SAL Division 2 - 20th January 2007

Carshalton lined up looking for revenge after being narrowly beaten by Esthameians earlier in the season.  We also looked to put the disappointing cup exit of the previous week behind us and continue our good league form.    Esthameians kicked off and we promptly gained control of possession and broke down the left through Rob Morley who played a ball through to Justin (myself).  I had a touch and hit it early and in truth the shot was scuffed but it still went in. 1-0 after 30 seconds great start!   

After this early goal we settled and were firmly in control of the match, always looking dangerous when we broke forward.   It wasn't long before we had a second goal courtesy of a Johnny Phillips penalty, after Johnny excellently chested the ball into Rob's path in a crowded penalty area, who strolled past their centre back and was brought down.   

Just before half time Bill Tilley managed to venture past the half way line, played a lovely 1-2 with Johnny and coolly placed his shot in the far corner to score.   3-0 at half time and Carshalton were looking very comfortable.   

The second half started very scrappily and it was very stop / start.  Had the ref got a new whistle for Xmas?  Eventually they scored from a free kick launched into the area and were back in with a sniff at 3-1.   After this goal we settled down a bit and soon enough Fisky sealed the match with a wonder goal from 25 yards that dipped into the top corner!   At 4-1 we managed to seal the win seeing out the remaining 25 minutes with a very professional performance.   

A special mention has to be made to our inspirational manager, who showed he still has it by coming on in the 88th minute and rolled back the years playing right wing......unfortunately he didn't manage to touch the ball whilst on the pitch otherwise I'm sure he would have gone on a Thierry Henry style run and tucked the ball away for 5-1!   

All things considered it was a very good result, with some very positive individual performances, against a very big and physical side.  We picked up a number of injuries, Webbo (groin), Rob (hamstring), Swanny (facial) and Justin (back), although I'm sure Fisky has some kind of injury as he always does.  

Justin Said

Report no. 2

For once all the young members of the team were on time (or thereabouts) and the old gits turned up late.  Still that didn’t stop them from waiting to be told to put the goals up.  Good sense of initiative this lot. After much deliberation it was decided upon that we would play on the first team pitch and not the second team pitch as we didn’t want to start playing like the second team, scoring goals for fun and conceding few.  A nice knackering warm up and then team talk time. Keith inspired us and Wiggy bored us.

The game got underway and Keith’s inspiration got the better of Wiggy’s boredom.  Just a minute or so into the match a nice passing move through the middle found Justin and the keeper both advancing towards the ball.  Justin easily got there first and slipped it past the stranded keeper to put us one up.  Cue jubilance all around and Justin getting what he dreams of most; a couple of kisses from his team mates.  Carshalton pretty much bossed the game, pressing Esthamians whenever they had the ball and moving it around nice and quick when we had the opportunity. A long throw from Fisky found JP whose chest down was met by Rob just inside the box. Rob took a tumble under minimal, if any, contact (Justin take note) and Cars were awarded a penalty, normally the source of all of Wiggy’s goals in any given season.  The men in green were at a loss as to who would step up and fill his shoes now he had taken up bench warming duties.  Up steps Mr JP (what you got for me) to calmly slot home his 10th of the season. 

Carshalton just weren’t happy with 2-0 and after some tidy work around the edge of the box from Bill Tilley and Jonny Phillips, Bill fired past the keeper first time into the far bottom corner.  A sweet finish Bill, and a long time since we’ve seen it.  We should have had a couple more in the half, yours truly guilty of missing a one on one, although I did have a clear goal ruled out for offside even though I ran past the defender to poke the ball ( I mean blast the ball) home. 

Half time 3-0, we knew what we had to do.  The second half got under way and Esthamians were a bit sharper than they had been. We were a bit slower (happens every week). A silly freekick conceded out wide provided them with the perfect opportunity to push up a couple of their big defenders and consequently, following our failure to clear the ball their right back rose at the far post to nod home their only goal of the afternoon. That goal seemed to wake us up and we imposed ourselves a bit more as we had done in the first half.  Fisky found himself in space about 25yards from goal; the ball bounced nicely and he lashed it into the top corner of the goal giving the keeper no chance. That surely sealed the game at 4-1. With 20 odd minutes to go all we had to do was keep the ball and move it around like we know we can. Shame that simple skill always fails us in our time of need. We rode out a rocky end to the game but no one can complain to a 4-1 victory. 

My man of the match is Fisky.  Controlled the game with Scott in the middle of scored the pick of the goals (only marginally beating my penalty). A good win following the appalling display the week before, the work rate was superb even if the passing was, at times, a bit lack lustre. We’re starting to score plenty of goals whilst keeping a pretty water tight defence these days. If only we were a bit more clinical in front of goal we’d be throwing teams aside 6 or 7-0 each week. Crunch game next week, a must win. Roll on Merton.

Jonny Phillips