SAL Division 2 – 24th September 2005

A surprisingly lacklustre Carshalton side needed an injury-time penalty to finally secure the points on Saturday after they’d been stunned by their North London visitors Alexandra Park who took a shock two goal lead in the first half and then for much of the contest thereafter looked as if their battling, workmanlike and determined display would see them leave Beddington Park with at least a share of the spoils.

After a scrappy but albeit evenly contested opening ten minutes the hosts settled quickest of the teams.  And, after 15 minutes they looked to have opened the scoring when Paul Pearce combined well with Gary Cummings who found the back of the net with a crisp finish from 12-yards out.  Unfortunately for the Cars midfielder though, the referee disallowed his effort having spotted an earlier infringement.  Straight from the restart Park played the ball up the line to their lively left-winger inviting for him to run at the Cars defence, which he did with much aplomb, playing a delightful one-two with his centre-forward before ending his run with a dangerous cross that caught the Cars defence flat-footed and resulted in Neal Collard turning the ball into his own net.  Undeterred by this setback Cars went in search of an immediate equaliser, which would have arrived on 20 minutes but for a great stop from the Park keeper who turned away a shot on the turn from Pearce who’d wriggled free from the close attention of his marker.  Moments later, the Park keeper pulled off the save of the day when he flung himself across his six-yard box to deny Sam Butler – the young Cars midfielder’s long-range drive seemingly destined to creep in at the near post before being tipped round the post and out for a corner.  In the 38^th minute things got a whole lot worse for Cars after a mix-up at the heart of the their defence allowed the visitors tall centre-forward to beat the offside trap and then with two bites of the cherry, head into an empty net having first flicked the ball over Ross Sinclair as he raced from his goal.  The home side shrugged off this latest disappointment and, having upped their game, came back very strongly in the last ten minutes of the half where, but for the tremendous display of the Park keeper would have grabbed a goal.  Finally, after a spell of intense Cars pressure and on the stroke of half-time, Alex Corner finished from close-range to send Cars in at the break with a much-needed lifeline.  

Straight from the restart Cars should have found themselves on level terms, though only Gary Cummings will know how he failed to convert Steve Powell’s excellent cross.  Unfortunately, it was at this time that the Park keeper had to leave the field having bravely played on with a shoulder injury picked-up late in the first-half.  Although Park still threatened on the break it was Cars that looked the more likely of the sides to score the next goal with Pearce, Corner and Butler all going close early on.  When the inevitable Cars equaliser did eventually arrive, it came from an unlikely source, left-back Powell scoring with a superb 20-yard strike that kept low, giving the stand-in Park keeper little chance of keeping it out.  Cars looked to have snatched a winning goal in the 85^th minute when substitute Martin Vincent evaded several challenges in the box, including that of the keeper to fire toward an empty net.  Remarkably, the Park centre-back made-up several yards to make an incredible clearance and scoop the ball off the line.  Two minutes later the Park centre-back was at it again, this time heading a shot from Pearce from below the angle of post and bar.  How ironic then that the same player, who was clearly the MOM should in injury time hand Cars the chance to snatch the winning goal when he brought down Vincent for a very controversial penalty award.  With Stuart Jefferys, Cars’ regular spot kick specialist off the pitch, Cummings stepped forward to coolly convert the kick, securing a very unlikely three points, which led to the visiting players remonstrating with the match official as the teams left the field of play.

Although today Cars had staged a good second half fight back they nevertheless hadn’t performed anywhere near their best, which is certainly what will be required next week when they face a tough AFA Surrey/Kent Intermediate Cup tie against Old Addeyans at Blackheath Park.

Beddington Hotspur