit someone in the crowd and Sanders was there to rifle the loose ball on target which Kozakis, whom got a hand to it, couldn't prevent going in.
We had a mountain to climb but fortunately we reduced the arrears just five minutes later and the goal provided us with a much-needed 'shot in the arm'.
Murphy-McVey, 45 yards from goal, drove a pass over the top which Korboa tracked. It seemed like the sprawling Delo had done well to claim the ball in front of our leading marksman but the keeper failed to secure possession and gifted our man a tap-in from 12 yards.
The game then began to swing back-and-forth; Murphy-McVey was in the right place to clear a Bay header on a 31st minute corner off the line, while Sekou Kaba took aim from 25 yards a minute later but his angled shot just rose the wrong side of the crossbar.
Delo's handling was called into question again on 37 minutes as he failed to keep hold of a corner kick. Phillips turned the ball back on target at the far post but Turner this time provided the goal-line heroics.
But our young striker wasn't to be denied again on 40 minutes - Korboa got Sean O'Toole away down the left and, after cutting in- and outside of chasing defenders, his square ball from the byline was bundled home by Phillips for his first ever senior league goal.
HALF-TIME: 2 - 2
We were grateful to Kozakis for being switched on right from the very start of the second-half as he turned away a Mark Lovell snapshot at full stretch. We responded with Korboa rising to meet a Murphy-McVey free kick a couple of minutes later but his header flew off target.
Price knocked a lovely weighted ball to get O'Toole attacking down the right on 55 minutes and he created space with a neat trick before driving in a cross that Delo had to punch away from the incoming Phillips, with Korboa tackled on the edge of the box while trying to keep the danger alive.
But, that aside, the match had become a bit of a stalemate - we lacked a killer 'final ball' during attacks while, at the other end, Jahmahl King displayed great strength and positional awareness more than once to thwart potential Bay counter-attacks.
There was some confusion in the 68th minute as the referee at first appeared to have given Korboa his marching orders for tangling with an opponent on the far side. The official seemed to point several times towards the tunnel as he spoke to both our agitated goalscorer and concerned captain, but then he brandished a yellow card and waved both players away.Both sides made substitutions as the game ticked down towards the last 10 minutes plus, while we were unfortunately thwarted by late offside flags during two promising build-ups, we had began to look more comfortable dealing with Bay's long throw-ins and driven corners when faced with them.
Our third goal arrived in the 81st minute - Korboa and Richard Ismail combined and our sub got the ball to Hamilton-Downes right by Bay's far corner flag. Our captain slung in a high, looping cross which tempted Delo but Phillips rose above both his marker and the keeper to head in the eventual winner.
Our lead survived one major scare, which came in added time, as a whipped right-hand cross almost deceived Kozakis but our keeper managed to lean back and claw the ball away from dropping in under his crossbar.
More photos from the match can be viewed here.
Next up: We visit Cray Wanderers in the FA Trophy on Sunday 9th October before we play them again away in the league on Saturday 15th October.
Carshalton Athletic: Kozakis; Price, King, McLaughlin, Hamilton-Downes (c); O'Toole (Ismail - 79), Adeniyi, Murphy-McVey, Kaba, Korboa; Phillips
Unused subs: Males, Sey, Okuglini
Goals: Korboa (25), Phillips (40, 81)
Assists: O'Toole, Hamilton-Downes
Booked: Price, Korboa, Ismail
Herne Bay: Delo, M Turner, Sayer, Nelder (Zanone - 71) Kennett, C Sanders, Walder (c), Williams, Lovell (Elliott - 71), Woolcott, J Turner
Unused subs: Phillip, Algar, K Sanders
Goals: C Sanders (19, 21)
Booked: Elliott, Turner
Our Man Of The Match: Jahmahl King
Attendance: 161
* Choose from your own personal footballing era.