Match report - Ashford United (h)

We completed a first league double as we got back to winning ways against Ashford United, writes James Barrett-Sterling.

Team news
Two changes from Tuesday's game at East Grinstead as Jordan Cheadle and Mickel Miller replaced Sean O'Toole and Ricky Korboa.

Kick-off
We made a lightening start and Raheem Sterling-Parker drew a foul in their box on three minutes, but Aaron Lee-Wharton guessed right to claw away Cheadle's placed spot-kick.

Our heads didn't drop however and we went on to boss the first-half almost entirely.

A long Billy Bishop clearance was left by Sterling-Parker, whom was in an offside position, and it bounced beyond a static defence for Miller to run onto. He steadied himself but could only hit Lee-Wharton with his angled effort.

Next to be denied by the visiting keeper was Tommy Bradford whom lined one up from 18 yards only to see his shot parried - Miller reacted to the loose ball but Lee-Wharton did well to throw himself in the way of the second attempt.

Bobby Price also had two efforts from distance blocked, while Miller saw a firm low cross across United's six yard box fizz past a clutch of players.

Our backline were dealing with United's long balls out of defence comfortably, apart from one that saw Stuart Zanone isolate Tom Jelley before shooting weakly past Bishop's left-hand post, but we were struggling to turn our dominance into goals.

Bradford neatly picked out the run of Sterling-Parker on 19 minutes but, on the stretch, our number nine fired into the side-netting.

And he tried to work his own opening a few minutes later on the far side, but his curled shot didn't have enough to bend back inside the far post.

Our visitors began to get frustrated - their only real threat on our goal came when Bishop had to parry a shot away following an uncleared corner - and the flow of the game began to stutter as they gave away foul after foul.

George Humber was fortunate not to see red during that period - he appeared to aim a headbutt at Bradford after the two squared up off the ball, but the referee simply booked the pair and told them to get on with the game.

Bradford almost capitalised on some hesitancy in the United defence on 39 minutes as he nipped in front of Pat Kingwell inside their box, but his resultant chip didn't dip enough to get under the crossbar.

But we finally broke the deadlock in added time as Sterling-Parker was felled by Kingwell and he placed the resultant penalty past Lee-Wharton's dive.

HALF-TIME: 1 - 0

Bradford had his head in his hands just five minutes into the second-half - a firm effort from just inside their area was tipped away by Lee-Wharton at full stretch.

We continued to probe and win many more free kicks, with captain Paris Hamilton-Downes exasperated at the lack of punishment coming from the referee, until we doubled our lead just after the hour.

Ola Sogbanmu flicked on Tom Jelley's forward ball for Miller to eventually get Sterling-Parker in on goal. But, unselfishly, he squared the ball back to his teammate whom plundered his 11th of the season in off the post.

The relief at finally having a two-goal cushion was palpable and we almost made it three as Price's quick free kick saw Bradford eventually flash a driven ball just wide of United's far post.

Bradford was at it again on 70 minutes - he cut in from the near side and made some space in the box, but his curled effort was tipped round the far post by the fingers of Lee-Wharton.

Then, suddenly, the complexion of the game threatened to change as a simple through ball by Ben Davisson caught our defence square and Max Watters calmly slotted past the exposed Bishop.

This wasn't a game we could afford to throw away but thankfully we got back onto the front foot again - sub Korboa persisted with a run down the right before pulling the ball back to the unmarked Sogbanmu, but he smashed a shot over the bar.

Bradford was played in on goal on 83 minutes and it seemed odds-on that a left-footed effort would beat Lee-Wharton but, instead, our man cut back onto his right and his shot was deflected away by a recovering defender.

Just when it looked like it wouldn't be our number ten's day, Sogbanmu played Bradford into an exact same position three minutes later and this time he trusted his weaker foot to drill a low shot beyond Lee-Wharton for his third of the season.

And we weren't done - a neat passing move involving five players ended with Price playing Korboa in and he executed a similar finish to Bradford for his first goal since returning from long-term injury.

The late scoring unbelievably wasn't done however as Bishop did well to palm a free kick onto our crossbar but Matthew Day reacted quickest to nod in a consolation for our visitors.

We almost had a fifth deep in stoppage time as Korboa threaded a neat pass for fellow sub Josh Phillips to bustle onto between two defenders, but Lee-Wharton yet again thwarted us by staying big and blocking away the shot.

Photos from the game will be available soon.

Match highlights and interviews coming via robins.tv

Next up

We face Greenwich Borough on Monday 23rd October before travelling to Whyteleafe on Saturday 4th November.

Carshalton Athletic: Bishop; Jelley, Aziaya, McLaughlin, Cheadle; Price (Healy - 90), Hamilton-Downes (c); Bradford, Sogbanmu, Miller (Phillips - 90); Sterling-Parker (Korboa - 78)
Unused subs: Cave, O'Toole
Goals: Sterling-Parker (45 pen), Miller (61), Bradford (87), Korboa (89)
Assists: Sterling-Parker, Sogbanmu, Price
Booked: Bradford, Sterling-Parker

Ashford United: Lee-Wharton, Healey, Dickens, Difford, Bingham, Kingwell, Cooney (c), Davisson, Zanone, Humber (Watters - 62), Richardson-Brown (Day - 78)

Unused subs: Draper, Woodcock, Westney

Goals: Watters (73), Day (90)

Booked: Humber, Bingham, Difford

Our 'Man of the Match': Michael Aziaya

Attendance: 316

Current league position: 7th (24 points)