I’ve been told to write an honest match report this week (not that I make the other ones up); such a difficult task after such a shocking game.

What went wrong? That always seems to be the question we end up asking ourselves after losing seemingly impossible to lose matches. Carshalton were coming off the back of 5 or 6 straight league victories whilst BB Eagles were languishing near the foot of the table. The victory was already a certainty; it was just the question “by how much?”

Carshalton actually got off to a flyer, moving the ball around quickly and it was in the second or third minute that Luke played the ball inside to JP who jinxed his way into box and pulled the ball back for Justin to flick home the opening goal. We looked threatening every time we got the ball. A few minutes later however and the teams were level. Carshalton failed twice to clear the ball and it fell to the centre forward who struck it sweetly past Neil. We knew they didn’t deserve it and resolved to take the lead once again. 5 minutes after their equaliser we gifted them the lead. A lack of communication between goalkeeper and defence meant their other centre forward picked up a loose pass and hit it first time over a stranded Neil. Another goal they didn’t deserve but, they were taking their chances and we weren’t (a persistent problem this season). Not too long after their second goal went in Carshalton lost the ball in the BB Eagles third and another defensive howler left their centre forward with a one on one and he coolly slotted the ball home. 3-1 down and severely winded Carshalton needed something to salvage the game. Fisky played a lovely ball across the back of the Eagles defence and JP fired home Cars’ second goal. We were back in the game, although we should never have been behind. 3-2 at the break.

The second half got underway and Carshalton went in search of their equaliser but hardly looked threatening. Possibly the worst defence in the league were made to look almost impenetrable. We didn’t play football and to be honest didn’t really try to play football, preferring instead to lump the ball up field hoping their back four would make a mistake. We introduced Wiggy into the fray hoping that he would be able to get on the end of these long balls but their two monster centre backs dealt with the threat quite easily. As we pushed up, we started to leave gaps at the back and BB Eagles found themselves with a couple of great opportunities to seal the game. And seal the game they did with about 10 minutes to go, when yet another mistake at the back left their forward the simplest of tasks of slotting the ball into an empty net. To be fair Carshalton didn’t give up and after a succession of corners gave themselves a small glimmer of hope of salvaging a point when one of their centrebacks turned a corner into his own net. With a couple of minutes to play we fought for an equaliser and with the last kick of the game almost got it; Wiggy’s shot clipping the frame of the goal but spinning out for a goal kick.

It is truly gutting when you know they didn’t win the match but you lost it. We just need to forget about it and focus on the upcoming game against Merton who will be eager to avenge the defeat from last week. We can still get promoted but we’re making bloody hard work of it guys. With all the talent in our squad let’s hope we can pull it off.

Jonny Phillips