We bowed out of the FA Trophy as a spirited second-half performance wasn't enough to overcome Heybridge Swifts, writes James Barrett-Sterling.
Team news
Paris Hamilton-Downes, Ryan Healy and Danny Dudley all returned. Reece Cave was named among the substitutes.
Kick-off
The game started evenly with both teams trying to keep the ball on the deck, and the first real sight of goal was worked by Mickel Miller on eight minutes but his shot went straight at Sambridge.
A few niggly fouls and offsides kept the game from flowing freely, but we were grateful for an alert Billy Bishop on 15 minutes - he clawed away an in-swinging corner that threatened to curl inside the far post.
And our keeper was at it again four minutes later as Sam Bantick put over a cross-shot that almost dipped over our man in green but, again, he managed to palm the ball away.
Kreshnic Krasniqi then outmuscled Mekhail McLaughlin down our left but thankfully Bobby Price stabbed away his firm low cross from incoming opponents.
But it was all Swifts and they eventually opened the scoring on the half-hour - McLaughlin headed out a long throw into our box but the ball was returned low and hard for Lewis Godbold to turn in from six yards.
It was no more than our hosts deserved as we were failing to build any serious forward momentum - the Swifts defence were winning the majority of high balls and 50/50s.
We almost fell further behind in stoppage time as Bantick yet again delivered from out wide and this time saw the ball cannon back off the crossbar.
HALF-TIME: 1 - 0
The second-half started more evenly as we began to get a small foothold in the game, and Ola Sogbanmu almost nicked Tommy Bradford's free kick on 50 minutes over Sambridge.
Swifts responded with another long throw into our box but Price bravely blocked away an attempted volley inside our area.
Fans hearts were in their mouths on 53 minutes as Bantick met Harrison Chatting's cross with a free header in front of our goal - but the net didn't bulge as the ball landed behind the net.
We woke up and, for the next half hour, we were the better side beginning with Price bursting in on a Miller pass but his low cross was cleared just in front of the lurking Phillips.
Ricky Korboa and Peter Adeniyi were then introduced, meaning we went to a flat back four and pushed Sogbanmu up as striker - a tactical move that paid dividends.
Hamilton-Downes and Bradford combined to get the ball into our new number nine just after the hour. He teed up Adeniyi whom was blocked out but Price battled for possession and then took Bradford's return pass on into their box. Our captain's low angled shot beat Sambridge but not a lunging defender in front of the empty net.
Then both McLaughlin and Dudley blocked efforts inside our box and we broke forward with Korboa whom travelled over halfway. Adeniyi then threaded a pass through to Sogbanmu whom could've shot in front of goal. Instead, with Sambridge in no man's land, he squared the ball to Korboa who saw his effort blocked away by a scurrying defender.
Then Sogbanmu got beyond the home defence before picking out Korboa just inside their box. He couldn't get the ball fully under control but it broke loose for the completely unmarked Bradford. He had time and tried to bend the ball low around the oncoming Sambridge, but there wasn't enough curl on the ball to take it the right side of the far post.
It was so frustrating not to turn our dominance into goals and Bishop remained alert to gather a header during a rare Swifts attack.
We had a shout for a penalty on 80 minutes as Adeniyi shuffled a pass into Korboa on the 18 yard line but the referee judged the tackle on our forward as fair. The ball found its way out to the supporting Hamilton-Downes but his firm drive on goal was deflected away.
But, as we kept pushing, Swifts got a break three minutes from time as Adeniyi got caught in possession 25 yards for our goal and a simple pass to the advanced Juan Loque saw him beat Bishop and seal his team's victory.
Photos can been seen here.
Match highlights, fan interviews and a chat with Paris Hamilton-Downes: robins.tv
Match highlights, fan interviews and a chat with Paris Hamilton-Downes: robins.tv
Next up
We travel to Horsham on Tuesday 10th October before we fly over to Guernsey on Saturday 14th October.
Carshalton Athletic: Bishop; Price (c), Dudley, McLaughlin, Hamilton-Downes; Healy (Cave - 85), Sogbanmu; Miller, Bradford, Douglas (Adeniyi - 57); Phillips (Korboa - 57)
Unused subs: Opoku, Cheadle
Booked: Healy
Heybridge Swifts: Sambridge, Ramon, Sampayo, Dark (c), Henshaw, Cawley, Chatting (Gardner - 67), Godbold, Krasniqi, Bantick (Smith - 77, Griffiths -90) Luque
Unused subs: Brown, Conway,
Goals: Godbold (30), Luque (87)
Attendance: 181