There were signs in 1956-57 that the Club was strengthening. The 1^st XI maintained their Division 1 status under Nev Lake - a very genial character, his management style consisting of mainly laughing a lot and telling tales of his naval experiences in his broad West Country accent. The league campaign never really got going, but despite being camped in the lower half of the division, they were never in danger of relegation. In the meeting of the joint holders, Old Westminster Citizens triumphed 3-0 in the AFA Surrey Senior first round. Worse was to follow as the season drew to a close – runaway league champions CUACO inflicting the 1^st XI’s record SAL defeat – 8-0.

The Reserves also started slowly with only 7 points from 8 games and were knocked out of both cups early on. However a 5-2 win against Lloyds sparked a remarkable revival and only 3 points were dropped from then on. Inspired by top scorer Peter Tudball’s 27 goals they finished runners up on goal difference to Lensbury with a record of:

At this time Carshalton had a distinct cricketing flavour. The membership contained many members of local cricket clubs – Elmers End, Addiscombe and of course Beddington. Peter Loader toured South Africa with the MCC, Mike Willett, Roy Swetman and John Keeping represented Surrey, Dave Halfyard played for Kent and Jimmy James was selected for the Club Cricket Conference against the Australians at the Oval. Mike Burrows also represented the Club Cricket Conference.

The tours to Bognor continued and this year’s was to prove successful both on and off the pitch with Carshalton producing their best performance for a number of years in beating Bognor Town 4-3 – goals from Hodgkin, Roger Boxall and two from Nev Lake securing a memorable win. The following day Carshalton ran out 6-2 winners at Selsey. Not surprisingly, given the antics the previous night, this game was played at a reduced pace - a tradition that has been religiously upheld throughout the years.