AFA Cup - 17th October 2009

The Carshalton 1^st team had made a great start to their league campaign, unbeaten in five and winning all three of their home games, and on Saturday they were seeking to keep this run going against Bank of England in the AFA Cup.

Fielding a strong side with two excellent players in Dan McCulloch and Kevin McCleod on the bench, confidence was sky high, and Matt Wigham urged all the players to start the game quickly and not allow Bank of England to settle. A goal in the first two minutes can probably be considered starting quickly and it came from a long throw from Clare, brilliantly flicked on by Alex Corner and after the ball had bobbled around in the box Scott Poullier reacted sharply and decisively to smash it home.

Carshalton proceeded to dominate much of the possession although Bank of England worked hard and created the odd half chance but they were quickly snuffed out by Tom Ritchie and Billy Tilley in the heart of the defence, and Martin Bruce dealt with every cross and shot with ease. The second goal was very similar to the first with a long throw from Clare, again flicked on by Corner and this time it was Andy Taylor who reacted quickly to head the ball into the corner. Bank of England were struggling terribly to defend this long throw and at one point Alex Corner was surrounded by three Bank of England defenders trying to win the header and he still beat all of them to the flick. On another occasion he was literally mounted by the centre back but the referee turned down the penalty appeals.

At half time we were 2 v 0 up and looking pretty comfortable, but the second half performance was even more assured and dominant than the first. James Horton and Richard Webb were seeing loads of the ball going forward on the flanks, and Adam Taylor and Simon Clare started to get the better of the Bank of England defence as the half wore on. Despite creating several chances from open play, the third goal came from yet another long throw from Clare which, with Alex Corner surrounded, was thrown to Tom Ritchie to flick goal wards and Andy Taylor, who has a real knack of being in the right place at the right time in the box, hammered it home.

The fourth goal came from a lovely flowing move which saw Dave Tilley link up with James Horton down the left who pulled the ball back for Adam Taylor and after a nice piece of skill the defender brought him down in the box. Adam Taylor demanded that he take the penalty as he’d been fouled, but his brother Andy argued that he should take it as he was on a hat-trick. However, Richard Webb ignored their pleas, grabbed the ball and placed it neatly in the bottom left hand corner to make it 4v0.

Carshalton created several more gilt edged chances including one for Adam Taylor after Clare had played him in, but Taylor cracked it wide, and a one on one for Clare after a great through ball from Andy Taylor but Clare struck it against the keeper’s outstretched leg. The fifth goal was a great individual effort by Andy Taylor who burst forward from the centre of midfield, won the ball, beat a player, and then struck it on the volley from 25 yards over the keeper to clinch his hat-trick. It probably wasn’t the greatest piece of goalkeeping but Taylor’s all-round performance was worthy of a hat-trick.

It was a very solid performance against a team struggling in the third division so we shouldn’t get carried away but it took the first team’s run to six matches unbeaten and four wins from four games at home. It is likely that the next match will be away against Crouch End Vampires in two weeks time and they look to be one of the strongest teams in the division so we need every player, fit, available and extremely motivated for what could be a crucial game in our quest for the title.