Carshalton went into this game against a struggling BB Eagles looking to make amends for the disaster of a few weeks ago. We had 4 people missing this week so the squad was down to its bones and we had to draft in Sam from the 2^nd XI.

We didn’t get off to a great start. A few minutes into the game their centre forward was bundles over in the box and their right back strolled up to power home the opener.  Déjà vu I hear you say. That seemed to spark us into life (as usual) and we produced some good football for a brief period. Shortly after, we won a free kick out on the left; Frisky swung the ball in and JP flicked to the ball over the keeper with his head/ear/shoulder (delete as applicable). We were pressuring BB Eagles and noticing their lack of pace at the back started pinging diagonal balls over the top for Rob and JP to run on to. Eventually one of them worked and JP found himself one on one with keeper and stroked the ball home into the far corner. Carshalton were on top and even though the football wasn’t pretty we deserved the lead. We could have had a few more in the half, JP smashing the woodwork from the edge of the box with his left foot and narrowly missing from the edge of the box with his right. The most noticeable chance was actually a goal scored by Rob but ruled out by the ref for offside, even though Rob run through the defence to follow up on JP’s shot against the post. We were looking comfortable for a half time lead but just before the break BB Eagles caught us napping on the break. We failed to clear the ball properly from the cross and their midfielder swung his foot at the ball, which crept in at the near post, Backers almost pulling off a miraculous save. We went in at the break 2-2.

The second half started with Carshalton trying to re-establish their lead using the pace of Rob and JP who had been causing havoc all afternoon. However, against the run of play, and again, on the counter attack BB Eagles caught us napping at the back and through a general lack of communication and failure to pick up our markers their centre forward found himself completely free to head home their third of the afternoon. Our play suddenly became frantic and lacked organisation, leadership and general quality. The long balls were not working but no one seemed to want to play the short sharp passing game that has seen us walk all over teams this season. A tactical substitution brought Wiggy on for Rob who had worked as hard as anyone else on the pitch (as always) and Wiggy’s aerial threat was instantly evident. We started getting the ball in the box a lot more and the pressure mounted. We got a corner out on the right.  The arrival of Swanny and Jonny Biggle into the box stole the attention of the BB Eagles defence and this allowed Wiggy to rise almost unchallenged in the 6 yard box to head in the equaliser. A deserved equaliser at that; BB Eagles hadn’t exactly played much football, we had simply let them into the game. The final 15 minutes of the game saw both sides trying to grab a winner but no one could find an opening, although the ref did turn down a penalty appeal from Carshalton (would have been a bit harsh in my opinion, looked to me like Jonny B had been taking lessons from Justin).

3-3 final result and another game where we under performed. We got what we deserved from the game and although we were disappointed with not collecting three points we couldn’t argue with the one. A special mention this week to Sam who came in at left back (normal position is central midfield) and didn’t look out of place. His distribution was quality and commitment first class. Cheers Sam.

Why is it that at this stage of the season, every season, we seem to falter? Are we scared of going up? The first division is where everybody in our squad belongs, bar none. We now need to win 4 out of 4 games to stand a chance of going up. Now is the time to stand up and be counted; we don’t want anyone going missing next Saturday.

Jonny Phillips